60 SIDELINES SEPTEMBER 2014
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
By Carrie Wirth
The Colorado Horse Park hosts many celebrations during the
six-week Summer in the Rockies series, but this year the popular
horse show was the backdrop for an event never witnessed before
— a wedding!
JJ Atkinson, a Canadian jumper rider and trainer, and Mark
Mead, a successful professional from Longmont, Colorado, met
six years ago in Tucson at a horse show. There was a connection
right away, but they went their separate ways.
“I never forgot about him when we met all those years ago,”
JJ said. “I tried to get hold of him a couple of times, but he never
called me back.”
“It was bad timing for both of us,” said Mark, excusing himself
from the missed calls.
Then, the pair met again in Tucson a year and a half ago and,
as the saying goes, the rest is history.
Summer in the Rockies 2013 was the first year the pair worked
together. JJ moved her five horses to Mark’s Sleepy Hollow Farm
and they began to train as a team. It was a match made in heaven.
“We’re really busy,” Mark said. “We have 48 horses in training.
We bring expertise from two different worlds. My background is
mainly in the hunter ring, although I’ve had Grand Prix horses. Her
background is completely jumpers and the big derbies at Spruce.
It works for us and it works for our customers.”
Mark proposed to JJ in November right before the Las Vegas
National Horse Show. They knew they didn’t want to wait too long
before getting married, but it was a challenge to find a time that
worked for everyone, considering their busy horse show calendar.
Finally, it became clear that the off-week during Summer in the
Rockies would be a perfect time for everyone, including Mark’s
son, who’s in school. The pair planned a trip with all their friends
to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. All the arrangements were set except
for one detail: they had to be legally married in the United States.
“We had been meaning to get our marriage license and get
married at the courthouse,” Mark said. “We finally got the marriage
license and tried to book it, but it didn’t work for our schedules. So,
on Tuesday of Summer in the Rockies Week III, we filled it out and
had a couple of customers witness it.”
“It was so cute,” laughed JJ. “Mark said to our clients, Caitlin
Burns and Natalie Clark, ‘Don’t get on your horses yet! Sign our
marriage certificate first.’”
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Colorado
Love Is in the Rocky Mountain Air —
Wedding Bells Ring at the Colorado Horse Park
The pair got married right under the awning of their barn at the
Colorado Horse Park. Then, during the week off, they went to
Mexico with 20 of their closest friends and family to celebrate their
union.
“The whole week in Mexico was great; everyone said it was the
best ceremony,” JJ said. “Even the people at the resort were sad
to see us go. Our wedding song was ‘Chicken Fried’ by Zac Brown
Band because it describes everything that’s us: enjoying life and
being simple. The whole thing was easy. I was never a wedding
girl. I didn’t want to get married until I met him.”
“It’s cool to have someone to do all this with,” Mark said. “I did it
for so long alone, it’s nice to have someone. And it’s nice that it’s
my wife I get to do it with.”
“I told my mom last summer, ‘I’ve been waiting for him my whole
life,”’ JJ shared. “We work so well together. I can’t even believe
it. Our styles are just different enough, but mesh just enough. We
can talk about anything. It’s just easy.”
“That’s the way it should be,” Mark added.
Newlyweds Mark Mead and JJ Atkinson at the Colorado Horse
Park
Photo by Carrie Wirth
The wedding party
Photo by Cordi Atkinson
