A new partnership proves fruitful for this transplanted Canadian rider.

Becky Smith sat at the in-gate for the $50,000 Blenheim Fall Tournament CSI-W aboard Galan 195 and thought to herself, “Why can’t I win this class?”

So, she galloped into the ring and promptly did so.

Smith and Galan’s score of 1 time fault over the first-round course was good enough for the top check in the feature event of the Blenheim Fall Tournament, Sept. 9-13 in San Juan Capistrano, Calif.

Smith laughed and said that, “it’s been 20 years of practice for overnight success!” for the biggest win of her career so far.

“It’s been a lot of teaching and learning and riding, at every level,” she said. “I think all of that helped give me enough experience to be calm in the moment. It definitely was a career day for me.”

Smith has been riding for years and has plenty of experience in the saddle, but this is the first time she’s ever had a horse for this level of competition, and this was her first World Cup class.

“You always think you can do it, so it was great to realize that I really can!” she said.

Michel Vaillancourt set a course that challenged all of the 24 starters, and by the time Smith went as 16th to go, none were clean.

“I knew there hadn’t been a clean, so I said to myself, ‘Why not me?’ ” she recalled. “I did actually think I could be inside the time allowed; I left a stride out in the first line. I was only .29 seconds over, but I managed to hold on for the win.

“There were a few challenges,” Smith added. “The first combination was pretty tight; it was a triple bar to a vertical to a vertical. The second combination was forward and long coming out over an oxer. The course designer really asked you if you could shorten and lengthen your horse’s stride.”

Getting To Know You

The win was all the more remarkable since Smith had only been riding Galan for six weeks before the class. She and husband Cameron Smith found and imported him for their amateur student Audrey Halle. Halle turned the reins over to Becky for a few grand prix classes to get the lanky chestnut going in the show ring.

The Blenheim class was the third Becky and Galan contested together and the first indoor grand prix they’d attempted.

“He’s scopey, careful and brave,” Becky said of Galan “It’s not usual to have a brave horse be as careful as he is, but he thinks about the jumps and focuses on the top rail. He doesn’t peek down at the filler of the jump or anything like that.

“He does have a big stride,” she continued. “He can be a little bit strong, so certain places on the course I have to be sure to get him together and organize him a little bit, but he listens and waits for you to tell him what to do.”

Galan, a 12-year-old Mecklenburg gelding (Golden Miller—Fackel, Filibert), had good results and a bit of mileage at the grand prix level in Europe. The Smiths have done a lot of business with the dealer who had Galan, so they believed him when he told them Galan was uncomplicated.

Becky was unconcerned about hopping on and heading to the grand prix ring because she’d been told that Galan “doesn’t spook and won’t stop. You don’t have to worry about the jumps—he’ll jump it. He was exactly right,” she said. “I’m getting to know him in each class and sorting it out.”

The plan was for Becky to get to know Galan and then for Halle to start showing him during the HITS Desert Circuit (Calif.), but Galan’s early success has Halle considering a different option.

“I had never felt that kind of excitement before,” Halle said. “It was unbelievable. They look like they’re a match made in heaven. Every time I think about it, I get chills. It’s amazing to have a horse like this.”

Halle and the Smiths are flirting with the idea of going for more World Cup qualifying points, now that they have 20 to their name with this win.

“He certainly feels like he has the ability to do that,” Becky said. “We didn’t say, ‘We’re going in this class to start on this road,’ but he did jump it very easily.”

Making A New Home

While her World Cup points will accumulate in the U.S. West Coast league, Becky herself is Canadian. Originally from Edmonton, Alta., she moved to San Juan Capistrano five years ago with Cameron.

“It had always been a dream of both of ours to live down here,” she said. They had traveled to California before to show and fell in love with the climate.

“We always wanted to move, and the opportunity presented itself, and we were brave and jumped in with both feet and came down here,” Becky explained. “Initially, we thought we’d come for six months and try it out, but we didn’t want to go back.”

The Smiths are based about 5 miles from the Blenheim show grounds, at Rancho Sierra Vista. They run a training, riding and sales business and do a little bit of everything—hunters, jumpers and equitation.

“The people are really friendly, and we’ve built a nice place. I’ve always wanted to live by the water, so I love being [here],” Becky said. She and Cameron play beach volleyball for fun.

Becky grew up riding, since her mother also rode and showed. “I started taking formal riding lessons when I was 10, but my sister and I both rode with my mom and had horses at home, so we’d trail ride and ride bareback and play around,” she said.

When she was 15, Becky knew she wanted to make riding and showing her career, and she turned professional at 18, after a successful junior career that included ribbons in Canada’s equitation finals.

She got her start in the professional world with a six-month stint working for Wayne McClellan, then spent 21⁄2 years working at Spruce Meadows in Calgary, Alta., where she got to show in the summer tournaments.

“That was great experience,” she said. “To be able to ride in those rings and have that as your home base is a real confidence builder. I got a lot of invaluable mileage in those rings. It helps you learn riding water and all of the natural obstacles.”

The Smiths, who have been married for eight years, share all of the training, riding and teaching duties.

“At the moment, I have a little bit more to ride than him,” Becky admitted. “We switch off—if he has a horse, I’m the ground person and helping, and vice versa. But, obviously, it’s more fun when we both get to ride!”

Halle, 22, moved from Arizona to California in 2007 to ride with the Smiths.

“They’re the most mellow, outgoing and nice people,” Halle said. “I’ve learned so much by riding with them—I could almost write a book! Cam and Becky have worked so hard and done so much for me. I’m just so grateful that Becky got to have that experience to win like that. It makes me want to cry just talking about it.”

Halle, who is in community college and plans to transfer to a university to study theater art, is excited to take her turn showing Galan, whom she flats at home. “He feels really light on the ground, and he’s a gentleman,” she said.