About me (the equestrian me)

A horsey childhood…

I’ve been an equestrian and horse person for longer than I can remember. I grew up on my mother’s Morgan horse ranch, and got my first pony (a Shetland misnamed Angel) when I was four. When I was nine, my parents bought me my first Morgan, a feisty five-year-old gelding whom we called Punky (Capella Command).

I did 4-H, local shows, and regional Morgan shows, showing primarily hunt, dressage, and saddle seat (with a dash of Western), until I graduated from high school. Before going to college, I spent a year in Spain, during which I rode Spanish horses (mostly Andalusians or “pura raza española“) for a local trainer.

I came back to the states to study Foreign Service at Georgetown University, but loved Spain so much I spent my junior year abroad in Madrid, studying at La Complutense. My classes were in the Facultad de Somosaguas, and I had to take the bus everyday. The route went by the racetrack. In January, suffering extreme withdrawal symptoms from lack-of-horse, I got off the bus, climbed over the wall, walked into the first stable I found, and said “I’m looking for a horse.”

How I got into racing

I had to clarify I wanted to ride horses, not buy them, but I was soon galloping, and… Well you don’t know the rest of the story, but I may blog about it someday. Suffice it to say, I went back after graduating from Georgetown. I got my amateur jockey and training license, and trained, galloped, and raced Thoroughbreds and Arabians for several years.

A video that features me to some extent, with a tiny excerpt of what was a LONG AP Press inerview:

Life as an expat included horses

Since then, I’ve galloped Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses at the racetrack in Mexico City (Hipodromo de las Américas) and Thoroughbreds in Panama (Hipódromo Presidente Remón). No track in Nicaragua, but I spent a lot of time riding my OTTB around the countryside near Managua. Back in Spain from 2003-2009, I galloped horses for Yan Durepaire on the weekends and taught at a bilingual British Catholic school during the week.

See my recent blog post about experiencing 9/11 in Panama: On 9/11 I was in Panama, riding.

Back home to California

I made the decision to move back to California when both my sons could read and write in Spanish. This was when my youngest had completed first grade, in 2009. We moved to Arcata, CA., where I could get my Master’s in research psychology at Humboldt State University. While in Arcata, I was lucky to find Paragon Arabians. I had a great time training and riding some of their very nice horses.

Grad school in Oklahoma

In 2013 we moved to Norman, OK., so I could obtain a PhD at University of Oklahoma. A big change, but at least Oklahoma is horse-friendly. I ended up boarding my Arabian mare, Lady, with my friend Melissa. She was interested in endurance–and didn’t have to work very hard to convince me I wanted to do it too!

After obtaining my PhD in May, 2018, I continued in my lab as a postdoctoral fellow for two years (see more about my research).

Return to California

I had hoped to be able to return to my home state for many years. If I had found an ideal tenure-track position that allowed me to focus on my research, I would have been willing to live elsewhere. (As long as it wasn’t really cold, or really humid, or in the Bible Belt.) I may still do that in the future. But for right now I have several reasons for returning to my home town. I want to be near my family. I want to write a book about my great-grandfather (proposal is in the works), and… I want to ride endurance!

So in June 2020 I returned to California for the foreseeable future. Besides riding and writing blog posts, I work as a Professor at Bakersfield College and take on select clients as a freelance research consultant.

A few details

More later, in the meantime:

My Cowboy Dressage book about Eitan-Beth Halachmy and the story of Cowboy Dressage!

Trafalgar Square (my publisher) put up a Q&A with pictures from my horsey-past.

My research-oriented blog (Wild World of  Research) will tell you all about the Academic Jessica.

If you want to know even more about me, go to my catch-all blog about writing, travel, philosophy, fiction, and everything else: Wild Woman’s World.

curriculum vitae

About that gap in my cv

Disclosure: I am planning to monetize this site eventually. First step involves amazon, hence “As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.”