Heartbreaking, tragic, unthinkable–there’s no way to describe the sudden loss of an event horse like Lisa Marie Fergusson’s Smart Move, who was struck by a car on Tuesday in Wellington. It was a tragic accident that leaves us wondering how something so tragic could happen to such a promising horse.
Smart Move blessed the North American eventing community with two years of performances that hinted at so much more. In 16 USEA starts, Smartie placed outside of the top 10 just two times. Smart Move won three events including the Jersey Fresh CCI2* earlier this year and he placed 4th at the Galway CCI3* amidst the best field that Galway has ever seen. I watched Smartie win Jersey Fresh and there was no doubt in my mind of that lovely horse’s future as an upper level event horse. I didn’t meet Lisa that weekend, but we soon met through emails and all of Eventing Nation met Lisa through her blogs, which told the story of a determined partnership on a war path to the top of Canadian eventing.
This tragedy is about so much more than performance or skill. Most of all, it is about a young horse missing out on the opportunity to live a life doing what he loved in partnership with his rider. It’s about the hardship that Lisa and Smartie’s entire family is feeling right now and our fervent hope that this hardship comes to pass as quickly as possible. JER said it best on the Chronicle forums: “The universe has some serious explaining to do.” It was a pleasure and our great fortune to experience Smartie as much as we did and I am thankful that we will have the opportunity to watch his legacy in Lisa’s future success developing great event horses.
We have been getting some emails about fundraising opportunities and we will have details on those as we get them. As a quick note from Coren’s post, I am thankful to report that the barn at Morven Park that burned down yesterday was unoccupied by animals or people. Here’s a look back at Smartie’s Jersey win:
Go eventing.
