holly smith

Holly Smith is one of the highest-ranked British female show jumpers in the world. She has represented Great Britain at the Olympic Games and World Equestrian Games and was part of the team that won bronze at the 2019 European Championships. She has won numerous other five-star events, including the Kingdom of Bahrain Stakes for the King’s Cup and La Baule Derby, and in August 2022, she joined the Poden Farms team.

Smith (nee Gillott) was born in Loughborough, Leicestershire, in March 1989 and grew up in the nearby village of Wymeswold. She was taught to ride at a very young age by her horse-mad mother, and her early successes included becoming a HOYS Foxhunter Finalist in 2005. She has suffered for her art: she fractured her leg in 2010 and needed further surgery in 2012 when it hadn’t healed properly. She also broke her ankle in 2012, a career-threatening injury that led to a fortnight in hospital and four months out of the saddle. She also broke her leg falling from a horse in 2017. However, she has always got back up and kept on going. She got a much more pleasant break in 2018 when she was chosen to be part of the British team that competed at the World Equestrian Games in North Carolina.

The following year, Smith helped the British team to take bronze at the European Championships in Rotterdam. Her beloved horse, Hearts Destiny (aka Ted) sadly passed away in August 2020, but she travelled to Tokyo in 2021, making her Olympic debut on Denver and achieving a top-10 finish.