Friday, 27 January 2023
Equine assisted therapy centre Strength and Learning Through Horses (SLTH), has been running an initiative to help more young people and families access equestrianism in London thanks to a Together Fund award of £5000 from British Equestrian and Sport England.
SLTH has been working to teach young people about horse care, training and psychology, as well as achieving qualifications in these areas throughout their Together Fund sessions. The participants also learn valuable teamwork skills to improve their quality of life and employability in the future.
Laura Gill, programme lead and referrals manager at SLTH, describes her experience of running the Together Fund project, “I personally witness the challenges these families are facing and I am lucky enough to watch the incredible changes experienced in the young people attending. The joy of running the group and seeing the positive changes in the students makes every minute of hard work so worthwhile.”
The Together Fund was introduced to help support growth and engagement in physical activity and the SLTH sessions have provided young people the opportunity to experience and progress within equestrian sport. Participants have all gone on to have riding lessons, a few now volunteer at riding or equine therapy centres and a couple are also looking to study equine care at college.
Mandana Mehran Pour, British Equestrian’s Head of Participation said; “SLTH has demonstrated the value of these Together Fund sessions for improving quality of life for the families that have been involved, growing confidence and being active and social. Running the Together Fund sessions has increased the centre’s reach to young people who wouldn’t previously have been involved. This benefits the local equestrian centres as well as the wider equestrian community by allowing more people to experience the enjoyment of spending time with horses.”
Read more about SLTH's Together Fund project.
More information about the Together Fund can be found here.