I didn’t realise it would be so difficult to put into words what horses have done for my mental health until I tried.

Whilst I haven’t yet owned my own horse, I’ve been so lucky to have had the opportunity to cross paths with so many of them, and to have had the chance for each of them to have taught me so much – both good lessons and the kind of lessons I feel I would have happily gone without!

Anyway, I have never been one to go out and do what everyone else is doing, with the quote “Have fun, even if it’s not the same kind of fun everyone else is having” coming to mind. Growing up, my riding lessons were all I cared about, and they would happen each Saturday at 10:30, come rain or shine. There weren’t many days like it, but I can remember on one occasion pointing the pony I was riding at the time in the general direction of a jump, not quite able to see it because of torrential rain that had started in the jumping phase of my lesson, and having to trust that she would get me to the other side – and she always did (pretty much 🙈)! Yes, there were occasions when I rode that little mare that I felt totally afraid, but she taught me to carry on regardless.

I have always felt as though riding and horses in general have made me who I am. They have a way of allowing you to be unapologetically true to yourself, without any fear of judgement, something I think the world needs more of.

I have stood in silence, doing nothing at all and known that I had the best kind of friend I could ever ask for stoor beside me, one who would keep my secrets should I wish to give them up having been too afraid to say them out loud. Coincidentally, I was studying GSCE Spanish at the time that I loaned an Andalucian mare, I too embarrassed to practise my spanish with anyone but her as my listener, and she got me through the grade!

I wasn’t born into a family of horse lovers, it was actually quite the opposite, with both my mum and nan scared of them! But I found horses by accident, and they were the phase I never grew out of. Now, I could never be without a horse and the unconditional love that they give, knowing that whatever the world throws at you, there will always be someone waiting for you at the barn, stable, field, etc, happy to have you home ❤

#mindfulriding #mindfulness #taketimeforyou #bestfeelingintheworld