Three broken collarbones. A shattered tibia-fibula. A spiral fracture of the leg extending down into the ankle.

Any one of those injuries could cause even the most dauntless athlete to take an extended break. Not Cole Horn.

In the past two years, the 26-year-old professional equestrian has suffered each of those injuries, with the most recent collarbone break happening just last month during a fall with MBF Cooley Permission To Land in the CCI4*-S at Stable View in Aiken, South Carolina.

After a few days off to let the bone begin to knit, Horn was back in the saddle, back at work. Shortly after that, he and “Landon,” a 17.2-hand chestnut Irish Sport Horse gelding (Cobra—Deeply Dippy K, Luidam), celebrated their first advanced completion by winning the division at the Stable View Local Charities Horse Trials, held May 4-5 in Aiken. They then punctuated their place at the level with a third-placed finish the following weekend in the CCI4*-S at the Yanmar America Tryon International Spring Three-Day Event (North Carolina).

“I do obviously try and let the bridging form (between the breaks), so at least it’s stable, and then I’m pretty comfortable getting back on,” he said. “I will start doing the solid (horses) I can trust, and I just crack on.”

Crack on, indeed. He and Landon notched their first advanced win on the strength of a 31.6 dressage score, to which they added only some time penalties cross-country—Horn credits a bitting change that helped address the issues that led to their April fall—for a final score of 42.4.

Horn, who grew up riding in New Jersey and “was always adamant that’s what I wanted to do” as a career. He earned his GED at 15 and promptly moved to Pennsylvania to work for U.S.-based Australian five-star eventer Ryan Wood. 

“It was a very special opportunity to get to see what it takes to win big events and how to be consistent like Ryan is,” Horn said. “It was incredible to work for him and be able to go along for the ride.”

It was while working for Wood that Horn discovered Landon, then a 3-year-old. 

“You go through hard times trying to find the right horse, but he never gave up, and he ended up finding [Landon],” said Wood. “It’s pretty impressive, bringing a young horse all the way to the top level and being able to win at the top level.”

Wood said the win didn’t surprise him, given Horn’s work ethic and outlook.

“He was always the first to show up and the last to leave,” Wood recalled. “He was a bit of a workaholic. He was just always a very reliable and very hard-working guy, and he’s stuck it out. It’s definitely not an easy sport, and there are more downs than ups, but if you can weather the downs and survive that, when it becomes good, it’s really good. Cole’s a survivor, and he’s always bounced back and had a good positive attitude.”

After working for Wood, Horn went on to ride for famed steeplechaser Leslie Young, which he said was “an incredible way to learn to really gallop horses and do jumps at speed,” and Ecuadoran Olympic eventer Ronald Zabala-Goetschel. In 2020, during a month-long “vacation” in England, he trained with Grand Prix dressage rider Luke Baber-Davies. Upon returning to the States, Horn set up his Will-O-Moor training business—named in honor of his equestrian great-great grandfather, Ted Williams, and great-grandfather, Rene Williams—in Ocala, Florida. 

He and Landon did well enough in 2021 that they were awarded the Holekamp/Turner Grant and The Dutta Corp. Grant through the U.S. Eventing Association to compete at that year’s FEI Eventing World Breeding Championships for Young Horses in the 7-year-old CCIYH3*-L Championship at Mondial du Lion in Le Lion d’Angers, France. It was their first CCI3*-L, and they finished 31^stoverall. 

“It’s a really gnarly event,” he recalled. “It’s very well spectated, and it was the toughest three-star I’ve ever walked. It was the biggest event I’d ever done. It was really cool to get the opportunity to run there. Just getting around and completing it, that was always the goal. When you’re on these young horses and they’re seeing things they’ve never seen before in their lives, just to be able to complete it is quite difficult.”

After Le Lion, Horn remained overseas, working for Pippa Funnell in England. In March 2022, he and Landon were competing at Tweseldown, in Hampshire, England, when they got caught up by a muddy cross-country track. 

“The footing was really deep, and he tripped on the landing of a skinny in the middle of a combo,” Horn said. “He made a monumental effort and totally saved it, and jumped right through the rest of the combo, but he got injured.

“It was a learning lesson for me,” Horn continued. “When I walked (the course), I thought the ground was not great, and that was before anyone had even run on it. But I didn’t want to be the American who chickened out. I hate that that influenced me. But it made me realize that you have to do what you think is right and trust your gut.

“It’s something I’m still working on as a person and as a rider,” Horn added. “I don’t have a fear factor. With young ones, you have to be so relaxed. They can feel nerves coming off a rider, so it’s useful not to have a fear factor and be confident that I’m not going to get thrown, and that it’s going to go great. But at the same time, that can result in a certain lack of judgement. I’ve learned that a little more self-preservation can go a long way. It’s a gift and a curse. I will get on anything, and I’ll ride some that a lot of people don’t want to ride. It’s my job, but it’s also been my downfall on numerous occasions. I’m trying to find a happy medium now.”

“I didn’t want to be the American who chickened out. I hate that that influenced me. But it made me realize that you have to do what you think is right and trust your gut.”

Cole Horn

He returned to the U.S. in 2022 with “little money and a burning desire” to continue working with horses using what he calls a “pacificist” approach. He began working for Canadian eventer Waylon Roberts in Buckhead, Georgia, and then eventually moved Will-O-Moor to Aiken in late 2022.

At any given time, Horn has approximately 16 horses he’s training and showing.  

“Eventing is my origin sport, as it were,” Horn said. “I do dressage and hunter/jumpers because it makes me a better event rider, and it pays the bills. I spent last week with a ton of jumpers at Bruce’s Field [(South Carolina)] doing the 1.10 and 1.30 meter. It’s such a huge advantage from the show jumping side of it. It’s quite good to get out and in the ring as much as I can.

“Aiken is a great location because I can pull it off. There are huge opportunities in the hunter/jumpers and dressage, and lots of different eventing venues, too. You can show every weekend of the year. I’m in a four-week, back-to-back-to-back stretch of showing in hunter/jumper shows right now. It keeps you sharp,” Horn said, adding, “I’m a working professional. I have to take on horses for training to be able to event and have horses of my own to compete. Ninety-nine percent of the time, horses don’t come to me because they’re great. I do try to take a nice type of horse, of a certain caliber, but usually, it’s a nice horse that has a problem.”

“It’s so rewarding when you get those horses through to the other side,” he said. “I really try and teach them that they have a choice. I sit up, sit quiet, and just keep asking them the same question. It might get worse before it gets better, but I like coaxing them through it.

“Aggression and force never get it done,” he continued. “Raising the volume just teaches them to fight harder and makes them more fearful and flighty. They need to know it’s OK, and that I’m just going to keep asking but not be a jerk about it. They don’t learn when they’re scared. I like to train them to really look for, ‘What does my person want right now?’ and 99% of horses are so willing. They just might be anxious or nervous.”

In 2022, Horn suffered a devastating accident that resulted in 12 fractures in his lower leg. He had to take six weeks off and even spent some time in a wheelchair.

“That was a bad break; it was definitely my worst injury,” Horn said. “I was out hacking a young horse who was coming back into work, and some people were weed whacking, and the horse reared and collapsed on the (injured) leg. It really wasn’t the horse’s fault. And thankfully, the horse was perfectly fine. 

“I was out six weeks. Full stop. I couldn’t walk, and I had a rod in my leg and a lot of different screws,” Horn said, recalling that the injury “turned my leg into a wet noodle.”

Today, the leg is healed. The recent collarbone break is nearly healed. And Horn has his sights set firmly on the future, which he’s excited about. He can’t wait to see what more Landon has in him.

“He was born broke, and he’s never said no to a jump. He’s a cool cat of a horse and is the most willing partner and an outrageous talent,” Horn said. “I’m so grateful to this horse. He’s a freak of nature, and he’s so special to me. He’s my best friend. He’s the only horse that gets away without having bad manners on the farm, which is slightly embarrassing for someone who gets paid to fix other horses without manners. He’s my heart horse. I kind of hate it when I hear people say that because I like the idea that you can have more than one of them in your life, but, for me, he really is.”