Patricia (Patty) Smith and Westerly

Team #92

Born in Los Angeles, Patty, a “California Girl,” has always loved horses. She grew up in Los Gatos; when she was eight, her mother sometimes took her to Bay Meadows to watch the racehorses exercise at 6:00 AM. Finally, the family went horse shopping for horse-crazy Patty, then nine. However, they had very little knowledge of what they were doing. They bought a small, attractive, chestnut mustang; however, he was truly mean. He would run with teeth bared and rear to try to strike out at little Patty. A lot of kindness simply could not win him over, so he was given away to somebody who, hopefully, had better luck.

Her next horse experience was as a teenager. While hanging around the barn, a nice man befriended and encouraged her to ride. She ended up owning an American Saddlebred mare that was five-gaited, and a three-gaited gelding. In those days, showing was mostly Western, but Patty did well with her Saddlebreds, up until it was time to concentrate on college. Then came marriage and children, so it wasn't until she was in her 60s that she got the horse "bug" again.

Patty's friend had a paint needing exercise, so she asked Patty to ride him regularly. While happily riding Paunch, Patty spotted another horse, Westerly. It was love at first sight. She's a half Arab, half Oldenburg, and a really pretty white horse. Her owner was having trouble with Westerly, in that the horse would only go backwards, not forward. Patty gave her a try. There was a dressage trainer of sorts around the barn who gave Patty some tips. When Westerly became hers, Patty trained under Heidi Gaian whose barn was in Hollister. They got along famously.

When Westerly was 26, Patty's friend, Zana Donnelly urged her to go for the Century Ride. Patty agreed and worked hard to get ready. Friends and family were all present when the ride was performed in San Juan Batista, a beautiful area. Patty and Westerly performed Training Level Test 1 on August 27, 2011.