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0 By Debbie Matthews
My love of horses came late in life, in fact, it’s right to say that the horse found me rather than me finding the horse. In the summer of 2015 I was very close to ending my life. On a sixteen-week wait for mental health support, despite being on ‘suicide watch’, a serial 17.2hh thoroughbred escapee from the livery yard behind my house kept presenting himself at the bottom of my garden.
If anyone had ever told me I would find solace and comfort in horses, as someone who was always a ‘non horsey’ person, I would not ever have believed them. But there is no doubt that that horse saved me. As a result of meeting Romeo, came my love of horse racing. But as someone that suffers with social anxiety and many other social phobias, actually attending race days has been a huge barrier for me.
It was my love for Altior that somehow spurred me to put on my brave pants back in January to see him in the flesh at Ascot. This was after watching many appearances on television and then kicking myself for not getting my act together and going.
And that was the start of #GoRacingGreen…..
Racecourses
Racecourses are probably up there with one of the worst environments for anyone with social anxieties, mental health condition, or sensory disorders to visit. They are also generally not the sort of places people might feel they are able to go on their own. They are vast, noisy, busy and often chaotic. But my aim with #GoRacingGreen is to put measures in place to turn all that around. Hopefully, to get more people out and about to socialise and enjoy the racing. Because why shouldn’t ‘people like me’ go?
In the UK 850,000 people currently live with dementia. These are stats for those officially diagnosed, and there are many more who have not yet been diagnosed or sought help. A staggering 12 million people in the UK live with an activity-limiting condition. We know that one in four of us at some stage in our life will suffer with mental illness, be that short or long term. Approximately nine million people in the UK say that they often feel lonely. Many are struggling to make lasting, social connections with others. More than 700,000 people are on the autistic spectrum.
Making them accessible
I want to work with racecourses to make them ‘Invisible Accessible’ as well as have physical access statements and measures in place for people with physical disabilities. In my day job, I am a tourism consultant. Among the many things I do, I work in accessible and dementia tourism. Also I have the skill and qualifications to transfer this across to the industry. As well as my own personal experiences with anxiety and social isolation. Not forgetting the therapeutic value of the horse. This is something that many of the now one thousand plus people that have been in touch with me that seems to have been taken away from the value of a day at the races.
Already courses are coming forward to sign up for #GoRacingGreen. So, hopefully I can dedicate the time this requires, and is so clearly wanted by the general public, that some sponsorship can come forward. Hereford-based trainer Tom Lacey has already kindly started off the merchandise. With 50% of all profits received going to the Samaritans, and the other 50% to Retraining of Racehorses.
Hopefully, by the start of the next National Hunt season we will have courses that welcome everyone. Not just across the jumps courses, but all equestrian events. And not just equestrian, there is a widespread need for ‘people like me’ to live and not just exist. I am a football fan that doesn’t go to football matches, a music fan that doesn’t go to concerts, a parent that doesn’t take my children to theme parks…. Mental health matters.
https://www.racingpost.com/news/star-appeal-woman-beset-by-mental-health-issues-finds-solace-in-awesome-altior/362459
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