Joan Irvine Smith

[2] In 1952 she married Charles Swinden in Rancho San Joaquin, with the ceremony being officiated by her stepfather, Judge Thurmond Clarke.

[9] She held a press conference to announce the filing of this suit at the Mark Hopkins Hotel in San Francisco.

[13] She also helped establish the Reeve-Irvine Research Center at UC Irvine, a spinal cord injury research center named for actor Christopher Reeve, who was paralyzed after a riding accident.

[19] Joan Irvine Smith learned to ride from a young age and became a recognized breeder, owning three ranches all called The Oaks, in Virginia, San Juan Capistrano, and Valley Center.

When her stallion, called South Pacific, died of a rare disease caused by parasite Halicephalobus deletrix, Irvine Smith claimed it had been purposely infected and hired a private investigator.