Aug. 5, 2009
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Texas A&M senior-to-be Lindsay Smith (West Friendship, Md.) won the Maryland Adult Hunt Seat Medal Finals held at the Bay State Classic in Owings Mills this past Friday.
Smith beat a field of 22 riders from Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Competing on LV (the horse she rode when featured on the Animal Planet television show Horsepower as a senior in high school), Smith took part in a three-test competition made up of fences, flat and a jumping test with each round judged based on equitation.
"I'm very pleased to see Lindsay having continued success out of the collegiate riding scene," A&M hunter seat coach Linzy Woolf said. "We always encourage our riders to continue to ride and compete in their off time, as it can only help improve their riding and give them much more experience to draw from. I'm really looking forward to Lindsay and the rest of the team returning for practice in a few weeks. I have a feeling that it's going to be a very successful year for Texas A&M equestrian."
To even be entered in the Medal Finals, Smith had to accumulate points throughout the 2008-09 non-collegiate show season in order to qualify. Riders competing in the Medal Finals had the option to be assisted by a trainer, however Smith declined, opting instead to do practically everything on her own.
After winning the Maryland Junior Hunt Seat Medal Finals in 2005, Smith's horse LV had been put into semi-retirement for a large part of the last four years however he was brought back to the competition pen this summer and the two picked up right where they left off by winning the adult medal final last week.