Jess Phoenix - USHJA Credentialed Instructor

Jess Phoenix has over 35 years of experience riding, training, and showing horses of all types in a variety of English riding disciplines. Jess competed in the Colorado Hunter Jumper Association show circuit from 1990-2000 in Hunters, Equitation, and Jumpers. In college, she competed in Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association Equestrian events at the NCAA Division III level for Smith College, where she placed in the Top Ten riders in the Region under the coaching of IHSA legend Sue Payne. This experience included riding unfamiliar horses after a brief warmup period, and taught Jess the versatility needed to train a variety of horses. Also during college, she worked as a riding instructor at the renowned Camp Robin Hood in New Hampshire where she taught horsemanship, riding fundamentals, and advanced riding and jumping to a cohort of talented students.

Jess began acquiring Thoroughbred racehorses directly from racetracks and the slaughter pipeline in 2002. Since then, she has retrained dozens of ex-racehorses for new careers and happy lives after their race days ended. She has trained and competed in both the United States and Australia. Jess was selected to compete in the 2012 Mongol Derby, the world’s longest horse race that follows the legendary postal routes created by Genghis Khan. She is a USHJA credentialed instructor (2023-2026), is SafeSport Certified and continues to compete in regional and national shows.

Our Facility - Midnight Run

Our farm is set on 5 acres of picture-perfect Southern California land. Our smallest paddock is 24’x24’, and our largest is 1 full acre. All horses have access to fresh grass (unless restricted for medical reasons) daily. We feed high-quality grass hay or alfalfa 4 times daily. Horses receive farrier care on a 5-week schedule, and chiropractic care is scheduled monthly. Veterinary services are provided by West Coast Equine Medicine.

Our property has a 70’x220’ sand arena that is watered and groomed daily. We have direct access to trails, an automated fly control system, and the property is staffed 24/7. We have an emergency evacuation plan in place. We are a 25 minute drive from San Luis Rey Equine Hospital.