Outside the Office: Julia Jones

Julia Jones, Parks and Recreation director for the City of Cape Girardeau, began riding horses when she was 4 years old. In the 1990s, she began showing her horse in hunter/jumper and dressage styles. For the past five years, she has trained and shown quarter horses in the Western disciplines of showmanship, hunt seat, pleasure, horsemanship, trail/pattern and obstacle classes. She shows competitively in Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee and Mississippi. The barn where she trains and rides, the Remley Equestrian Center just outside Cape Girardeau, is home to the Southeast Missouri State University Equestrian Team.

Jones loves the relationship she develops with her equine partner while doing equestrian sports. Her current partner, The Good Princess, is a mare and a registered quarter horse.

"Your horse will teach you more about yourself than you may teach or train your horse, if you are willing to listen," Jones says. "It is gratifying to work cooperatively as a team to achieve better balance, rhythm and a higher level of performance with your equine partner. I love riding and being with Princess. It is very humbling and rewarding as you learn each other's language."