Changing Lives through Horses

When Charlie first joined us, he was an anxious young man who found the school environment an overwhelming, sometimes scary experience. In his words “School and the classroom are like a thunderstorm that never stops, there is never any calm or quiet, but I like horses as they listen and never ask questions” He found having to sit still and not being allowed to fidget made it hard to concentrate on what was being taught and he would lose interest easily.  He joined the changing lives through horses program in year 6 and spent one day a week with us.

Over his time with us we focused on keeping tasks short or having plenty of mini breaks where Charlie could go and have a walk, see his favourite pony, and have a change of scenery. He would then return after 5/10 minutes ready to focus and continue to learn.  He learnt that a classroom isn’t always a noisy place with lots of rules and by the end of his time with us he would quite happily sit and complete a written task.

Over the year he spent with us we watched him grow from the anxious, unconfident boy to a funny, caring, confident young man who loved to have a joke with all the staff and his peers. He took younger members of the group under his wing when they first started and showed them the ropes around the yard, often to be heard saying to them “it’s tricky at first, but you can do it.”

In the year he was awarded 6 of the achieve awards and grew a huge amount in all 6 of the key life skill areas.  We worked closely with his family and his primary school. Together we built enough evidence to change his placing from a main stream secondary school to a SEN placement where he started last September full time and is thriving.

Charlie still comes to see us once a week for a riding lesson and a catch up on how the week has gone. 

I cannot thank Carrie and her team enough for the support they have given Imogen and us as a family. As a mum, to watch your child's mental health deteriorate like it did was heart breaking, my once bubbly little girl had become withdrawn, low in mood and was hiding in her bedroom. It felt such a lonely time for us all, like we were losing our daughter, and no one was helping even though we were reaching out left, right and centre. Then I contacted Stable lives, and life began to change, there was a spark back in my daughter's eyes, there was hope and something for her to work for. Imogen has a dual diagnosis of Autism and ADHD, she was eventually unable to attend school at all due to her mental health. School initially funded the Changing Lives through Horses programme and then Stable Lives offered further funded sessions so that Imogen could continue to make progress.

After 16 long months Imogen has stepped back through the school door, it’s not perfect and some days we still don't make it, but the progression is there, there is a purpose for life back for Imogen. Imogen is now enjoying the odd riding lesson of a weekend at the stables too.

I cannot thank all at stable lives enough, from me and my family thank you for caring, thank you for believing in our children, thank you for giving my daughter her life back.

My daughters have not transitioned from Primary School into Secondary School at all well.  The only thing that has kept them going is participating in this programme at Divoky Riding School.

They are Autistic and have ADHD, so some things are still very hard for them, but the programme is excellent.  It has given them a confidence boost as they are not only good at something, but they are being praised for doing well on the programme.  They can’t attend school at all now but are accessing the programme 2 days a week.  They are so excited the night before/morning they go as its just their ‘happy/safe place’

They now both want to work within the equine industry – as parents of children who struggle with so much we couldn’t see a future after they finished school and now we can see that there is something they could excel in and are naturally at ease with.

Our daughters said being around the horses is relaxing, their anxiety levels drop, and they just feel zero pressure as they aren’t having to pretend to be someone just to fit in as horses don’t care what make up you wear or music you listen to!   They do enjoy the classwork side of things as well as they are very creative/artistic and like to draw in the book.

If it wasn’t for this programme, the girls would have been permanently excluded, it teaches them so much about life without them realising it and is giving them skills for the future.  For any parent unsure you should definitely let your child try.  They are gaining certificates for various things but are also learning to ride and are outside in all winds/weathers which they absolutely love!  I can’t praise this scheme or the riding school/staff highly enough, we still have education challenges to deal with outside of this programme but this has made a huge difference to our lives.