John Paul Jimenez

 

Why horses?

 

John Paul was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil but moved to the US because of college. He has traveled all over Europe, Germany, England, Spain, Holland, and France. He speaks Spanish, Portuguese, French and English. “I speak so many different languages because of school and because of all the places I have lived in.”

 

John Paul went to college wanting to become a lawyer like his father was in Brazil, but he still loved riding horses as a hobby. He asked his dad to send over his horse, but when he got to college and people started to see his talent with horses, and they wanted him to ride their horse.

“I really missed riding horses as a junior rider, so when I when to college I realised, this passion was too good to go to waste.” His passion turned into a job, he didn’t expect it kinda just happened. Little by little people saw him and told him that he could make a living out of this and he agreed and choose horses over law School. “One job took me to the next thing, and then I became a professional rider.”

 

“My son Jonathan, when he was little we were looking for ponies and horses he could buy.  When people saw that I could teach, a lot of parents would come up to me ask me if I could teach their kid the way I teach mine, so then I let people some into my barn with their ponies and kids and now I am here.”

 

Even though he has always loved riding and wants his children to ride, he doesn’t force them. “They love to ride…because they love to ride!” Although he enjoys teaching and riding with his kids, they don’t listen as well and take corrections differently.

“I kinda go with the talents, because some little horses can be amazing and some big horses can be terrible. It’s more of a feel for the horse, more of getting to know the horse.” Riding wasn’t about winning or making a living, for John Paul it was about teaching and learning from the horse.

 

When he is trying a horse to see if he will buy it, he has someone else ride it to see if he should try the horse of go look for other ones. “If I don’t like the horse, I don’t get on. I watch the horse in his stall and in the ring, if I don’t like his attitude or the way he moves I move on.”

 

“Well obviously when I am performing in the Grand Prix you get a little more nervous, but if you know what you are doing and have a plan you are good to go. You have to have the right horse too, you know horseback riding is a partner sport, you and the horse split the work evenly.” John Paul is known for his famous record in the Grand Prix, but everyone makes mistakes. “I was in a big show in Florida, an open class. There were a lot of people were in the ring and my horse tripped and slipped and I fell right on my leg.” It was a show that lasted over more than one day, so he couldn’t finish the rest of the competition.

 

The scariest moment of his life was on a horse but that didn’t stop his passion and bravery. “I was riding a little horse, we were going over a little gymnastics when his legs got caught up in the poles and he fell next to me.  He would have landed on me, and  I would have died. I still had to go to the doctor and have my leg checked out. Within three weeks I was back and riding.”

 

THE END