There’s something poetic about actors who’ve played Superman finding their way to horses.
Historic Equestrian Roots
Christopher Reeve, the legendary Man of Steel from the original film series, discovered his passion for riding while filming Anna Karenina in 1985. He fell so deeply in love with the sport that he became a competitive eventer, a pursuit that would tragically change his life in 1995 when an accident during a competition left him paralyzed. Now, another actor who wore Clark Kent’s flannel shirts has found his heart belongs with horses—and he’s building a life around them.
Trading Hollywood for Hoofbeats
Tom Welling, who played Clark Kent for a decade on the beloved TV series Smallville (2001-2011), has quietly stepped away from Los Angeles life to raise his family on a Northern California ranch. At the center of it all? His wife Jessica Rose Lee’s sport horse breeding operation.
The move happened almost by accident. In 2020, during the pandemic, Welling and Jessica took their young son to visit family in Northern California. There they stumbled upon a ranch property with two homes, something clicked. “I thought, ‘This is what I want in five years,'” Welling recalled. But five years turned into five minutes. They made the leap.
A Marriage Made in the Barn
The equestrian connection isn’t coincidental. Welling began dating Jessica Rose Lee, an accomplished equestrian and founder of the Saddle Club, in 2014. They married in 2019 at Sunstone Vineyards & Winery in Santa Ynez, California—horse country through and through.
Now, when Welling isn’t working on acting projects, he’s helping Jessica build her sport horse breeding business. And yes, the man who played Superman can actually ride. “I already love horses and can ride,” Welling said in a recent interview, joking about potentially landing a role in one of Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone spinoffs. “I mean, I can’t break the new horses, but I can hold my own.”
The Superman-Horse Connection
It’s worth noting the touching parallel between Welling and his predecessor in the Superman legacy. Christopher Reeve threw himself into equestrianism with the same intensity he brought to everything—flying, sailing, skiing. He purchased a Thoroughbred named Buck and was competing at the Training Level by 1995, with plans to move up to Preliminaries.
That May, at the Commonwealth Dressage and Combined Training Association finals in Culpeper, Virginia, Reeve’s horse refused a fence. The momentum carried him forward and he landed head-first, fracturing his C1 and C2 vertebrae.
Upbeat Energy
Rather than let the tragedy define him, Reeve became an advocate for spinal cord research, founding what would become the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation. He passed away in 2004, but his legacy in both the entertainment and disability advocacy worlds lives on.
Welling, interestingly, shares something else with Reeve, neither was a Superman fan before being cast as Clark Kent. Both came to their iconic roles—and their love of horses—through unexpected paths.
Life on the Ranch
Today, Welling balances ranch life with his ongoing entertainment career. He co-hosts the TalkVille podcast with former Smallville co-star Michael Rosenbaum, where they rewatch and discuss every episode of the series. He also has a new comedy, Chasing Summer, debuting at Sundance.
But it’s clear where his heart is. The ranch, the horses, raising his two sons with Jessica—this is the life he was looking for, even if he didn’t know it until that pandemic trip north.
For horse people, there’s something deeply satisfying about seeing someone walk away from the glitz of Hollywood to muck stalls and build a breeding program. It’s a reminder that for those who truly love horses, the barn will always call you home.