The author finds the holiday spirit in full swing at an early November horse show.

Most of the time the news that comes through the tents and barns at horse shows is based on gossip with a negative spin. For the sake of drama, entertainment or self-elevation, the gossip can be damaging to the subjects and the industry. However, every once in a while, something happens that unveils the true heart that lies beneath the surface of the horse community.

The weekend of Nov. 4-6 was, well, hell weekend for my barn. We went to Aiken, S.C., for the PSJ Medal Finals Horse Show. It was to be a low-key, fun show. There was no pressure, just a chance to practice on new horses for the next season or ride the horses from last season one more time. Schooling day went as most schooling days go—horses and riders in and out of the barn to the rings and back.

Toward the end of the day, I took my daughter Sophie and one of my students to the jumper ring to school. My daughter was riding an old, trusty schoolmaster. She was schooling for the .85-meter classes. She was making minor mistakes, but nothing the experienced horse couldn’t handle.

On the last schooling course, she really got the hang of it. Toward the end the course, she came down a broken line to a two-stride combination. She and the horse had navigated the line several times already. But this time, my daughter dropped her shoulder forward instead of adding leg for the take-off. She got unseated and landed on the horse’s neck, and she tried to hold on instead of letting go, causing her to swing around under the front of the horse. I watched as the horse tried to avoid her but landed square on her chest.

By the time I reached her, Sophie was blue and not breathing. Luck has it that I did time as an Emergency Department RN between riding as a junior and training full time. I was able to get her positioned so that she could breathe well enough to sustain her until the ambulance arrived. She had five broken ribs, a punctured lung and a few other more minor injuries.

This situation seems like it should be the story I am telling, but it’s not. The real story is the unbelievable support we received from the horse community.

Instantly, I had trainers and riders offering up any service they could possibly provide to help get me through the challenge of having my own daughter injured and a barn full of horses and clients. As Sophie was being stabilized at the hospital, everybody at the show went to work to make sure my team was supported with whatever assistance they needed. My barn manager, staff, assistant trainer and students were offered any kind of help they could ever need with no strings attached.

More To Come

Sometimes the world likes to show you that just when you think you’re at the point of not being able to deal with anything else, you can. I had 12 horses that needed to be returned home, since I shipped the horses to the show. My husband came to Augusta to be with our daughter in the hospital, and he graciously offered to take a load home while I stayed at the hospital because Sophie was having a difficult day.

A quarter of a mile away from the showgrounds, he stopped for gas. As he turned in, a young driver tried to pass him to the right and inserted her car under the flatbed of our truck.

Everybody was fine. The horses never missed a bite from their hay bags—but there was a car stuck under the truck. My barn manager was on the scene instantly. Directly behind her came a tractor from the showgrounds with full water buckets for the horses. Dozens of people from the show followed them, offering trailers and assistance. The show tractor eventually pulled the car out from under the truck so that the horses could return to their stalls.

My manager went to the office and asked for suggestions of shippers in the area. They suggested asking one of the trainers at the show who had a tractor-trailer. She went to the trainer, and before she could even finish asking, he said that we could have use of the rig and driver at any point we needed them for only the cost of operation. Later they approached my manager and quoted her a flat fee for the service that, no doubt, was quite under the actual cost of operation. Our horses were safely home by 8 p.m. on Sunday. I never had to leave the hospital; I was able to stay right at my daughter’s side.

By telling this story, I want to thank everyone who stepped in and offered help and concern. There were so many people who helped, and it meant so much to everyone on our team that there is no way to adequately say thank you. What I can say is that everyone at that show—trainers, riders, staff—proved that, at least in the horse world, there is still such a thing as community. Thank you.

Special thanks to: Kathy and Daniel Geitner, JF Gange and team, PSJ staff, Betsy Bennet, Lauren Broadstone, Debbie Hoyt-Banfield and Sovan Hill. 

Katie Brown-Maxwell is a rider and trainer and operates Sovan Hill Enterprises in Landrum, S.C. She coaches the Clemson University (S.C.) Equestrian Team and is an American Riding Instructors Association-certified instructor.

If you enjoyed this article and would like to read more like it, consider subscribing. “A True Community” ran in the December 19 & 26, 2011, issue. Check out the table of contents to see what great stories are in the magazine this week.