Horse Trainer, Mercer Springs Farm
by Kensie Westerfield
It is said that horse training is not a job, but a way of life. Your life revolves around horse shows, mares having babies and driving thousands of miles around the country with a trailer full of horses. It takes a special person—someone who is passionate about horses—to be able to enjoy that sort of a life. Smith Lilly is not only one of those people, but he is lucky enough to have been surrounded by them his whole life.
His grandfather, who indirectly influenced him in becoming a horse trainer, was one such man. His mother, Sandy, and now his wife, Alexandra, are also some of those very special people. “My grandfather was an attorney and he always came home from work to meet my brother and me at the barn after school,” remembers Lilly. “His day was interrupted by training horses which is what he really liked to do. He would always have a briefcase full of work to do after supper. I wanted the kind of job that when I got up in the morning, I could go do what I liked to do right off the bat. He never encouraged me to be a horse trainer, but I think he was satisfied when I did and I think he was surprised.”
Lilly did not always know that he wanted to be a horse trainer. He had dreams of being a football player or a pro golfer, but the path has worked out very well for him. “I love what I am doing,” says Lilly. “There is nothing as exciting to me as to ride a good horse that is working well and it takes some effort to get them to that point. We develop most of the horses ourselves; we at least try to buy the horse on the way up rather than at the peak of its career.”
Lilly not only loves what he does, but he is definitely at the top of his game. He won the World’s Grand Championship Five-Gaited Stake Class in 2006 with a phenomenal horse he trained named He’s The Man, a horse showing event comparable to the Super Bowl. Winning this top honor made Lilly the only West Virginian to ride or train a Five-Gaited World Grand Champion.
Lilly explains that there are many aspects that go into the preparation of readying a horse for the show ring. It is his understanding of these principles that has made him successful. “You have to have consistency in your training,” says Lilly. “The horse has to rely on the trainer to be comfortable, and the trainer consistently helps the horse to be comfortable. The more we can do to keep them comfortable and secure, the better effort they can give us because that is less anxiety for them. I think that is the most important thing, and I think being able to be consistent involves some degree of working hard. If you are not there tending to business everyday then things slip. The effort and the consistency are the most important things, along with the teamwork involved. We have a crew of 11 people that come to work everyday and we have to work as a team, the 11 of us. It can be sort of a thorny day if you don’t work as a team.”
It is not all about competition for Lilly. He has helped shape the lives of many horses and riders over the years and always falls back on horsemanship, a key factor in his success. “I think you have to enjoy the horsemanship and enjoy the process of learning how to ride and how to care for the horse and how to have a horse ready to give its best. There is a lot more to it than the few minutes you are actually competing. There is the background, that is 99 percent, and the actual competition is 1 percent. The spotlight is 1 percent but it is not as important as the preparation.”
Understanding what it takes to make a successful show horse, Lilly also gives of his time to judge horse shows and is either a member of or sits on the board of the American Saddlebred Horse Association, United States Equestrian Federation and the United Professional Horseman’s Association. He is also involved in trying to establish an Equestrian Park in Southern West Virginia that would rival those in the neighboring states.
Lilly has shown and won all over the United States, but he will not hesitate to say that his favorite place to be is Princeton, West Virginia at Mercer Springs Farm.
Photography by Rick Lee
