From Brush to Bridle, a passion for riding & painting

When Jenny Blomquist began riding horses, she was pregnant.

As a young woman, the idea of motherhood made her head spin, sometimes into dark places. However, since she was a small child her grandmother has encouraged her to paint and, in doing so, to learn how to listen to her inner voice.

Knowing she needed an outlet for the emotions and concerns she was carrying as her delivery date drew closer every day she decided to listen inward. The voice inside told her to learn more about the one thing she’d always yearned for — horses.

She spent her childhood in Magdalena with her grandmother, Dolores, who filled the walls with murals of roses and birds.

“I was 4 or 5 and she sat me down to paint,” Blomquist said. “I remember it was a calendar picture of a white horse.”

Despite not being around horses, the imagery of the animals never left Blomquist’s mind. Even as she grew as a woman — mother and artist — horses never roamed far from her canvas.

“I’ve always been a painter,” Jenny says. “Some of my foggiest, oldest memories are of my grandma sitting me down to paint. There was one moment, I must’ve been four or five, and I was painting a white horse from a calendar. That image has always stayed with me.”

Just as Blomquist was preparing to pursue art school in Chicago, she found herself unexpectedly pregnant. Overwhelmed and depressed, she found solace in an unlikely place — horseback riding.

“I was in such a dark place,” she recalls. “I needed something for myself — something I’d always wanted to do.”

She came across fliers for trail rides near the tiny community of San Acacia and booked a ride with a fledgling business called Acacia Riding Adventures. It was there she met horse trainer Dacodah Herkenoff, who eventually offered her work at the stables. She began riding, learning, and immersing herself in the rhythm of horses.

“It made me feel like my life wasn’t over. I was going to be a mom, but I was also still me,” she said. “That’s when the healing really started.”

In the meantime, she never gave up painting. Her oil paintings are represented by Agora Gallery in New York City.

And while painting ponies has helped put food on the family’s table, she has never let go of her equestrian journey. In fact, it became something more. With the popularity of horse therapy growing, other ways to find solace and healing around horses is also on the rise. The Hop Canyon (Socorro County) resident, and other organizations in the state shy away from the “therapy” label but are starting organizations that safely and therapeutically connect individuals with horses.

Last year, Blomquist began offering horse lessons that gently and thoughtfully help her clients build a relationship with her horses in order to build trust, eliminate fear, and teach the fundamentals of horsemanship — all skills that she learned from Herkenoff when she most needed that type of confidence the most.

“The first step is overcoming fear,” she said. “Horses are big. Their presence is huge, and if someone’s never been around them, it can be overwhelming. So I start with groundwork, helping students get comfortable just being near a horse. That’s where the connection begins.”

Last year, Blomquist began offering “horse lessons” — a term she uses intentionally. These aren’t traditional riding lessons. Instead, her approach centers on building a relationship with the horse, from the ground up.

While she doesn’t market herself as a therapist, the impact of her lessons often ventures into emotional territory. Her first student was a woman grieving the recent loss of her spouse to cancer. What began as a way to get out of the house evolved into something transformational.

“She took lessons with me for a year, and just a couple weeks ago, she completed a 50-mile endurance ride,” Blomquist said. “She told me it was because of me. That felt amazing.”

Blomquist currently keeps four horses and works with a small number of students one-on-one. The operation is intimate by design — focused more on meaningful connection than high volume. While her students eventually go out on trail rides, the emphasis is always on the relationship: horse and human, in tune.

“Horses pick up on everything,” she said. Horses, she claims, know when you’re afraid or when you’re uncertain. That’s why she said it’s important to be present with them, and that in that space of presence and self-awareness is where, for her clients, the healing is.

“I’ve noticed that people who come to me aren’t just looking to learn how to ride. They’re tuning in to something deeper. They’re looking for connection, maybe even healing,” Blomquist said.

To see her art work and find out more please visit visionscapesstudio.com or follow her on Instagram @ visionscapes_studio.