Jennifer Jackson Hardy is the great-great-granddaughter of John Dabney. She was born and raised in New York City but longed for a country life and to work with animals.

She discovered a love for horseback riding on visits to a childhood friend in northern Virginia. She began working with horses at a Long Island race track while a teenager, and spent her last semester of high school interning at a horse farm in Kentucky.

Jenny attended the University of Kentucky. She and her husband Jonathan have two grown children, Elsa Julien and Jeremy Hinkson.

After three varied careers — working with thoroughbreds on a race track, co-running a family bakery, and teaching elementary school at a progressive Brooklyn public school — she recently retired and is enjoying semi-country life in Lexington, Kentucky.

She now spends her time riding her horse, Dance With Joy, as often as possible.