Secret Lives of Horses: Tortuga

Side Saddle Champion

by Pam Gleason

Tortuga at 20 in retirement in Aiken

Tortuga, a 16-hand bay gelding, has a sweet expression and an unassuming appearance. He is a breeding stock Paint, which means that he is registered with the American Paint Horse Association, but did not inherit paint coloring from his sire or dam. (Even his registered name makes reference to this: “OBG No Chic No Spot.”) He is mild-mannered, and although he is very friendly, at 20 years old, he does not seem to demand too much attention. But he attracted plenty of it during his former career as a national champion show horse.  A beautiful mover, he dominated in the sidesaddle division, winning the tricolor at prestigious Mid-Atlantic horse shows such as Devon, Harrisburg and Upperville. He was even the National Sidesaddle Horse of the Year champion or reserve champion five times between 2018 and 2023.

Owned by Amber Asbell-Jackson, Tortuga is retired at Jackson Creek Stables in Aiken. Today, his job is to be a companion to the Jacksons’ coming 3-year-old Welsh ponies, and to go on an occasional trail ride under Amber’s youngest daughter, who is 10. Although Amber acquired Tortuga in 2012, she has not had him for very many years. In fact, she sold him in 2014 and he came back home in 2025.

“When I sold him, I told the lady I sold him to that if he ever needed a new home, just please let me know,” said Amber. “So last year, she sent me a message and said, Hey Amber, I’m getting too old to take care of Tortuga. Do you want him back? And I said, yes put him on a trailer. So he came home.”

According to his papers, Tortuga was born in Williston, Florida on February 2, 2006. His bloodlines are a mix of Quarter Horses, Paints, and Thoroughbreds and his pedigree includes famous names. On the Quarter Horse side, his family tree traces back to Zippo Pine Bar, a pleasure champion who was the leading sire in the American Quarter Horse Association for almost two decades.  On the Thoroughbred side, he descends from the champion racehorse Bold Ruler, the father of the immortal Secretariat. 

When Tortuga was 2, he moved to a new home in Tennessee, where he started his life as a western horse.  By the time he was 6, he was living in Ohio, and he was advertised as an all-around prospect on a popular horse sales website. This is where Amber discovered him.

Amber grew up in Aiken doing a little bit of everything with horses, from hunters to barrel racing to exercising Thoroughbreds at the racetrack. She became interested in the sidesaddle tradition after meeting Betty Alexander, an Aiken resident, sidesaddle enthusiast and the founder of the Aiken Ladies Aside sidesaddle club. Amber was pregnant at the time, and Betty had come to try a horse that Amber had for sale. Betty asked if it would be all right to ride the horse sidesaddle, and Amber agreed. She was intrigued.

“Betty said ‘After you have that baby I’m going to teach you how to ride sidesaddle,’ and that was it!”

Once she was hooked on riding aside, Amber needed a good horse for the discipline. The sidesaddle division at horse shows includes an over fences class, but there is a greater emphasis on flat classes, so to be competitive, you need a horse that is an elegant mover. When Amber saw Tortuga’s videos online, she was impressed with his fluid gaits and calm demeanor. Betty Alexander agreed that he would make a nice sidesaddle mount, and so Amber purchased him sight unseen and had him shipped to Aiken.

The horse turned out to be kind and unflappable, comfortable and steady with the kind of floating, show hunter movement the judges love. Amber named him Tortuga, after the Dry Tortugas where she and her husband were engaged. She quickly introduced him to the sidesaddle, and started showing him in Aiken. In 2014, she was ready to take him to the big shows where the sidesaddle division is hotly competitive: Devon in Pennsylvania and Upperville in Maryland. At about this time, she saw a query on Facebook from Brenda Madison, an amateur rider from Powhatan, Virginia, who was looking for a horse that she could show, and that would also have the potential to be the sidesaddle horse of the year under a professional rider.

“What she wanted sounded just like him. I reached out to her and said, my horse is not for sale. But I am going to be at Devon and at Upperville, and you can look at him then. I didn’t want to sell him, but I had young kids at the time.” The price Brenda was offering was also a factor. Amber’s husband Joshua is a builder. He told her that if she sold the horse, he would use that money to build her any kind of stable she wanted. 

Brenda Madison’s trainer, Davera Ackenbomb, watched Tortuga on the livestream at Devon, and then she and Brenda came to see him in person at Upperville. “They said, can you drop him off on the way home?”

And so Tortuga changed hands. “He was a pet. When I left him there, there were lots of tears,” said Amber. But she was happy knowing that her horse would have a wonderful life with people who appreciated his unique talents. He was the fulfillment of Brenda’s dreams, competing successfully with her, and excelling under Devon Zebrovious and other professional riders. He was zone champion in his first year in Virginia, and only got better as time went on, earning the national championship in 2018, 2021 and 2023. In his final year of showing, 2024, he was still winning the under saddle class at Devon, going out on a high note.    

Side Saddle champion at Penn National, with Brenda Madison and Devon Zebrovious

When Tortuga first returned to Aiken, he had not been ridden for a while. Initially, Amber had thought that they might be able to bring him back to the show ring. Twenty is no longer considered ancient for a horse, and there are plenty of older horses that are still out winning. But Tortuga had developed a neuromuscular condition called shivers, which can cause instability in the hind end. Exercise and plenty of turnout are recommended to minimize symptoms, so light riding is good for him, but the amount of work necessary to get him showing again seemed like too much. He has been out on the trails, and even went hilltopping with the Aiken Hounds, which he loved. But for the most part, he is officially retired. 

Tortuga has been back in Aiken for almost a year now, settled in his forever home. When he is not in his pasture, he can come into the elegant stable that Joshua built when he was sold, as he promised. The stable includes a permanent tribute to Tortuga: a full set of his shoes embedded in the cement floor in the aisleway. That way the Jacksons will always remember him, and all the things he made possible.