On July 26, 2023, eventer Lindsey Smith’s career was on the rise. She had a barn full of exciting young horses that she was riding for clients, and she recently had moved her personal horse up to the two-star level.
“I was working really hard, and I was the furthest I had ever been in my career,” she said. “I was doing all the things I had dreamed of doing, and I was kind of shocked every day that it had all come to fruition.”
Her second ride that day was a mare she had been preparing to sell for its owner. The horse had warmed up well, Smith recalled, but then refused a jump uncharacteristically. When Smith brought her around again, the mare left the ground in a full-bodied buck. Her memory of her fall is spotty, but Smith recalls landing behind the horse, who then also fell backward, coming down on Smith’s right leg in a way that separated the trainer’s femur from her hip socket. Smith remembers being rushed to the hospital not knowing the extent of her injuries, but in enough pain that she demanded that the paramedics cut off her riding boots. The thought that she might never walk again, let alone ride, crossed her mind.
“I couldn’t move my leg at that point,” she recalled. “I couldn’t really move either leg, but I couldn’t even feel my toes on my right leg. I was just convinced I was paralyzed.”
Doctors at the hospital discovered eight broken bones, including her hip, her pelvis, several vertebrae, a rib and her nose.
Surgery for the most serious damage was conducted over the next few days, resulting in the insertion of a 12-inch rod to repair Smith’s sacrum, three screws in her right hip, and an additional screw in her pelvis.
With her ability to ride again uncertain, Smith made the decision to shutter her training business. It was something that she had discussed with her family, especially her husband Brandon Smith, before the accident.
“I was having issues with my memory [from being concussed] before that happened, that sort of thing. We had joked about it being time for me to find a new job,” she said. “Before I went into surgery the first day, I just looked at him, and I was like, ‘I think we’re done.’ And he was just like, ‘Yeah, we’re done.’ ”
After nine days in the hospital, Lindsey was stable enough to go home to Brandon and their 5-year-old son, Dustin. There she began the process of healing and figuring out what her life looked like as a former professional horse trainer.
“We got a hospital bed that we put in the living room,” she recalled. “My father-in-law made a ramp for our front door so I could get in and out with a wheelchair. And then I had to basically just sit and do nothing for eight weeks.
“The pain was awful,” she added.
After those two months of being virtually immobile, Lindsey was still in excruciating physical pain when she went for her first post-operative checkup, but she was hopeful she had healed enough to start physical therapy. When her doctors told her she would need to wait another eight weeks, she was devastated.
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“I lost my mind. I just started sobbing in the doctor’s office,” she said. “I went from riding 10 horses a day, working seven days a week, being like super fit and active to, ‘You’re not allowed to move.’ ”
But, like any seasoned equestrian, Lindsey had learned how to cope when things don’t go according to plan.
“I have a rule that you’re allowed to cry for a day, and then you need to get over it, whatever it is,” she said. “And I’ve kind of always lived by that it’s always worked for me. So, I kind of had this one full day of, I’m just going to cry and eat chocolate and not do anything. And then after that, I think I stayed put another couple of weeks … and then we just started going places as a family. We went to a science museum, a ghost town. [Brandon] took me to the barn at least once of the week to see my horses. I started teaching a little bit [from the wheelchair]. Being outside helped a lot.”
As she got stronger physically, the question of how she was going to earn a living began to weigh on Lindsey. She and Brandon rely on their combined income to pay the bills. The answer came from Lindsey’s barn family, who connected her to Temeku Equine Inc., a veterinary practice with offices adjacent to Galway Downs and KingsWay Farm, the base of her former training operation.
Before she was even out of a wheelchair, Lindsey began working as the office assistant for the practice.
“I couldn’t drive, so Brandon would drive me to work every day and pick me up, and I would sit in my wheelchair all day long. [The job] saved my life,” she said. In addition to income, “It gave me something to do and some purpose again, because I can’t handle just sitting at home doing nothing. And I absolutely love it.”
By September 2023, Lindsey got the green light to start physical therapy.
“My biggest fear was that if I tried to stretch my legs enough to get on a horse, my screws would come out and my leg would fall off,” she said. But once her physical therapist could stretch her leg without reinjuring her, Lindsey intuitively knew that she could ride.
“I think literally, like the next day, I went to the barn. I had a working student tack up my horse, she rode him for a little bit, and then I got on him and walked him around for a minute. The next day I went back and picked up the canter,” she said.
After quietly building back her riding muscles over the winter, Lindsey entered the Galway Downs 2024 Kickoff Horse Trials (California), held Feb. 2-4—barely six months after her life-altering fall. Once again, the community that she’s built rallied around her. She was able to “walk” the course in a golf cart because getting around on foot is still difficult. A friend led her into the start box. And as a testament to her bond with her Thoroughbred Lucky Sun, with whom she’d previously competed at the preliminary and CCI2* level, the pair took third in the modified division.
Lindsey said her partnership with 9-year-old “Louie” (Lookin At Lucky—Unbridled Brew) is feeling better than ever.
“I was a little bit worried because [Louie’s] right side is also his weaker side, and it’s both of our weak side now,” she said. “I didn’t know if I would be able to ride him as well as I used to because my leg doesn’t work as well, but I feel like now that I have time to just devote to him, I’m doing a better job with him than I was before. My horse honestly feels stronger.”
Her physical therapist, she said, has observed that she’s healing well with the integration of riding.
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“He said to be really careful, but that I’ve actually gained a lot of use of my legs since I started riding again,” she said. And while she still experiences numbness and discomfort in her right leg and finds walking more difficult than riding, Lindsey said that her pain has “gone down a lot” since getting back in the saddle.
Lindsey has also embraced life as an amateur. Without the pressure of performing on horses that other people are backing, she is having more fun with the sport than ever before.
“The next event I do will probably be the prelim,” she said, “And I’m kind of playing around with doing a two-star this spring.”
Making that decision will look different than it did in the past, though.
“Before, everything I made, I put back into my business,” she said, “and now I’m kind of like, maybe I’d like to go on a vacation or something like that. I spend more time with my family. I just want to go as far as I can go with my horse and still have it be fun.”
Lindsey, who had contemplated a career in law before going down the professional riding path, also said that her time in a wheelchair has made her a vocal advocate for people with disabilities. It was eye-opening, she said, that so many public spaces are not Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant or -approved.
“Don’t be afraid to offer help to somebody if they look like they need it while they’re out and about and they are in a wheelchair,” she said, “because chances are, they’d really appreciate it.”
Brandon, who has been married to Lindsey for nearly a decade and witnessed her grow her business over those years, reflected on the past six months with the wisdom of a practiced horse husband.
“I’ve gotten quite a few calls like that,” he said. “Obviously the worst possible outcome flashes through your mind. There was definitely panic on my part.”
Once Lindsey was stable and on the way to recovery, there was no doubt in his mind she would ride again.
“You know, that’s the person I fell in love with,” he said. “It’s fun to watch her ride and succeed. She gives it her all every single time and puts her heart and soul into the training and development of the horses, especially her own. Anyone who knows a horse girl knows that they are relentless [and] don’t take no for an answer. [Lindsey] is just so determined, in her horse life and at home too. She’s just a very hard-working person and has the biggest heart.”
Do you know a horse or rider who returned to the competition ring after what should have been a life-threatening or career-ending injury or illness? Email Kimberly at kloushin@coth.com with their story.
