How JessBoomer change my life

Jessica Marie Forsyth, a girl who loved her horse, loved her life and lived everyday to the full.

Jessica was full of ambition, had bags of talent and a very bright future ahead of her. Jessica loved to ride, she loved to train horses, she loved to jump. Jessica was 14 when she died on Feb 6th 2008.

This young girl had so many hopes and dreams, what was next? What did life have in store for her? Her life was just beginning, then one day she fell of her horse and all those hopes and dreams were gone, as was she.

How is that right? That someone so young, bright, happy and talented could be here one minute and gone the next?

I, like many people, never met Jessica, in fact we lived on different sides of the world, her in CA, me in the UK but this young girl has changed my life. What happened to Jessica has proved to me how short live is, we all hear the sayings 'life is short', 'make every second count', 'live for the moment' etc but I think we hear these words said so often that we forget how true they actually are.

Young people die everyday, we hear about it on the news, read it in the papers, when I hear stories like this it always makes me feel sad, of course it does, but Jessica's story touched me in a different way. Maybe it was because I see so much of myself in Jessica, when I was 14 I also lived for my horses and all I ever wanted to do was ride. I was convinced that I would grow up to be a professional horse rider and no body could tell me any different.

I used to watched Jess' videos on Youtube, I didn't have a Youtube account but whenever I went onto the site I would always check to see what new videos she had uploaded. The one that first caught my eye was the video of Jess doing a scorpian on Boomer's back, that was the one that got me interested. Then one day when I was looking to see if there were any new videos of Jess and Boomer, I noticed all the tribute videos to her, at first I didn't believe it was true, but it was, she was dead. There was much speculation about the way that she had died but the way it happened didn't matter, the point was, she was gone. This 14 year old ray of light was gone, never to return.

In 2008 when the accident happened I was 23 years old, I had a job that I hated, I had no money and was living with my parents, I wasn't seeing my horses enough. I spent day after day feeling sorry for myself, thinking about how much I hated the way things were. When I heard about Jess' accident I thought about how this could happen to any of us, not just those of us who ride horses but any of us, at anytime our life could end, and for 1000's of people everyday it does. So why lead a life you are not happy with? Yes it may not be possible to have life exactly to way to want it, it may not be possible for us all to live out our dreams but what is the harm in trying?

I lay in bed one night and thought about all the things I would like to change in my life, and one by one over the last two years I have started to changed them. There is still along way to go but at least now, thanks to Jessica, I can say this... If my life were to end today I can say that I tried and that I made the most of everyday. I now have a job that I love, I am a freelance horse groom, I spend my days looking after horses, travelling to shows, riding and grooming, plus i have spare time to ride my own horses, I have found my passion for riding again. Last year I groomed for a professional show jumper at the Horse of the Year Show, the biggest horse show in the UK. That has been a life long dream of mine and I got to do it because a 14 year old girl from the other side of the world gave me to courage to do so.

I think about Jessica and her family everyday, if I ever feel down or sorry for myself I think of her and how her life was cut short, how her family must feel. How dare I feel sorry of myself?? I am here and she is not, I should be glad to be alive.

Jess, you are an inspiration, you have changed my life and you will never know it. I am forever grateful x