Photo courtesy of Soledad O’Brien

On a morning earlier this summer, Soledad O’Brien failed to pick up the phone for a scheduled interview, calling back a short time later with effusive apologies.

“I got dumped by my horse,” she said. “He got spooked, took a side step, and I fell off.”

She is matter-of-fact about the experience, the result of a lifetime around horses, which began, as it does for so many riders, mucking out stalls in exchange for riding lessons.

“My dream was to be a hotwalker at the racetrack,” she said. “I had five brothers and sisters, so my family couldn’t really pay for riding lessons, so I took a job at age 13 to pay for lessons.”

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