• Name: Jesa
• Age: 10
• Activity: Rescuing and rehabilitating horses
• Finalist award: A Nicki Fleming doll
• Nominated by: Her mother, Rachel

My daughter Jesa has worked tirelessly to help the Miracles of Motion program, which brings joy and education to youth through the rescue of horses and other animals.

What Jesa does to help rescue these animals and inspire children comes straight from her heart.

She has rescued and rehabilitated hundreds of animals, then taken them to nursing homes, group homes, parades, church functions, and individuals in need of a smile. She’s up before school to check the animals, and in the barn right after school, even performing middle-of-the-night checks on animals in need of special attention—hard to do in Minnesota winters! Jesa has also co-authored two published books on rescue animals as fundraisers for the animals and is now working on a cookbook for another fundraiser.

She has rescued and rehabilitated the horse she will ride in shows for 2007 and will use this mare as a goodwill ambassador for the rescue cause. In the two previous years, Jesa rode and showed a rescue gelding that had been starved, and she shared his story with countless children and adults at demonstrations, expos, and the county fair. Jesa has tutored other children in the showing of many of these rescued animals and helped in the show-ring as well.

What Jesa does for these animals and children comes straight from her heart. She is not one to look for recognition. She knows that her best work is in the barn and that the animals that are saved and go on to inspire children and adults are reward enough. Her true delight is in the journey.