Their story plays out a bit like a country song. A sweet girl met a cute boy, they lived on the farm with their dog, there were hardships and setbacks but in the end horses, farm life and love keep them going strong.
Jack, born and raised in Lacombe County was part of a strong farming family and was around horses and cows his whole life, he reflects on being about 11 or 12 years old when he got his first horse.
Having graduated from school in Lacombe he was set to take the next steps in his life, as he puts it, to find a good-looking girl and to continue the family farming tradition.
Mary Jean, originally from Red Deer had moved to Lacombe and ended up just a few grades behind Jack. Not having crossed each other's paths yet, Mary Jean just knew that she wanted to marry a farmer.
“I always wanted to be a teacher or marry a farmer." she states, “we lived a couple of times on, and rented a farm. So just the space, the big yard, that kind of thing. Not that I was actively farming. I just loved living on the farm.” she reasons.
It was the Woody nook church groups volleyball tournament that brought the two together and with a little help from a cousin they were set-up and began to officially date.
The courtship involved Sunday drives, dinners out, hockey games, beers with friends, and eventually the two married in 1981.
When the family dairy farm was sold they moved around a bit while Jack worked various jobs, from the oil patch, to a feed lot, to grain cleaning, to starting a beef herd. In 1993 they settled on Jack’s grandparents’ property to begin their lives as cow/calf farmers.
The farm transitioned over the years to what it is now the farming of grain and hay, and raising of Quarter Horses.
And their family grew and changed to raising 5 sons which led to being in the community, involved in school sports and activities, church clubs, 4H clubs and Lincoln Community events.
When they started to bring in the horses Mary Jean admits that she had allergies to them and was originally scared of them having been bucked off before. It took her awhile to shelve her anxiety and learn to understand their movements and meanings.
What helped her were beautiful rides throughout the mountains, hummingbird, and crown land. Mary Jean seems to see the views in her mind when she speaks of camping, riding along the top of ridges and the experience of trust and connection with the horses and nature, letting them wind her through picturesque scenes.
After those first few experiences the passion began to grow for Mary Jean, and over the years she came to develop similar instincts and the understanding that Jack has with horses.
She even went so far as to buy Jack a horse for Christmas one year, sneakily hiding it at the neighbours property until the big day. Midnite the 1-year-old black quarter horse present became Jack’s favorite and now at 22 years old is still his riding companion and part of their 26-horse collection.
But back in 2010 things changed drastically and the farm took on a new direction, their lives took on a new path and they were going to be tested.
They had the kids raised and were making headway on building their dream house, having gotten the foundation poured and the rest of the plans set.
Jack was in his element farming and training horses until one day he took a young horse he was working on for a short trot down to the neighbours, expecting to visit and return soon after since he and Mary Jean had dinner plans for the evening.
With their departure time looming and Jack still being out Mary Jean decided to look outside to see if she could see him coming, that’s when she saw the young horse at the end of the driveway, alone and riderless.
Not knowing what to expect she took off down the road and came across Jack lying in the ditch. It seems the young horse had spooked quickly at something, rearing back knocking Jack off the horse, throwing him to the ground.
Ambulances and help were called, and Jack was sent to hospital, with what was diagnosed to be a serious brain injury that would affect his frontal lobe and change his life on a daily basis.
“Can't smell and all that sucks” says Jack, who says that can be both a good thing and a bad thing when living on a farm, “It's the tiredness I get from doing what I do too much, the processing. Processing stuff and I just get really, we call it mentally tired, I, it’s just, that's the hardest part. Learning how to deal with that because it hasn't changed in 15 years, but learning to navigate through it, that part sucks” he claims
The almost two decades long recovery journey has the couple learning that outings must be carefully planned as Jack needs almost a recharge or downtime to be social or commit to a day's activities.
“It's changed how we live our lives, because we are always living our life in awareness of what's going to cause too much fatigue” says Mary Jean “Our social life has to be different so that we can have maybe quiet days before we're going to do something big”
Those quiet days are sometimes relaxing with a movie or book or taking a simple drive out to the mountains with the silence of the car, the scenery and the forest smell and a piece of pie from the Miners Cafe in Nordegg.
As part of recharging and recovering Jack knew he needed to reconnect with his horses and get back in the saddle, and it was his own horse Midnite that Jack had for his first ride after the injury.
The couple were filled with some fears and anxieties, but Mary Jean noticed that Midnite sensed that in Jack and seemed to qualm those feelings and provide Jack with more confidence slowly building that trust and independence with each ride together.
With Jack’s injury keeping him from working other than their own chores on the land and the farm they got creative and rented out portions of the land and Mary Jean even took up teaching voice and piano in Lacombe for extra income.
When COVID hit Mary Jean noticed the changes to her students, over the video sessions she could see the longing they had to be seen again, to be heard, to live life without the restrictions placed, she could sense the fear.
She wondered if the acceptance that the herd provided would help, those soft ways the horses allow people to be who they are, the gentle compassion the large horses can show with the simple action of a nuzzle to the shoulder, resting a massive head lightly as if to say you're not alone, I can help.
Mary Jean decided to focus, gain some training and in time she learned to apply the horses' connections to support and build up individuals by becoming an Equine Assisted Learning Facilitator in June of 2022, and then a Certified Horse Facilitated Grief Guide in November 2024.
Wanting to share what her and Jack already knew about the power of horses and their abilities to accept Mary Jean created “Horse Connect” her own business that allows people to “Be seen, be heard, be accepted” by interactions with their horses.
“I knew that people need our horses and Horse Connect was born out of our desire to help people. We have seen firsthand how they have helped us and helped the people who came to our farm to enjoy riding and spending time with them” she says.
The operation helps those suffering with mental health issues and grief and helps promote positive life skills and personal development through classes and workshops.
Mary Jean and Jacks own personal journeys and love for the horses and how they can support and encourage can now be shared to the community through the business, but Mary Jean has more plans.
With hopes that someday she will have a newer barn on the farm Mary Jean wants to build the business “Maybe have the barn be used like by a trainer, possibly get other practitioners in, collaborate with some other groups for retreats, corporate things and us still connecting with people”
There is also hope that their youngest son will aspire to take on the farm when they must retire from working on the land but with 9 grandkids Mary Jean and Jack will never not be busy.
They also have plans to someday drive across Canada but are quite happy to just settle at home with the horses, “I don't need to go anywhere, and I think of getting older, don't want to go anywhere. I'm more happy to be here than out and about.” says Jack.
Until then the couple are content with where they are, having accepted their path and the trials that led to this current life and are excited to see where their newest venture will take them.
They are happy to be with the land, the horses and their family and loyal dog Ubba and know that whenever they need it the serenity of a horse ride in the mountains is only a short drive away.
For more information on Horse Connect visit www.horseconnect.ca
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