EC Non-Pro Profile – Dr. Jill Clark

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172 – March/April, 2022

By Kory Kumar

Dr. Jill Clark has demonstrated a love for horses her entire life. In fact, her mother would say that Jill came out of the womb wanting to be with horses.

Her family lived in the city, and no one else in her family had any interest in horses, but she did. As she grew, that love of horses never diminished. Her parents would take her to a local stable to see horses. It was during one of those visits to a stable that Jill learned she had to be five years old, or a specific height, to ride.

Jill says, “I made my parents take me every day to be measured against a little wooden stick at the barn to see if I was tall enough. I never was though, so it was my fifth birthday when I finally began riding.”

The love and passion Jill had as a young girl has never left her. “Once I got started, I knew I would never stop riding,” she says. At the age of nine, she auditioned for a supporting cast role in the movie, “Where the Red Fern Grows.” Jill believes she most likely got the part playing the role of the sister to the male lead in the movie because she jabbered on and on to the director about how perfect she was because she rode horses and loved animals. It was the money earned from that job that enabled Jill to purchase her very first American Quarter Horse from the late breeder, George Cheatham.

George made sure her first horse was a good one, and Jill started showing regularly in 4-H and at local horse shows. Eventually, she began exhibiting at regional AQHA breed shows. As for the movie business, Jill continued on as an actor and then an assistant director on feature films over the span of 17 years before switching careers to Veterinary Medicine.

Click here to read the complete article
172 – March/April, 2022