When Hannah Selleck decided to make horses her career, her father supported her—with an expectation. If Tom Selleck was going to help support her horses, she needed to turn professional and work for someone. She became an assistant to her former trainer, Karen Healey, Hannah recalled in a 2023 Wellington International interview.
For the daughter of Tom and Jillie Mack, that meant learning the work that had once been done for her. She rode clients’ horses, helped teach students and set up jumps for lessons. As she told Sidelines, being on the staff gave her a different view of the effort involved in getting a rider into the ring.
A childhood around horses
Born on December 16, 1988, Hannah grew up on her parents’ California ranch. Tom and Jillie wanted her to have a childhood away from the spotlight. She later earned a communications degree from Loyola Marymount University and, in 2023, an MBA from Pepperdine, according to People.
Her connection with horses began at four. Jillie initially took up riding alongside her, while Tom already had experience from his Western films. Hannah’s interest developed into competition, eventually bringing her a first grand prix victory in 2010 aboard Tosca van het Lambroeck. Equestrian Living traces those early years.
She did try a job in public relations after college. But being away from the horses convinced her to pursue riding professionally. Her parents encouraged her to learn through jobs with experienced horsepeople before running a stable herself. Sidelines
Building Descanso Farm
The family also began breeding horses through Descanso Farm, founded in 2010. The retirement of Tosca, Hannah’s successful competition mare, helped start the operation. Rather than selling her as a broodmare, they could raise the next generation themselves.
By 2019, Hannah was developing young horses bred through the program. One of them, Elita Toscita DF, would become especially significant: Hannah described her as the horse she felt comfortable returning to competition on after her injury.
The fall—and another setback
In 2018, Hannah’s horse stopped at a jump at Spruce Meadows in Calgary. Her magnetic stirrups failed to release properly, and she shattered her tibia and fibula. Six hours of surgery and intensive physical therapy followed. A doctor warned that she might never run again, Equestrian Living reported.
Her recovery brought further complications. In her Wellington interview, Hannah said she developed complex regional pain syndrome following surgery to remove hardware from her leg in 2020. She described severe pain and difficulty bearing weight. Treatment brought the condition into remission, but returning to competition also meant working through fear and trauma responses. She credited meditation and yoga with helping her through that process.
Back at Spruce Meadows
In 2023, Hannah returned to the same venue and finished 11th in the ATCO Queen Elizabeth II Cup with Cloud 39. The pair had progressed into five-star competition during the summer series, tackling courses with jumps reaching 1.60 meters.
At the prize-giving, she rode Cloud into the arena wearing his cooler, back at Spruce Meadows five years after the fall.
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