Jess Webb is a shy redhead with a coffee addiction that cannot be matched and an aptitude for writing that is even more impressive. She could easily blend in on a sidewalk French café, clutching her coffee cup and scribbling away in her journal an exotic adventure of more places to see and more people to meet. What one would not guess of Jess is that she is also an avid horse rider. In fact it goes beyond just that. Jess’s passion is for horses and she has seen to it that she brings two of her horses to join her as she reads for a BA degree at Rhodes University.
Howie and Kismet are the two horses Jess keeps on a smallholding on the outskirts of Grahamstown. Every day, as her Isuzu bakkie roars to life she escapes from the confines of student life and is off to enjoy the outdoors with Howie and Kismet. Fully-grown Kismet which Jess rides is a thoroughbred and Howie, at just two years old, is half Arab. Caring for these two creatures is what Jess loves to do.
Jess Webb is a shy redhead with a coffee addiction that cannot be matched and an aptitude for writing that is even more impressive. She could easily blend in on a sidewalk French café, clutching her coffee cup and scribbling away in her journal an exotic adventure of more places to see and more people to meet. What one would not guess of Jess is that she is also an avid horse rider. In fact it goes beyond just that. Jess’s passion is for horses and she has seen to it that she brings two of her horses to join her as she reads for a BA degree at Rhodes University.
Howie and Kismet are the two horses Jess keeps on a smallholding on the outskirts of Grahamstown. Every day, as her Isuzu bakkie roars to life she escapes from the confines of student life and is off to enjoy the outdoors with Howie and Kismet. Fully-grown Kismet which Jess rides is a thoroughbred and Howie, at just two years old, is half Arab. Caring for these two creatures is what Jess loves to do.
She has created a home for her horses that is not too grand but natural. “I want them to be animals”, she explains. Jess has raised these two horses and adopts a natural approach. There are no structured stables here. ‘Kis’ as the female thoroughbred is affectionately called and Howie are free to roam into whichever space they fancy.
Jess rides nearly every day and often takes her horses into town when it’s quiet on weekends, explaining that it is important for them to get exercise. “I’d take them to town more often”, she says, “if they weren’t so afraid of donkeys.”
Away from Grahamstown, Jess’s passion for horse-riding is never on hold. In Port Alfred at her family home there are over ten horses which Jess rides. Together with her mother she runs a trail for tourists in the area.
While Jess gives tourists in Port Alfred riding lessons she too dreams of leaving it all behind to become a writer, but all that will have to wait for now. Howie is turning three and it’s time for her to saddle him up.
