I am fundraising for East Anglian Air Ambulance over the month of June, horseriding as many miles as I can, because I can.

Any gifts to the page are welcome, lots of pennies make up pounds, so a £1 gift is a 'gift' as much as anything bigger.

A little bit about me:

In 2013 after a horseriding accident in a different county, I was airlifted to hospital by an air ambulance. A personal experience that fuels me to support the Air Ambulance Service in whichever county I live, which for the last three years has been Suffolk. They are a lifesaving service especially to countryside folk.

Fortunately both my horse and I recovered from our accident in Cornwall and were able to enjoy many more happy years of riding before retiring him two years ago - he is now the grand old age of 30!

But there is another reason for supporting this particular fundraising event. It's all about riding miles together.

In December 2022 I bought a younger version of my retiring thoroughbred. Six years old, straight from a Point to Point yard (he'd been flat raced previously), very handsome, tried out in the ménage nicely, calm and polite in the stable. I was delighted. He was a dream horse to see me through my 'silver' years of riding. However, two weeks being at his new home and he turned into a 'Loopy Lou', rearing when trying to lead out or separate from retired stable companion, double barrelled bucks when out riding, bursting through electric field fencing, striking out with hind legs when anxious - which he was a lot - spooking across grass ménage at 'invisibles' and finally he learnt napping, initially in the middle of hacks and then he wouldn't leave the yard or stable and even leading out to paddock with the older horse he was a rearing, barging nightmare. I tried lots of things, Parelli, 'schooling lessons' in the paddock with an independent trainer, turning-away, simple kindness, nothing seemed to help. Then he had a really freak field accident with a gate and ripped a chunk out of his pastern and ruptured an artery. Emergency trauma care and four months of daily cleaning, dressing and bandaging (thank goodness for my nursing /midwife background, an aloe vera plant and having stabling at home) and some wonderful vetinary management, his injury miraculously healed. Over that four months we had had to trust each other, had had to be calm and patient and work together and I am sure that helped our human/horse partnership to begin to gel. Then some super ground work with a natural horsemanship trainer called Susanna and a dually halter from Monty Robert's helped a bit more but I still wasn't able to ride this horse without thinking he was a pressure cooker waiting to boil, spill or get thrown across the kitchen!

And then I came across Will on Facebook. Will has been my alchemist. I cannot praise this young trainer enough. He has just the right mix of horseriding skills, calmness, firmness and confidence to not only teach the horse acceptable behaviour parameters but also instil a confidence in the horse and a desire to work with their human. Over the ensuing months Will taught my horse how to deal with the 'invisibles', how to get out the gate and down the road away from his stable companion and how to school nicely in the paddock. In turn, watching my horse learn gave me confidence to ride him. Initially Will came twice a week then as I started riding, he came once a week to ride and I rode 3/4 times. I put together and followed a hacking programme of gradually increasing distances as we both became more relaxed and trusted each other. It has taken time and we've included some loading and travelling to different venues to school but I went to my first charity 'Pleasure Ride' recently and my little horse coped admirably. We can now hack out alone for 4-11 miles and enjoy the beautiful Suffolk country lanes and bridleways and I have even found a friend and her horse to join me occasionally.

I am amazed by the minor miracle of change in this horse. It has taken time, it is 7 months since Will started with us and 2.5 years since I purchased the horse but what a worthwhile journey to build our partnership and 'find' what I had hoped for when I bought him, a handsome happy hacker to see me through my 'silver years'.

And so it feels particularly relevant to fundraise by Riding Together on horseback -a thing I thought would never happen with this horse 9 months ago - and I hope you might help me on the way and support this worthwhile cause.

A little bit about the air ambulance:

East Anglian Air Ambulance receives no regular government funding and relies entirely on the support of the community.

They provide advanced critical care, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, to the most seriously ill and injured people across Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire by air and by road. Their crews are called to, on average, 8 critical emergencies a day, with each tasking costing in the region of £4,250.

Any support you give them is truly beneficial to the service. Thankyou.