Just a couple of years ago, equestrienne Angela Halloran-Smith harboured no hopes of competing for Bermuda, but then a “special” horse came along.

A 40-year veteran of the sport and Bermuda’s first dressage coach, Halloran-Smith thought that her days of top-level competition were over but she is now preparing to represent the island at the Central American and Caribbean Games at the age of 55.

The chance to participate in a major Games may have surprised her, but she is convinced that nine-year-old gelding Evert Van De Noeste Hoeve, which was imported to Bermuda from the Netherlands in 2022, has the quality to shine in the Dominican Republic ring.

“This certainly wasn’t in my sights 2½ years ago,” Halloran-Smith said.

“But I’ve been working with this horse since 2022 and he always impressed me. He just seemed to get more special the more time I spent training him.

“I got an opportunity to increase the challenge bit by bit and the turning point was going to compete on the Florida show circuit. That’s where you get the best horses and the best riders during the winter. I took him down there to see how he was going to compare, but also how he was going to handle the travel and the stress. If we couldn’t hold up to those things, then it wasn’t going to be worth the commitment and sacrifice to go for something much bigger like the Central American Games.

“But he did it all with flying colours. He was absolutely amazing and he handled the environments sometimes better than I did.”

From there, the partnership went on the CAC Games selection trials and Halloran-Smith thought she had blown her chance of qualification after a disastrous first effort.

“Everything went wrong that you could possibly imagine,” she said. “But I knew that was just part of the process and that we had to learn from it, to learn what needed to be fixed.

“There were horses there competing from New Zealand, there were horses there competing for the Asian Games, a lot of European and Canadian riders were there and we were right in the middle of it.

“We weren’t winning and knocking people’s socks off, but we were in there and we held our own. The thing that has always impressed me about this horse is what a solid show horse he has become and how he is just so honest and rideable in the show ring. That’s a huge part of it; you can have an extremely talented horse but if they’re a hothead and you can’t really ride him in the show ring, that’s a problem.”

The CAC Games is a step up in class and Halloran-Smith is uncertain just how high Evert will fly in the big competition.

“This is a hard competition to try and shoot for, but we’re taking the challenge on, putting ourselves out there, saying our prayers and hoping it's all going to work out,” she said.

“I do feel like we are certainly going to be competitive and all I can tell you is we’re going to go there and we’re going to give it our best shot.”

But their best shot comes at a considerable cost. The budget for getting horse and rider to Santo Domingo is approaching $25,000 — a figure that reflects just how complex it is to transport a live animal across international borders.

Unlike a swimmer packing their goggles or a cyclist dismantling a bike, Halloran-Smith's equipment breathes, eats and requires a battery of veterinary tests before entering a foreign country.

“It certainly is a challenge and, of course, it’s a bigger challenge than for other athletes because we’re flying a live animal,” she said.

“He is essentially my equipment, so he has to go. There’s no question about that and since he is a live animal there’s so much protocol as far as all of the tests that have to be done, the precautions you have to take and the vaccinations you must have in order for him to stay safe travelling from one country to another — and, of course, that costs money on both sides, so it’s a huge expense.”

To help bridge the funding gap, Halloran-Smith has launched a GoFundMe campaign, with $4.750 so far raised towards the $21,300 needed to compete. Halloran-Smith has been heartened by the initial response, with the support meaning far more to her than simply helping to cover the bills.

“What has just been a huge part of this whole journey is experiencing all of the support that we have had,” she said.

“I have reconnected with people from way back in my childhood. I was just going for this goal but it has brought forth a common thread that runs through all of us in the equestrian community. Truthfully, that is probably more what this is about than the competition itself.”