Into the Hall: Stephanie Smith
Submitted photo
Stephanie Smith will be a ground-breaking member of the Fayette County Sports Hall of Fame when she enters it on June 20.
The 1994 Laurel Highlands graduate will be the first equestrian to be inducted.
Smith is happy to carry the torch for her sport after she received the news that she would be part of the Hall of Fame Class of 2025.
“I was very excited and very honored, especially being an equestrian,” Smith said while talking with Hall of Fame co-founder George Von Benko on his Sports Line Talk Show on WMBS recently. “It’s not your normal sport.”
Smith would bring along her world champion horse One Al Of An Amen, nicknamed Axel, to the Hall of Fame luncheon if she could. Axel presently is stabled in Columbus, Ohio but Smith had to go a lot further than that to find him in the first place.
“I was looking for another horse and one of my trainers at that time saw a video on Facebook actually,” Smith recalled when asked how she found Axel. “He was out near San Diego, California. Interesting story, it was the week of Christmas and we knew we needed to get to go see him. So my trainer and my sister and I flew out, almost missed our connection twice, had to end up driving from Las Vegas, which we weren’t even supposed to go to, it wasn’t even one of our layovers.
“We got to see him and then we knew we wanted him instantly, as soon as I rode him and my trainer rode him. We had a nightmare of a time getting back but it ended up being all worth it.
“The way he moves and what I like and what I like to feel just was all there. We just saw his great potential. He was very young. He was only two at the time. He is 10 now.”
The two have gone on to great success competing in the American Quarter Horse Association.
The two combined to be the 2022 AQHA World Champion in Amateur Working Hunter Under Saddle, competing in Oklahoma City.
“Probably the most memorable one for me was my first world champion in 2022 with Axel,” Smith said. “It’s very hard to get that. You put in a lot of dues and a lot of time to get that world champion. Then I was back-to-back champion in 2023 in the same class. Then in 2024 I was reserve world champion in that class.”
Among Smith’s previous titles are 2012 AQHA High Point Amateur Equitation and 2013 OQHA (Ohio Quarter Horse Association) Reserve Congress Champion Amateur Equitation, both aboard What A Detailed Diva, and 2016 AQHA High Point Amateur Hunter Under Saddle with I Got The Swing.
Riding was in Smith’s blood from the beginning.
“When I was in grade school, I was about seven, my sister and her friends started taking riding lessons,” Smith remembered. “I shortly followed and never looked back since. I gave a couple years up for college just so I could study (Smith is an IUP graduate) and have a little bit of college life, then just got right back into it.
“It’s kind of an addiction,” she added with a laugh.
Smith eventually entered the world of quarter horses with the AQHA, literally.
“It’s all over the country and world,” Smith said. “There are even shows in Australia or in Europe so it’s kind of a worldwide organization.”
Smith puts plenty of work into her craft.
“There’s a lot of upkeep, a lot of responsibility to keep your horse healthy and keep yourself healthy,” said Smith, who pointed out she’s received much help in becoming a highly successful rider.
“I’ve had several instructors during my life,” Smith said. “I started out at Lazy J Stables with Debbie Fields here in Uniontown. Actually I’m riding with her again because my horse right now is in Columbus, Ohio, so I don’t get to ride it very often. So I go to Debbie’s place and she’s helping me out, keeping me in shape and keeping me going forward as an equestrian.
“We also had trainers near Washington, Pennsylvania and Reidsville, North Carolina and in Centre Hall, Pennsylvania. We traveled around just to get the expertise of these certain trainers to move me forward in the sport.”
Smith stressed how rider and horse have to be on the same page to perform at a high level.
“There’s a lot of trust-building, there’s a lot of training involved but usually the horses are very nice and they’re willing,” Smith said. “You just have to take it slow with them and build that basis and that trust to work with you. I’m 5-7 and he’s probably a foot taller than me and about 1,200-1,300 pounds.”
Horses are very aware of what’s going on around them, Smith said.
“They do, they absolutely do,” she explained. “Every time you go to somewhere new, they need to see the sights, they need to look around so they know what’s going on and they feel comfortable so they can perform at their best.”
Smith had to work long and hard and compete at numerous events to reach the level she’s at.
“You have to qualify to go to the AQHA worlds so you have to go to so many shows and get points,” she explained. “You have to accumulate enough points to get qualified. Once you get qualified, you get to show once and you have to show off what you’ve done all year, what you’ve been working towards.
“Working Hunter Under Saddle is a flat class. You walk, trot and canter and back, both ways. It’s judged on how your horse is moving and how you’re moving with your horse, the connection and the prettiness of it. In order to qualify you have to actually compete in the jumping portion of the horse show as well.”
Smith said shows can last anywhere from four to 10 days.
“I usually go a day or two beforehand just to reconnect, get that connectivity with him before we actually go into the show pen,” she said.
“The biggest crowd was the (American) Quarter Horse Congress. It goes on for the whole month of October and it brings people from all over the world. Stadiums are full when you go into your classes unless it’s really late at night. They go all hours of the night. A typical weekend show, it usually goes from 8 o’clock in the morning to anywhere from 7-8 o’clock at night. You have to practice to get in the ring everyday, you have to go and ride afterwards and get your horse ready, get your horse prepared. We actually braid our manes for the ones I do so you have to get that done.
“Just a lot of work that goes into it.”
Smith also has a full-time job in addition to all the work that goes into being an equestrian.
“I’m married to Dr. Peter Gabriel and I am the managing partner at Smith, Lewis, Chess & Company, which is a CPA firm,” Smith said.
Hall of Fame festivities will be held on June 20 beginning with the annual golf outing at 8:30 a.m. followed by the luncheon and inductions at Pleasant Valley Golf Club in Connellsville. Golfers can register and luncheon tickets can be purchased by contacting Katie Propes by phone (724-415-2211) or email (kpropes@occluss.com).