Jermo Reese - Founder
Never could I imagine that my life’s journey would bring me to a founder and clinician of a nonprofit today. I can only start by saying that I knew at an early age the smell of horses was my true love. I can remember at the age of 7, admiring my grandfather Francis "Frank" Wilson’s work ethic. He worked in the horse industry for over 40 years. I would go to work with him at Jonbell Farm, owned by Mr. Bell. Mr. Bell would let me ride his grandkids go-cart.
Experiencing my epiphany one day on the farm while riding go-carts I saw my grandfather taking one of the horses out to the field to ride. I noticed him walking a horse, so I got off the go-cart and walked closer to the fence; he mounted, began to trot, and then gallop the young horse thus sparking my interest to ride. At first, going to the farm satisfied my interest in equine, just to see the horses, yet my desire to interact more with them was growing. I had to think of a clever way to request of my grandfather to introduce me to the next phase.
Unwittingly alongside my grandfather I had learned a lot of his responsibilities at the farm and I waited for the perfect time to plot my next move. In an effort, to help him finish his duties, (cleaning stalls, filling water buckets, feeding the horses, turning them out and back in) I picked up a broom to sweep the breezeways, hoping if he did finish early enough that he would teach me how to ride myself. After all his duties were done, I got enough courage to ask, “Granddaddy, can you teach me how to ride?” His answer was, “Oh no, it’s not safe”. By him giving me that heart wrenching, no, my desire to ride intensified even more. One day on one of my many trips to the farm, I got the courage to ask again, “Granddaddy, am I big enough now to learn how to ride?” and he gave the same answer from four years prior. I cannot forget, that as he walked away to tend to a horse, his co-worker Mr. Don Jenkins, Sr. said, “follow me son.” Mr. Jenkins made me promise not to tell my grandfather what he was about to do, when the coast was clear and my grandfather had gone out to the field to exercise ride, Mr. Jenkins put me on a horse in one of the stalls. That ignited a passion that has never burned out for horses. In that five-minute ride in the stall, an eternal flame has continued and over the years the essentials developed to be a great farm hand.
In 2004, I moved to Los Angeles I recall looking for places to go horseback riding on the internet and found a woman in Acton, CA that needed help as a farm hand. This was the perfect opportunity to ride at free will. In California, it is a completely different atmosphere in equine. It consists primarily of pole barns that are brick and mortar instead of the ideal thoroughbred wooded barns of Kentucky. Not only were the barns different but there were Draft, Arabian, and Paint (Pinto) horse breeds. Interacting and learning these new breeds I was also taught a new aspect for working with horses, in relation to groundwork, lunging, free lunging, joint up and most importantly the philosophy of a horse’s mind. I enjoyed it all and it was confirmation that dealing with horses was in my blood. After my 2 and ½ years as her farm hand I went back to L.A. with these new skills and was blessed with another venture for a year working in a small horse community in Compton, CA.
September 2015, I received the dreaded phone call that my grandfather had been diagnosed with cancer and had three to six months to live. I spent the next two weeks with him and the day I was scheduled to fly back to L.A., he passed. The moment I landed back in L.A. to return to life as normal I realized I had a moral obligation to come back to Kentucky and care of my widowed grandmother. I packed up and transferred back across country. My first week being back in Lexington I recollect a news story regarding a man that was being indicted for recruiting gang members. Myself, being raised in this city I pondered what was becoming of this time and how I could promote change. Later, meditating in the room my grandfather passed in I was drawn to a hand painted portrait of him working as a ring handler “green coat” and I asked, “Granddaddy, what are you trying to tell me?” At that instance Frankie’s Corner Little Thoroughbred Crusade was born. I feel the love that my grandfather and I have for horses is to be shared with the youth of the community. By the age of 12 kids are tired of walking around the mall, going to Champs, or the movies, we needed FCLTC. Frankie’s Corner Little Thoroughbred Crusade is an introduction to the equestrian world and horsemanship with the goal of creating scholarships and entrepreneurship, as a diversion to a road of self-destruction.