Horseback UK charity helping NHS workers overcome trauma

In time that horse will help world-weary humans overcome their own crippling anxieties.

NHS workers who endured countless Covid deaths, a child who has become disengaged with education or people recovering from addiction.

Like the people they are supporting, the retired racehorses will go through a journey themselves when they arrive at Horseback UK, which was set up initially to help army veterans with PTSD or life-changing injuries.

"Galloping flat out with a small person on their back is not what we want them to do," says Mr Hutchison, the stetson-wearing ex-marine who founded the Aberdeenshire charity in Aboyne with his wife Emma 15 years ago.

"They have been in one culture, they've been injured and had to leave and re-establish themselves in the world.

"That process is an analogy for what the folks are going to go through because what we need them to do is re-wire themselves and look at the world differently and re-focus.

"Horses are extraordinary because they are empathetic, they know when you are hurting."

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The testimonials speak for themselves. One participant who had suffered from PTSD for ten years said of the experience schooling a horse: "She could feel everything that was going on inside me. I had to let her know how emotionally fragile I am but at the same time gain her respect and be strong to protect and lead her.

"We connected and I felt strong, capable and in control for the first time in many years."

The charity, which relies on donations and earned the patronage of Queen Camilla, has 34 horses, a relatively high number and there is a good reason for this says its leader.

"By the end of the week, the person is visibly different but so is the horse," says Mr Hutchison, who revealed there are now plans for a movie about his work with horses.

"It is almost as if the horse has absorbed the angst. You have to give the horse time back."

'Horse crazy' since he was a child growing up in Dunfermline, he didn't take part in the usual eventing, preferring to spend time alone with the animals.

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"When I was 15 I went to North Carolina and there I was introduced to working horses and the relationship they had was exactly the same as my uncle had with sheepdogs," he says.

"You have to work together, you have to think together. It changed my life and changed the way I wanted to work horses forever."

He joined the Royal Marines at 22, trained as a pilot and built up a business in London before relocating to Ferrar in Aberdeenshire in November 2008 with his wife Emma and young family.

Their plan was to set up a business using American Quarter Horses and western riding to explore the beautiful scenery of Royal Deeside.

Everything changed after they were introduced to 15 young men who had come back from Afghanistan with life-changing injuries.

"They came up here for a day out and the two things that I began to understand what that these people were facing an uncertain future because they were transitioning into the civilian world and with a major injury," he says.

"I'd found it hard without an injury.

"We started to think we could maybe help people like them, double and triple amputees."

He says the "sensitive and intelligent" thoroughbreds make ideal therapy horses.

"Most of the people who come here are probably suffering, whether it's mental or physical and anxiety is a bedfellow of theirs," he says.

"That has meant isolation in their lives. They've lost that sense of being able to control their destiny. 

"What we want is to be able to give that back to them so they can move on.

"The horses help them reconnect with the world because the horses don't require you to be socially gracious.

"What they require you to be is honest.

"The horse demands that you are in the minute," he adds.

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Around 90% of the people who arrive at the centre don't have any experience with horses and he acknowledges that racehorses are an intimidating prospect.

"It takes a bit of courage to overcome that initial apprehension," says the president and co-founder of the charity.

"He weighs about three-quarters of a tonne, to a tonne and he's 40 times stronger than the average human being.

"We go through a process that has been developed over a millennium. 

"About a hundred years ago almost everyone would have had something to do with a horse. They are in our DNA, that still exists and when you open that door up...

"We are part of nature, we are not separate from it. What we do here is connect people to their real selves."

He says that one of the things he loves most about the animals is that "they don't do a lot of yacking" and most of the connection is built through non-verbal cues.

"With people who have anxiety or depression the brain is yacking away and it's about connecting to the gut," he says.

"They will spend time grooming the horse, building up trust and their own confidence, progressing to maneuvering the horse around the pen."

Eventually the horse will follow them around, even placing their head on their leader's shoulder.

"For people who have been isolated, you can imagine the emotional impact," says Mr Hutchison.

"This is the first time they have connected with anything."

In 15 years, only three people have left before completing a course he says proudly.

Aiden Stephen, 52, from Edinburgh, was medically discharged from the army in 2007 with PTSD and depression after 17 years and four operational tours. He spent three years in hospitals including Bedlam.

During his service, he was attached to the Italian Army for some time and had completed a six-month course riding seven hours a day.

He says the reconnection with horses at Horseback UK gave him the confidence to fulfill a wish to become an artist. He completed his BA(Hons) in painting in 2019 at  Edinburgh College of Art, going on to exhibit at the Royal Scottish Academy.

He is now a mentor with the charity and assists with online workshops run for NHS staff.

"It sounds crazy but we use horses on Zoom," he says.

"There is a camera in the school and Jock with take two or three horses into the school and he is miked up and it's all live and he demonstrates how horses react to things and how we react.

"It's one of those things that Horseback UK picked up very early on is just how effective horses are at putting people in the right place.

"Race horses are generally thrown into a field or a meat wagon once they are no longer in use and what Jock does is incredibly difficult.

"The change in me and my mental health was profound.

"My psychiatrist has visited horseback to better understand how my life came back."

Britain’s first-ever thoroughbred census has been launched to help build intelligence on the destinations of former racehorses after they retire from the sport.

All owners of former racehorses will be encouraged to complete and submit the census by December 31. British Racing’s Horse Welfare Board says it is vital to improve welfare initiatives

The organisation says it is continually striving to improve the welfare of horses involved in the sport and has and has invested over £47m over the last 20 years in veterinary science, education, and research.  

In 2022, all 40 jump courses in Britain changed the markers on every hurdle and fence from orange to white. 

This change was grounded in research completed by Exeter University which showed that the clarity of obstacles in racing for horses could be improved by the use of white. 

"I was a marine and I think we should remember that we all have a different perspective," says the charity's founder.

"I needed to take risks, I need to go and burn that energy, whereas some people don't.

"I think the biggest mistake is to anthromorphosise, to put our thoughts into a horse's head. One of the things you learn when you know horses is that they love playing.

"There are risks in everything in life, we shouldn't impose our logic on horses.

"Horses love racing, I can assure you they wouldn't do it otherwise.

"The great thing about horses is that they are not human, they don't look at the world the way we do."

If you are a thoroughbred owner, please click HERE to complete the thoroughbred census.