Jordan Payton Peña
Jordan grew up riding in central Arkansas and now has over 20 years of riding experience. Her love of horses began at a very young age due to her grandmother owning horses, and inevitably she acquired the “horse bug.” Jordan began taking riding lessons at the age of seven and competed in hunter jumper shows until the age of nine. Soon after getting her first horse, she ventured into the discipline of three day eventing. During that time, she was an active member of the United States Pony Club, competing at many national rallies and working her way up to a national C3 Level Certification in Eventing and National B Level Certification in Horse Management.
At the age of 15, she purchased a green but talented off the track thoroughbred with one goal in mind, to make the Area V Young Rider Eventing Team and compete at the North America Youth Championships. Over the next three years, she trained under multiple international eventers, including Karen O’Connor and Will Faudree, but mostly under the regular instruction of former USA individual gold medalist, Mike Huber, and 5 star event rider, Heather Morris, at Gold Chip Stables in Texas.
By the summer of 2012, she had successfully taken her thoroughbred through the preliminary level and completed two CCI2*-S, qualifying for the 2012 North America Youth Championships. She was chosen as the alternate for the Area V team that summer and later went on to earn a B.S. in Animal Science with a concentration in equine from the University of Arkansas.
Upon graduating in 2017, Jordan moved to Lexington, KY to work in the thoroughbred industry. She worked at Lane’s End Farm, preparing yearlings for thoroughbred sales. She gained invaluable experience with handling weanlings, yearlings, and racehorses during her time working for Lane’s End and working the thoroughbred sales. After growing her horse handling and management skills, she felt she could be an even better horse owner with more knowledge gained in veterinary medicine. She went on to work as an ambulatory vet tech at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital, working for a vet that specializes in lamenesses, ultrasound imaging, and radiograph interpretations.
At the beginning of 2020, Jordan moved back home to Northwest Arkansas to be closer to her family where she then started teaching riding lessons. While she has a passion for teaching students and helping them grow in their riding and horsemanship skills, Jordan's long lasting love is getting thoroughbreds from the track and retraining them for new careers. Jordan is currently based in southwest Missouri, where she continues to be close to the northwest Arkansas equestrian community. She still competes in eventing today and continues to develop her own thoroughbreds with the goal of competing again at the upper levels.
