The Charity

The Charity was founded in 1994 with the express purpose of helping young diabetics come to terms with their condition. The concept was to relate the lifestyle of a horse to that of a diabetic given that there are many similarities in both regimes. A horse follows a strict diet that is exercise related, they eat little and often, the diet contains the correct balance of nutrients for age and size, rest and exercise are balanced, circulation is helped through exercise, cleanliness and grooming are important and feet are maintained correctly. When one considers the lifestyle of a diabetic then one can make the correlation. Simply put, the child learns to care for the horse and learns to care for himself at the same time. Obviously that is not the total of all that is achieved, riding itself has been considered a therapeutic activity in its own right for some time and communication is an essential activity when riding or just being in a yard.

Riding is also a social activity therefore social integration is encouraged but perhaps the most important effect is that the child’s self confidence and self esteem is raised simply by being able to look after half a ton of horse successfully. 1997 created a turning point for the charity. The initial purpose of the charity was to put the condition, diabetes, first and work towards a rewarding outcome, however, success had made those involved look at the outcome rather than the condition and realise that the outcome was the important factor and that children with other conditions could be helped using the process we had evolved.

The time was right for the charity to refine if not re-define its strategy and open its doors to children with other conditions. All that had been developed was turned into a 12 point teaching strategy and even though all points do not apply to all conditions those that do were offered to children with conditions other than diabetes. One can now meet at the Centre children with conditions ranging from autism to anorexia and brain damage to heart conditions or cancer. The Centre now has children with a variety of conditions integrating with each other and the ‘normal child’ all hopefully working towards a better future.