Well, I suppose I should do the polite thing and start this first blog post off with a short introduction. My name is Jess and I'm 24 years old. I've loved horses ever since I knew what one was and have been riding on and off since I was about 5 (I'm counting the numerous trail rides my parents took me on, I started taking lessons when I was 7). Though it wasn't till about a year and a half ago I seriously got into riding. I remember the day I started riding again after a 2 year break and bouncing from barn to barn, desperately trying to find one that I clicked with after I left my old barn of about a year or so. It was that fateful day (which happened to be my birthday) that I met my soon to be partner in crime, Jax. I'm pretty sure he's the largest horse I've ever ridden, measuring in at a whopping 17hh.... Definitely the biggest thoroughbred I've ever seen before. He was 12 at the time, now going on 14. My first ride on him was like nothing else, although we've just met I felt a connection with him. There was definitely something special about this horse, and as I left the barn after my lesson that day I realized there would be a future with this horse. About two weeks later I began leasing him for two days a week. To make what's turned into a somewhat long story shorter, those two days a week turned into four and after much discussion and a crazy amount of begging, last summer my husband agreed to let me buy him. As of August 29, 2011 he was actually mine. I still get emotional thinking about it, because he's that one special horse that each rider finds in their life and I honestly don't know what I would have done had I lost him to somebody else. I probably would have quit riding for quite some time... yes, it was that extreme. We've since moved on from the barn where our relationship began (a story which I will go into another time) and are currently at a barn we both love and adore. I'm excited for all the great and exciting things to come in mine and Jax's future and to share our training progress and other stories about the trips we go on and shows we compete at with everyone! In this blog I will also have product reviews, open discussion with my readers/followers on various subjects (mostly equine, but every now and then it will be something different), and also just random stories about my life in general. I look forward to developing this blog into something great that people will enjoy reading. Till next time! :)