Patience pays off for this busy Texas architect and amateur eventer.

It’s dark when Samantha Garbarino’s alarm clock goes off, typically at about 4 a.m.

As a full-time architect and determined and successful event rider, Garbarino makes every minute count in her day. She gets up and cares for her three horses and donkey at her Argyle, Texas, home, before commuting to Dallas to begin her workday as a senior associate architect at Urban Design Group.

“She juggles a million things, and I really admire her for how she handles it. I don’t know how she manages to ride at the level that she does given all of the other things she does,” said good friend and fellow eventer Lynne Partridge.

All of the long hours and hard work paid off on Sept. 25-27, when Garbarino pulled off a big win in the CIC* division at the Poplar Place Horse Trials (Ga.). Garbarino, 43, isn’t afraid to say she cried during the awards ceremony at Poplar Place.

“I was just sitting on my horse, blubbering. It was an emotional moment for me. It put the icing on the cake,” she said.

“It was fantastic that she got a good win, but it certainly wasn’t handed to her on a plate,” said Mary D’Arcy, Garbarino’s good friend and trainer. In fact, Garbarino and her Chasing Liberty, or “Toby,” have overcome amazingly long odds for that long-awaited win.

In December of 2007, Toby contracted a liver infection that almost claimed his life. Garbarino had developed Toby from an off-the-track Quarter Horse into a consistent campaigner at the preliminary level, and she painstakingly nursed him back to health. He was back on form in time to compete at the Pine Hill Horse Trials (Texas) in April, and she thought they were back on track. Little did she know then that this would be their only event of the year and an even tougher battle was about to begin.

A Horrifying Accident

As she was leaving Pine Hill on April 5, her birthday, Garbarino was rear-ended in her truck and trailer.

“I was picking up speed, heading to the highway,” she recalled. “I just heard a loud bang, and the next thing I knew I saw my horse galloping up the road past me into oncoming traffic.”

Garbarino got her truck stopped and leapt out to chase Toby. Someone who had been driving behind her stopped to pick her up and took her to Toby.

“The lady who stopped and picked me up said she saw it happen and that he’d fallen out backwards, flipped over, and got up. He had a big puncture wound in his chest, but, luckily, it missed anything major. He had a huge hole in his knee, but it didn’t puncture the capsule, and he just had road rash everywhere. He was a bit of a mess, to put it mildly,” said Garbarino.

D’Arcy, who accompanied Garbarino and Toby to the veterinary clinic, added, “I don’t know how he ever came out of that in one piece—he was in bits. That horse could have been killed. It was horrendous—he was galloping down a major road with traffic coming the other way. It was just by the grace of God that nothing worse happened. He had some horrible injuries, but she took wonderful care of him, and he’s all healed now.”

Garbarino spent six weeks treating Toby twice a day—cleaning the wounds and wrapping his knee. She also used laser and Game Ready Equine equipment and a chiropractor to help Toby mend. After six weeks, she got the go-ahead to get back on Toby for long walks and put him back to work a month later.

“Physically, he was fine, although his left hind was weak. But mentally, he was understandably not as settled as before,” said Garbarino.

But time worked its magic, and now Toby is healed and better than ever. After her win at Poplar and a fifth place in the USEA Area V Preliminary Championships, Garbarino is considering a move up to intermediate. She hopes to save vacation time and make her first trip to Florida this winter to compete.

Toby’s first event was at novice with Garbarino in 2004, and they completed 10 training level events in 2005, culminating with a second place in the Area V Training Horse Championships. Their first season at preliminary was in 2006, and they placed 16th at the Hagyard Midsouth Three-Day Event CCI* (Ky.).

Despite missing much of the 2008 season while Toby recuperated from the trailer accident, they came out strong in 2009 and didn’t place lower than 10th in their four events before Poplar Place.

“It’s taken him almost a year to get used to things again, and I think he was sore from the accident for quite a while,” she said.

Patience Is The Key

“She’s had quite a lot of adversity with the horse—he hasn’t been the easiest, and she’s done all the work herself,” D’Arcy said. “She’s such a good example for younger riders who don’t have a lot of financial resources; she’s proof that hard work can get you there too.

“He was a horse she picked out herself,” D’Arcy continued. “He’s a willing horse, but he hasn’t been easy. It was hard for him to get his balance in the dressage, and he was incredibly enthusiastic jumping. The combination of unbalanced and enthusiasm in a horse can make for some interesting jumping efforts. But she’s worked with him. Anybody else would have not worked as hard with him and not have gotten the results. It just proves that it’s hard work, determination, knowledge and patience that make success.”

Toby has big shoes to fill—Garbarino took her last Quarter Horse, a chestnut mare named Jericho’s Gold, to intermediate and competed her from 2000 to 2004 with many top placings.

“As far as the cross-country jumps, he was very quick to learn,” Garbarino said of Toby, an 11-year-old appendix Quarter Horse (Westhoff—Riverside Charmer). “The only thing I had an issue with was narrow fences. He was really wiggly, and straightness was a big issue. As soon as our flatwork improved, and as soon as he understood that you just jumped them, he was fine. Now, he just locks onto the skinnies. But I did do a lot of schooling shows and clinics with him, like with Phillip Dutton and Karen O’Connor.”

As one of the senior architects at Urban Design Group, Garbarino spends time traveling. Her latest project was a film school for the University of Southern California.

“It’s a full-time, stressful job,” she said. “I work long hours often, and I’m away from home a lot. So, I get up in the morning early, do the horses before I drive to Dallas, and then again when I get home. I’m very lucky that my husband is understanding, and he’s good at picking up the chores when I’m going to be late, even though he’s not a horse person.”

Partridge agreed. “She has a very supportive husband and a great group of friends. She’s a great rider and a terrific friend. I have to travel a bit, and she and another friend came and helped do my horses’ fitness work for me,” she said. Despite her busy schedule, Garbarino doesn’t let the details slide.

“She’s consistent in her management and her training of her horse,” D’Arcy said. “He’s always looked in first-class shape. It doesn’t matter how early she has to get up in the morning or what she had to do, any time she comes for a lesson with me, he looks like a million dollars. And she does her homework. If we’d worked on one particular thing, she would have come back the next week having worked on it at home and have it nailed.

“Her prioritizing is brilliant,” D’Arcy added. “I know people who say, ‘Oh, it’s raining, can’t ride today.’ But for Sam, it doesn’t matter what she has to do to improve her performance or get ready—she’ll find the time and fit it in. It’s hard to juggle that and what’s going on in your work or home life, and she seems to be able to do that without any aspect suffering.”

Not In England Anymore

Garbarino might have become a fixture on the Texas eventing scene, but she’s a long way from where she calls home—England. She grew up in Oxfordshire, riding in the pony jumpers, hunter paces and eventing. She moved to Texas 13 years ago for her husband.

“It was a bit of a culture shock—it took a bit of getting used to,” Garbarino said with a smile. “Where I’m from in England is pretty much central eventing country. Blenheim is 15 minutes down the road, and Mark Todd lived in the next village. I had a lot of events to go to, and I could hack to my nearest event. To go from there to Texas is quite a change. I was worried that I wouldn’t find any kind of eventing, but it doesn’t take long to find people, and I’ve got a great group of friends now, including two fellow Brits!”

Garbarino and her husband have a 5-acre property where Toby, Jericho’s Gold, and her 2-year-old filly live with the rascally donkey Jonathan.

She has high hopes for Chloe, the filly. She bred “Jeri” to the Thoroughbred stallion Just A Devil.

“When I lived in England, I worked at a flat-racing and breeding stable, so I helped with foaling and knew what that was like. I was there when she was born and helped pull her out,” Garbarino said. “Next spring, I get to break her in. She’s such a character. She’s into anything and has no idea about any kind of boundaries.”

D’Arcy thinks that Chloe will be in good hands for her start in the sport.

“Sam has a lot of patience. She’s never a short-cut person,” D’Arcy said. “A lot of people want things right now, today, and they rush things without giving the horse time to mature and develop. But she gives the horses that time. She’s got a good feel for that and a great rapport with her animals.”

It’s not just animals that Garbarino bonds with either. She’s also known for her quick wit and easy companionship.

“She’s game for anything,” said Partridge. “She’s just so practical and accomplished and fun to be around. She’s just one of those people that not only can you have fun with, but you can also really rely on.”

Tidbits

• Chasing Liberty’s registered Quarter Horse name is Liberty Or Death. “I had to change it!” Garbarino said with a laugh.

• Garbarino met her husband, Anthony, when they were just 5. Their parents were family friends, but his family moved back to the United States. They didn’t see each other for 20 years but reconnected at a reunion dinner and got married soon after.

• “Besides being an architect, Sam is also a wonderful artist,” said her friend Lynne Partridge. “For a birthday present for me, she made a wonderful sculpture of my horse out of baling wire she pulled off hay bales. She’s also a wonderful painter and has done a picture of two of my horses for me. She’s very talented.”

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