In my life’s journey to find my true purpose on this earth I stumbled across the quirky new sport of long distance horse racing. In August 2023 I completed the longest horse race in the world, the Mongol Derby, it was ten of the absolute best days of my life. I find I enjoy my life more when I set goals for myself so I now have my sights set on the Gaucho Derby which commences in Patagonia Argentina in February 2026.
About the Gaucho Derby:
It’s a 500 kilometer race in the mountains of Patagonia Argentina, it’s touted as the world’s toughest horse race, the terrain is more mountainous than Mongolia and there’s less galloping and more survival and navigational skills needed. It’s the ultimate test of survival and horsemanship, I’ll be riding Criollo horses, the native horse of the South American Pampas.
Learn more about the Gaucho Derby here:
About Me:
For the past 17 years, up until 2022 my life was solidly planted in being a farmer and cheesemaker dedicating all my time and energy into growing the local food movement. I put my heart and soul into the Maine Cheese Guild, worked to strengthen the cheese industry in Maine, started a wholesale distribution business comprised of Maine Cheesemakers and other artisans food producer and helped bring back the Maine Cheese Festival. In 2021 a series of too close to home farmer suicides really impacted me, it made me think a lot about life, about dairy farming, and really looking at what my purpose on this earth is and how I really want to spend the short time I have here. I started to spend more time with my horses and going to horsemanship clinics and meeting other equestrians and reading everything I could find on a plethora of horse related topics. During one of these clinics, I had an awakening that my true purpose is working with horses. I started to really feel the capacity horses have for healing and soon learned that if you want to work on your horsemanship you must first work on yourself.
Training:
The year I spent training for the Mongol derby was arguably the best year of my life so I’d like to continue the trend and make 2025 just as fulfilling.
This spring I participated in the Gaucho Derby Academy in Patagonia and learned about navigating the harsh Patagonian Landscape and all about the Criollo horses that leap through the terrain like mountain goats. I finally figured out how to locate myself on both the handheld GPS and the topographical maps. I immersed in the rich gaucho and argentine culture with music and asado. The winds are certainly the most epic I have ever encountered and the environment while strikingly beautiful is harsh. I'm so excited to go back and adventure in the land of the guanaco, rhea, condor, surreal blue lakes and huge jagged mountains.
My 2025 training accomplishments include:
-I led 7 endurance riding retreats and horse camping trips in Maine
-scouted, mapped, and marked 50 miles of trails for the Pine Tree Pioneer endurance ride in Fryeburg Maine using GPS,
-weekly run and cold plunge in the ocean (summer)
-daily yoga
-competed in AERC endurance races on my horses including:
June 8th GMHA Spring Ride (Jelly and I completed!!!)
July 5th and 6th Firecracker Maine Jelly Bean
July 19th Daylight 25 Vermont with Maggie
August 5th - 8th Pine Tree Pioneer Maine Sadie, Maggie, Zahra & (Geralt for moral support)
September 20th Virginia City 100 with Chuck Norris Stevie Delahunt of Intergalactic Equine
October 11th GMHA Fall Ride 50 miles on Maggie
-and continuing to research and test out the best gear for the adventure!
-working on being the best version of myself. I feel like one of the most important pieces of training for these races is mental preparation. Doing deep inner work and cultivating self-love is actually a huge piece of preparation for these races and also to better my horsemanship in general.
Follow my adventures on Facebook and Instagram @jessiehorselove
I've also launched a new website for my budding equestrian business:https://www.ironledgefarm.com