When the horse landed on Nicole Setterlund’s left hand, the ambulance was two hours away, the nearest hospital another hour away, and help seemed non-existent.

Setterlund, a seasoned and cultured WSU women’s soccer forward, was stuck.

She loved riding horses as a child on a Canadian ranch, and said she thought she was just enjoying a nice afternoon when the situation took a turn for the worse.

“We were running in a big open field, and I was on the path. My older brothers’ best friends’ horse overtook my horse, so it got pushed off the path,” she said. “The horse fell. As I was trying to get back on, it crushed my hand.”

By the time she reached the hospital five hours later, the doctors would not let Setterlund see the injury because she was in shock. 

“I didn’t really have fingers,” she said. “They were just like sausages.”

For most, the devastation would have ended any future horse riding, but not for Setterlund.

“My parents basically made me go back the next year and start riding horses again,” she said. “What really made me actually do it was, I’m stubborn. That shows through my competitiveness. I was saying, ‘I’m going to ride you. I don’t care if I’m scared’.”

Although many slow down after a traumatic sports injury, Setterlund drove forward after her experience.

“Anything where I’m moving, I just want to be in it,” she said. “I’m all sports; all jock.”

This dedication to sports was instilled in Setterlund at a young age. She said she insisted on practicing with her sister, attending her brothers’ games, and playing sports like water polo and ultimate Frisbee in high school. 

As a child, she said she also enjoyed taking some time off from her true love, soccer, to dabble in some other hair-raising adventures.

“I was skiing when I was walking,” she said. “My dad was a ski racer growing up and we bought a cabin up at Whistler as a family. We were up there every weekend up until basically college. I never got to actually compete in skiing because of soccer, you just can’t do both, but I’d say it’s a pretty big part of my life.”

All of her passions, she said, lead back to her competitive drive. This is what led her to compete with the Canadian Women’s U-17, U-20 and national soccer teams.

“I started with our national team when I was 15,” she said. “I went to a few camps. The first world cup was at U-17’s, so basically I was traveling all the time; on the road all of grade 11, all of grade 12.”

Setterlund also remembers when her Canadian team when won the CONCACAF Cup.

“I was gone about 15 days every month, and then made it to CONCACAF and won CONCACAF, which was really big for Canada that year,” she said. “It doesn’t really happen… We beat the U.S. to win.”

While Setterlund remembers the wins and competition, she loved traveling.

“I am a west coast kind of person,” she said. “I just love it. To be honest, Washington is a lot more like Canada than a lot of places and I just knew that I wanted to stay somewhere more similar. And you know, I can’t be a Husky, because the Huskies suck.”

Even after all her travels, Setterlund still finds a home in the Palouse.

“Our athletic teams are supported so well, by everyone,” she said. “Emotionally, they always have our back. All the mentors and their children and everything they put on for us is just amazing. It makes it a really good home environment.”

Where Setterlund will make her true home one day remains a mystery, but she said that’s okay. She’s going to spend time experiencing different countries before settling, she said.

Wherever the future takes her, Setterlund said she is sure of one fact: She will always be a Cougar.