HOLLIS — Jean Murphy-Ashton, 80, and her beloved horse, Geartsje, made the ride of their lives Sunday.

The Parsonsfield woman and her 21-year-old black mare achieved a “Century Ride,” where a rider and horse with a combined age of 100 or more successfully complete a prescribed performance in front of judges.

Murphy-Ashton and Geartsje, who hails from Holland, displayed balance and symmetry while trotting, cantoring, slow stepping, and making perfect 10- and 20-meter circles at the Hollis Equestrian Park.

The performance ended when Murphy-Ashton and her horse stopped and faced the judges. Applause and cheers broke out from admiring fans, including her husband, George Ashton, and their children and grandchildren. Murphy-Ashton received a bouquet of flowers, and a Century Club ribbon was placed on Geartsje’s bridle.

“I’m thrilled,” Murphy-Ashton said, adding she had butterflies before the performance, afraid that she would make a mistake.

“She was good,” Murphy-Ashton said of Geartsje. “She was listening to me and followed the cues.”

Making the Century Ride is “a pretty big deal,” said friend and fellow horsewoman Cindi Spear of Buxton. Spear said riders often have to borrow an older horse to do it, so Murphy-Ashton achieving the ride with her own mare was special.

Not many people at Murphy-Ashton’s age can compete in horse shows, Spear said.

“She does all kinds of shows during the year and has a blast with her horse,” Spear said. “A couple of weekends ago, she was in Vermont trail riding with friends. She is amazing. A woman who does not have any fear.”

Even more remarkable is that Murphy-Ashton continued riding despite being severely injured two years ago, when a horse she was on reared up and fell over, crushing her.

The young horse rose on its back legs, “flipped over and landed on me, then scrambled to get up and landed on me again,” said Murphy-Ashton, who was 78 at the time. The horse’s whole body, weighing 1,200 pounds, crushed her.

“It broke 22 of my bones,” she said. “My pelvis was totally broken.”

The pain was excruciating, said Murphy-Ashton, adding that she heard her bones crack.

“I couldn’t move. I was right behind my barn,” she said, but no one was around to see her fall. “I thought, ‘I can’t die like this.’ ”

Murphy-Ashton, a retired nurse, knew she didn’t have extensive internal bleeding, but it was two hours before her husband found her and called an ambulance.

She was in the hospital for a month, and many physical therapy sessions followed.

“Most of us thought she’d never ride again,” Spear said. “You have to marvel at her resilience.”

Five months later, Murphy-Ashton was back in the saddle.

“I hate the thought of not being able to ride,” she said.

Her family fretted about her decision, but “I told my children, ‘As long as I could throw my legs over the horse, I’m going to be riding.’ ”

Sunday’s show where she achieved the Century Ride was sponsored by the State of Maine Dressage Association.

Dressage takes a lot of practice and requires the rider and horse to be in tune with each other and work as a team. The levels of dressage range from introductory to more advanced steps.

Murphy-Ashton competed in a second level test, which is advanced, Spear said. The rider must remember the prescribed steps.

“As you get older, it’s not easy to remember,” she said.

Murphy-Ashton said she’s loved horses all her life. She got her first horse after graduating from nursing school, when she and her first husband lived in Massachusetts.

“I always wanted to get a horse. It was amazing. It changed my life,” she said.

Murphy-Ashton was raising five children and horses when her first husband died at age 47. She was 45, and their children were still young.

“It was a very hard time,” Murphy-Ashton said. “Horses kind of saved my life.”

Eventually, she moved from Massachusetts to Maine and remarried after friends introduced her to George Ashton.

“He’s a big-time animal lover,” Murphy-Ashton said, adding Geartsje goes to him more than her, in part because he always has horse treats.

Through the years, she’s owned several horses, but Geartsje is special, she said. The horse is a Friesian, which are all black with long, dramatic manes. Friesians were often used by royalty and today regularly appear in films.

Murphy-Ashton got her horse in Holland when the mare was 2 years old.

“I saw her trotting in the field. As soon as I saw her, I loved her,” she said.

Murphy-Ashton has no plans to stop riding Geartsje any time soon.

“I ride six days a week. I give her one day off,” she said with a chuckle.

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