Jess's Story

May 2014

Jess came to us in January 2011. We started looking for a horse for my partner as Pixie was proving to be too much horse for a green rider. So after taking lessons on Jess for a few months it was decided that we would buy him. He is a grade older Quarter horse. He has his cranky old man ways, but he is safe and that was the most important thing to us. It was his job to teach her how to ride and safely take her out on trail rides. And that is just what he has done. He was even a trooper when we got lost out on the trails in May of 2012, well not lost really, but farther out then we wanted. What was supposed to be a hour to two hour ride turned into five hours of up and down steep hills! He safely carried her without a bad step the entire time. Even though we knew at the end he had to be in pain from his arthritis.  Unfortunately a few weeks after that ride he hurt his shoulder some how and that would mark his retirement from trail riding. We had over a year of enjoying the trails with him and that was plenty. He had done his job well, he was the safe teacher that we needed at the time. He had earned his retirement. We currently take him one rides around the barn at least once a week to try to keep him in shape.  Many people wonder why we keep him, he is older, on and off again lame, and not pretty. But he has earned every bit of his easy life now. Before us he was a hard working ranch/rope horse. He is worth his weight in gold!