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When last we left Gainesville’s Lisa Smith, she was set to go galloping across the Mongolian Steppe in an August adventure of a lifetime.

She never made it but fate has been kinder to Smith than it was to the victims of the raids and ransacking by history’s most notable Mongol, Genghis Khan, in the creation of his Eurasian empire.

Smith’s equestrian skills got her accepted as a contestant in the Mongol Derby, racing 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) in up to 10 days on Mongolian horses across the Mongolian grasslands.

Everything was on track until a cross-country competition in Hamilton County. Her horse — an Arabian loaner because her regular horse, Bull, was nursing an injury — was a bit excited before the starting gun and bucked Smith.

“He had never been to a competition before and he was out-of-mind excited. I got on him and was walking around, and he reared straight up. I fell off and was OK,” Smith said. “I got back on but I don’t think I got all the way on. I’m not exactly sure what happened but he started going faster and I couldn’t save it. I guess I just landed wrong. I didn’t even get to the start line.”

A back injury doomed her for the derby. But it turns out that COVID-19 doomed the derby. It was canceled and Smith is one of four Floridians who are eligible to race it next year.

By the way: UF veterinary clinic coming to Ocala’s World Equestrian Center

In case you missed it: Gainesville woman takes on Genghis Khan-style Mongol Derby

The derby was founded by the Adventurists, a group that stages all kinds of rallies from cars to rickshaws to hot-air balloons in locations across the world.

An offshoot, the Equestrianists, formed to focus on horse rallies. In addition to the Mongol Derby it stages the Gaucho Derby in South America’s Patagonia region with more to come, including one in North America.

Smith, a Gainesville-based biologist for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, is once again riding and she has a new partner.

Hiawassee, Cherokee for meadow, is a mustang she adopted from the Wild Horse Rescue Center in Webster.

A nationwide network of rescue groups care for and train wild horses that had been corralled by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to trim the population in western states.

“She’s in good shape. She likes to go — she does not like to walk,” Smith said. “She’s small like the Mongolian ponies and I’m hoping she’ll have the temperament of the Mongolian ponies. Hopefully she’ll be a more similar training partner than my giant thoroughbred.”

Diane Delano, Wild Horse Rescue Center founder, said Hiawassee was rounded up by BLM in the Divide Basin in Wyoming and had two previous owners before coming to the center.

Initially Hiawassee lacked courage and was nervous during training but eventually came around.

“People think that when a mustang comes out of the wild they can adapt so quickly but it takes them a little bit of time,” Delano said. “When Lisa rode her with her English saddle, (Hiawassee) did beautifully. Lisa needed a horse that had a nice forward-go. She needed something she could be on for hours and miles.”

Smith keeps herself in shape by running, cycling and doing stadiums at the University of Florida.

Now she is going to add the hours and miles to her training.

“I decided I’m going to run a marathon as my preparation mentally for really challenging things,” Smith said. “I can torture myself that way.”

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