There’s a First Time for Everything

By Delores Kuhlwein

Debra Donovan Smith has led an interesting and diverse life growing up in Baltimore, Maryland,  playing tennis for Cornell University, as a past owner of the famous hotel, The Tremont, and as the current owner of Valley Inn Country Club in Baltimore.

In fact, her father, Art Donovan, played for the Baltimore Colts, later making appearances on Late Night with David Letterman and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, much to the audience’s delight.

But horses? They were just “kind of haphazard stuff” for Debra, including some trail riding and barrel racing with her son, Dr. Chris Smith, a veterinarian who opened Foxhall Equine Rehab in 2020.

“First of all, I’m 67 and I was never formally trained,” says Debra, who is now a grandma and the family matriarch.  “Two years ago, I was in a really bad horse-riding accident when a horse went feral on me, and I spent two whole months in John Hopkins.”

One would have thought she would have given up riding for good.

But that’s not Debra’s style, so when she got to know Deanna Rippeon and her daughters, Allie and Maddie, well-known exhibitors on the AQHA circuit, she slowly got around to asking, “Do you think I could come up and train with Michael Colvin and do something I’ve never done before?”

And so her show career began at this year’s Indiana QHA Shamrock Shuffle in Cloverdale, and Debra bought her first AQHA membership at age 67. It was also her very first time showing – and she was welcomed with open arms.

Meant To Be

Deanna and Debra met through Debra’s son and the Rippeon’s vet, Dr. Chris Smith, and Debra started going to the shows to watch Allie and Maddie.

“She became sort of like a show mom to my girls on the road,” explains Deanna.  “We were having so much fun, and she’s so down to earth, so when Michael was bringing his training operation to our farm (in Maryland), I wanted her to do it.”

Then, Debra explains, “I think I got back up on a horse just to get over any trauma.” Though she admits she always felt she could ride naturally and had eye-hand coordination and balance, she admits she had no formal training.

But Michael Colvin, she says, has “this horse whisperer thing going on. I got along with Michael right away. I love how he gets into your head and explains everything, and I just soaked it in.”

Now she owns the well-known Ranch horse, Mr Great Red, the horse who won World Show and Congress titles with the Clagg family. “They would not have sold that horse if it were not to someone as amazing and loving as Debbie,” explains Deanna.  “Her schedule is pretty rigorous, so Red is a good boy for her.”

Ranch was her discipline of choice, Debra says, because she’s not the blingy western pleasure person, and after she watched a couple of the classes in Florida, it looked fun and challenging.

The World of Showing

So her first show with Ranch horse classes loomed on the horizon, and as Debra puts it, “Michael shoves me in the show in Indiana, and I had to fly there and rent a car,” says Debra.  To say that the first show challenged her was no exaggeration.

“He puts me up in a flea-bitten hotel,” she laughs.  “Now I’ve been in the hotel business my whole life, we used to own two hotels in downtown Baltimore, and I’m literally a city person. So I found another hotel, nicer, next to some college somewhere, 45 minutes away.”

Then Debra’s rental car broke down.  “She got stranded at the hotel and Beau Baird, long-time exhibitor and Indiana State Representative, picked her up at the hotel and brought her to the show,” says An Equine Production’s Kathy Avolt.

Debra admits she studied everything in advance so she would be prepared, since Ranch Riding has so many maneuvers, and she made sure everything she had was quality, such a new, starched clothes, and “a big cowboy hat,” she says.  “Deanna hooked me up with Shorty, and I’m like, ‘I look ridiculous,’ and Deanna’s like ‘You look so cute!”

She says she was a nut all day long the day she was supposed to show, talking about what she was supposed to do. “It was crazy- you have to gallop all around the arena, with eight judges watching what you do, and I’m like, ‘Holy cow!’  I said, ‘You want me to memorize this, control this horse, and stay in the saddle?’ This horse is a Congress World Champion, but Red was aggravated at me. Of course, it’s always the rider and not the horse.”

But she did well, coming in fourth place her first time, and in her second go, she came in last.

“Can’t we just announce the Top 3?” she quips. “I thought I was going to have a heart attack.  Then warming up – that’s another cluster. I’ve never felt so nervous, I’ve done so much competitively, but I always played individual sports – I swam, played for tennis for Cornell, etc., but this – you gotta worry about this horse!”

Debra says she came home and said, “Michael, we’re doing it all wrong – those horses were really slow and controlled, and every maneuver was exact and slow, and at home we’re running around the arena like Annie Oakley!’”

A Game Changer

All kidding aside, Debra says showing horses has changed her heart and her life.  “It touched my soul having Michael be so supportive. Yes, he gets paid, but he takes such an interest in me, and he’s so kind. It’s because of him I did something I’ve always wanted to do, and Deanna opened her heart and her farm, and she’s pushed me.”

“I’m on my way there now to ride again,” she adds, “and people in my company are wondering, “Did Debbie quit her business?!’”

To others thinking of diving in, she says after making a lot of mistakes and having horses that will hurt her, she knows now to surround herself with family. Not only does she have the support of her barn, but she’s become friends with several wonderful people in the higher levels of reining. She does suggest having a trainer and a program as a priority. “Learning to ride properly is number one – it’s so technical.”

She’s looking forward to her next shows (she just got home from a successful show in New Jersey – earning a fourth in Amateur Ranch Riding, and a fourth in Open) and feeling grateful for her life.  “Deanna and Michael have changed my life. That’s a blessing, that’s serendipity.  Just the chances of meeting Deanna, who has become like family – I don’t even live out here, and I drive an hour-and-a-half four times a week to ride,” she explains.  “I could have never done this without the graciousness of other people – never. It will change your life.”