SWAMPSCOTT — Chloe Christina Smith spent years building the life she wanted — one centered on horses, family, and a farm she hoped would become a gathering place for generations to come.

On Friday evening, that life was tragically cut short, leaving those who loved her struggling to imagine a future without the 25-year-old whose enthusiasm, warmheartedness, and determination shaped so many of their lives.

Smith was riding with friends on Friday when her show horse refused a jump, throwing her from the saddle before falling on top of her. The horse suffered a fatal neck injury in the fall. Smith was airlifted to UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, where all of her loved ones were able to gather by her side before she died seven hours later.

As relatives came together in the days that followed, they found themselves returning to the same core traits: her independence, generosity, ambition, and unwavering love of horses.

“Her life was horses,” said her father, Jim Smith, a former state representative who represented West Lynn from 1971 to 1978. “That was her love.”

In April, she purchased a working horse farm in Berlin, where she boarded horses, trained riders, and had begun building a business, fulfilling a lifelong dream.

Just one week before the accident, she had moved into the farmhouse.

“Her world was right there,” Jim said.

Her oldest brother, Andrew Smith, added, “Chloe loved her horses more than life itself. She was thrilled when she opened her own barn just seven weeks ago.”

Her mother, Abbe Smith, said horses became central to Chloe’s life after childhood summers spent at an equestrian camp.

“She loved it,” Abbe recalled. “She loved everything about horses.”

On the farm, Chloe cared for her horses and other animals, totaling 18. She dreamt of developing the property into a space everyone would want to visit, and hoped it would one day be a gathering place for family celebrations and community events.

“She said she wanted to live there the rest of her life,” Abbe said. “She wanted to get married there.”

Her sister, Hayley Gray, described her younger sister as a “yes gal” — someone who rarely turned down an opportunity, whether it was a spontaneous trip, learning a new skill, or helping a loved one in need.

The willingness to show up for others defined much of Chloe’s life, her family said.

When Gray’s son was recently sick, Chloe dropped everything and immediately drove two hours to help her sister. She then spent countless hours making sure everything was taken care of before heading home.

“She was always just the first to jump in,” Gray said.

Her brother Tristan Smith, a member of the Lynn School Committee, said she has always been independent, even as a little girl.

“Growing up, she did her own thing from day one,” he said. “It just manifested itself into horses.”

He described his sister as compassionate, family-oriented, and deeply committed to helping others.

“She always showed up for us,” he said. “No questions asked.”

While horses dominated much of her life, family members said they represented only one part of who Chloe was.

An excellent writer, whose poem “Horses” was published in the Daily Item when Chloe was a fifth grader at Swampscott Middle School, she maintained a strong interest in politics and public policy. According to her father, she frequently attended rallies, closely followed current events, and advocated for causes she believed in.

Family members also described her as fiercely committed to social justice and equality.

“She was very steadfast in her beliefs,” Tristan said. “She certainly always wanted the best for people.”

Abbe called her daughter “a sparkling fairy,” remembering her intelligence, kindness, thoughtfulness, and striking blue eyes.

The family has also found comfort knowing that, through organ and tissue donation, numerous recipients may be helped in their time of need, showing that Chloe’s care and devotion to helping others continues to live on after her passing.

Yet the loss remains difficult to comprehend.

Abbe compared her family to a table supported by four strong legs: her children Andrew, Hayley, Tristan, and Chloe.

“Now one’s gone,” she said. “And it’s very hard to keep your table standing up.”

For those closest to her, the tragedy is made even more poignant by the fact that Chloe died pursuing the passion that shaped her life.

Standing in the fields of the farm she loved, surrounded by the horses she devoted herself to caring for, is how her family remembers her.

And while the future Chloe envisioned for the farm will now remain unfinished, her family believes the tenacity, empathy, and adventurous spirit that defined her will endure long after her passing.