Robert “Bob” Smith

Visionary Horseman Robert E Smith Passes Away Robert “Bob” Smith died June 2, 2020, after a battle with cancer. He is mourned by family and friends and his loving partner of 19 years, Andrew Garcia.

Smith was born in 1946 and grew up in Malibu, where he learned to ride on his parents’ ranch. He competed horses in hunter/ jumper classes, then transitioned to the discipline of eventing in 1968. He trained with the famous Hilda Gurney at Woodland Hills Pony Club and competed two very successful horses – Malibu Lad and Timber Top – in international competition.

After graduating from UCLA with a master’s degree in public health, Smith moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to work for the California Public Utilities Commission. In 1976, he led a team of fellow equestrians (Kay Hitch, Janey Bennett, Vicky Matisi, Jackie Ahl, and Brian Sabo) in founding the Combined Training Equestrian Teams Alliance (CTETA). “His dream was to create an ‘Adult Pony Club’ to foster horsemanship as a next step beyond Pony Club,” explained his friend Sabo. Eventually, CTETA became a nationwide organization, was an affiliate of the USCTA (now USEA, United States Eventing Association), and had 22 “Combined Training Teams” with a similar structure to the U.S. Pony Clubs.

In 1982, CTETA, with

Smith as President, leased a 272-acre piece of property in Woodside, owned by Stanford University and known as Guernsey Field. The group began to host a wide range of equestrian activities for a number of different disciplines including eventing, hunter/jumpers, polo, driving, and reining. In 1998 the facility was renamed the Horse Park at Woodside, and today, it is a flourishing non-profit, dedicated to land preservation and equestrian sport.

“Bob’s influence on the sport was immeasurable and his legacy provides our sport benefits that will continue long into the future,” says Sabo. “Of course, a book could be written on Bob and his journey. But his legacy would be the furtherance of the sport he loved, and he would be happy with that.”

In his later years, Smith took up combined driving and moved to Wilton, California to establish Handy Horse Farm with his husband Andrew. He will be dearly missed.