Jessi Mead was born on the family ranch in Cedar Grove, New Mexico. At the age of eight, she began competing in junior rodeos, play days, and 4-H horse shows. At twelve, Mead broke and trained her first barrel horse. At fifteen, she bred her first mare and raised her first colt. With three decades of experience training more than 200 horses and producing champion after champion, Mead is one of the country's top professional barrel racers and trainers. She owns and runs, with her two daughters, the Red Butte Ranch in Wyoming, home of her registered quarter horse breeding program