Being with horses brings me a sense of calm and inner peace that I just don't get from anything else. When I'm riding, my mind is free of all the chatter, self-doubt and insecurity and I'm able to let go of all the negatives.
Sarah's story, like Lorraine's, is one of familial loss and how her time at the yard and with her horse enables her to quiet her mind and decompress her stress and grief.
Here is Sarah's story in her own words:
The most important words I've learnt in the last few years... ''Never judge a book by its cover''. I know I can come across to some as extrovert, confident and having it all together, but the truth is quite the opposite.
I lost my father, my best friend, very unexpectedly when I was 23 years old. The grief, pain and emptiness I felt from losing him was immeasurable and is something I still feel every day.
At the time, I didn't know how to deal with those feelings or how to process why he'd been taken from us so soon. I just knew I had to be there for my Mum and support her... I had lost my father, but she had lost her soulmate, her entire world. So in order for me to carry on and 'be strong' for her, I suppressed my feelings rather than addressing them and then several years later, they came to the surface and I started to suffer with anxiety and panic attacks, some so severe I was admitted to hospital.
Then more recently after coming out of lockdown, I went through some more personal trauma, a lot of change, loss and the realisation that I had to learn to let go. Those feelings of being alone, lost and terrified of what my future looked like were a real trigger and anxiety began to rule my life again.
I knew I needed something to focus on, something to bring me happiness and a purpose again. I'd always ridden horses when I was younger, but I'd avoided going back to that as it was something we'd always done as a family and it brought back too many memories of my father, happy memories, but still a reminder that he was no longer there cheering me on.
And then me and Lorraine were talking one day at the gym and she said ''why don't you just book a riding lesson and see how you feel'' ...so that's exactly what I did and it was the best thing I ever did.
Being with horses brings me a sense of calm and inner peace that I just don't get from anything else. When I'm riding, my mind is free of all the chatter, self-doubt and insecurity and I'm able to let go of all the negatives.
From being back in the Equestrian world and speaking to people within the sport, I've learned we all have our journeys, we've all had our struggles, our highs and lows and the pressures that naturally come with being involved in any sport, but the one common denominator is how much our horses have helped us through it all.
So through Ride_2win, I really hope we can build a community where we can raise awareness of just how wonderful these creatures are and how much they can help us.
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