I am sure most of you who know me are already bored of my horse chat but here I go again… I am raising money for the BHS and will be competing in a charity race at Newbury on 9 November (please come and watch!) assuming I can get back in shape and pass the fitness test. Horses have been a constant in my life and done more for my physical and mental health than anything else. It’s a great privilege and one I don’t take for granted, which is why I want to highlight the important work done by the BHS. 

Future Generations: Horses have a powerful way of inspiring disengaged young people to reconnect with society. The Changing Lives through Horses programme aims to improve the lives of disengaged young people and give them the opportunity to develop skills that enable them to return to education and/or employment.

Road Safety: Too many horses and riders are being killed or injured on UK roads. Over the past year there have been over 1,000 incident reports on our roads involving horses; 180 have been injured and 46 killed - but we know only one in ten incidents are reported. We are dedicated to improving the safety of UK riders.

Horse Welfare: The BHS responds to over 6,000 welfare cases each year, but there are a thousand more in need of help. We work hard to promote the prevention of neglect, cruelty and harm to horses and provide support, advice and education to horse owners to try and remedy problems before they become too serious.