Equestrian Juanita Kennedy wearing Carolina Herrera top from Neiman Marcus, and her own vintage turquoise jewelry.
By Bill McLean | Country Magazine
PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARIA PONCE BERRE
HAIR AND MAKEUP BY DORIA BARTOLO
STYLING BY THERESA DEMARIA
More than six decades ago, Juanita Wood Kennedy’s cousin babysat for a woman who lived near the ocean in Massachusetts. It led to Kennedy’s lifelong passion for sitting—in the saddle.
Kennedy and her steed, Big Jerome.
“The woman was eccentric and owned two Arabian horses, one named Flame and the other Sieme,” recalls Kennedy, now 76 and a Barrington Hills resident since 1987. “I was 11 years old but she let us ride them. I rode Sieme on the beach, near cranberry bogs, and through the woods.”
The grandmother of four owns and takes care of two horses on her spacious property off County Line Road: an 18-year-old pony named Coco and a 21-year-old former off-track Thoroughbred named Big Jerome, who raced for eight years in his heyday.
Kennedy bought Big Jerome eight years ago.
Juanita Kennedy wearing Eskandar black wrap, neimanmarcus.com and vintage pants, boots, and belt, model’s own.
“Thoroughbreds are spicier,” she says, smiling. Big Jerome and his owner join other horses and horseback-loving women for daily (weather permitting during nonwinter months) trail rides along Cook County Forest Preserves. Kennedy, the organizer, texts her fellow riders each morning to meet up for a trail ride at the Barrington Hills Park District Riding Center on Bateman Road.
“I feed Coco hay at 5 a.m. every morning and again at 7 a.m.,” Kennedy says. “Big Jerome gets hay and grain at those times. I then put Big Jerome in the horse trailer, and meet my friends at the riding center, where we tack up our horses. We usually start riding at 9:30 a.m., or 10, and go until noon or so.”
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