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East Islip High School graduate Samantha Calzone, 23, of Greenwich, was killed Monday, Sept. 16, after falling off a horse at a family farm in Dover Plains on Byrds Hill Road, said the New York State Police.
Calzone graduated from the University of Connecticut in 2018 with a degree in animal science and was a post-graduate student at Hartpury University in Great Britain.
A lifelong "horse" woman, Calzone was well-known as being the captain of the UConn Equestrian Team, responsible for all 35 riders. The team posted a notice on Tuesday, Sept. 17, to honor their former captain: “Today, we must say goodbye to our beloved captain, teammate, and friend, Sam Calzone. A member of the class of 2018, Sam tragically passed away in a riding accident yesterday morning. She served as a mentor and a true ray of sunshine to UCET and all people who were lucky enough to know her. Sam was a true horsewoman and loved our sport, and these animals, with her whole heart.
In a UConn publication, Calzone spoke of her love for animals and how she knew since she was a child that she would work with animals. She had been riding since she was 9-years-old and was always the child who went to visit the animals instead of people first.
She went on to say that she met all of her best friends through being on the UConn team.
"I don’t know where I would be without the whole team as a support system," she said.
But Calzone also tried to broaden her horizons past animals and said she would take as many psychology classes as possible because criminal psychology was absolutely fascinating to her.
During breaks and free time she also worked in Biloxi, Mississippi to help with Gulf Coast restoration, and, in her sophomore year, went to Immokalee, Florida to learn about the migrant workers of this country.
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