Peter at Stepney Bank Stables

By Peter Byrne

My life changed on the day in September 2008 that I went to Stepney Bank stables to book a riding lesson. I wondered if I might be too old at 72 to start. The adult lessons were in the evenings as most adults were working during the day. A nice man called Dennis, showed me round the stalls where the horses and ponies were all munching their hay nets. I then went to the viewing area and watched a group of riders who were doing a rehearsal for a riding test. On the following Friday, I went to the stables for my lesson, I was fitted with a hat, I was taken to the mounting block and got on a mare called Bella. A teenage girl led the horse around the arena, following the directions of the instructor, Claire. We walked, stopped, started and even did a bit of trotting. There were four other riders, all ladies and of course, younger than me, it was marvellous and I have been going back ever since. I had been on a horse before, often at ten year intervals but I had never learned properly. After the death of my wife, I went on a cruise to Morocco where one of the excursions was a two hour horse trek. It was really too much for me, but I did not fall off although some of the other people did. I knew I wanted to learn properly. I continued to go for lessons and learnt about the excellent work the stables did for children, teenagers, people with learning difficulties, especially autism, the unemployed and those wanting to work with horses. The stables has few salaried staff and can only continue with the work of volunteers, so in the summer of 2009, I started to train as a yard volunteer, partly to gain confidence with the horses. The lady who trains me and still supervises us, Tess, is very kind and patient as I am a slow learner. The stables started in the only remaining premises from the days before motor transport. By a lottery grant, an arena and additional stalls were built in the Ouseburn valley. This was largely the work and vision of Susan Tron MBE. Sadly, the recession is now affecting the stables resulting in redundancies and the future is somewhat uncertain, but we are all working hard to keep the stables and its 21 horses and ponies as a going concern.