Christina's story

Julie - Christina’s mum

We’re at Stone farm on the Isle of Wight which is Black Water, we’ve got very beautiful surroundings as you can see. We’re very lucky we’ve got two outdoor sand schools, we’ve got lots and lots of outdoor walks that we can all go on.

When Christina was young -  she’s been riding since she was about two -  and it was great to start with, she could walk and do a little bit of trotting with us leading her and just basically go round the block a few times and was quite happy. But then her friends started to move on and do a little bit more, she wanted to go a bit faster, she wanted to be let off the lead rein and do her own thing, and she just couldn’t do that on a normal saddle. So we contacted Deloitte Parasport, because we didn’t know what to do, we didn’t have any idea where to go for different saddles, what saddle was appropriate. We got a lot of advice and support from Deloitte Parasport. They suggested going to the local Riding for the Disabled Association, which we did, and then a lady from the local saddlery shop had a look at what Christina was doing and designed what we’ve got now.

Christina

“Before I had it I couldn’t really do anything apart from off leading (with someone leading), just like, walking and trotting, I couldn’t get any purchase before I had it.”

Julie - Christina’s mum

It’s about doing things that Christina actually wants to do, she just wants to ride, she just wants to be with her friends, go to places that she wouldn’t otherwise get to, do the jumping competitions. It’s just about having fun.

Christina originally got into riding when she was a two-year-old. Because of the cerebral palsy, her hips weren’t embedding in the right place, so, she did it originally as a bit of a physiotherapy exercise and she just came to love it after just a few rides, so she’s been riding ever since.

Christina

“We bought a horse because, we were supposed to be looking at caravans, when we were in the same field we said ‘Oh look, Dad, he’s so cute that horse’ and then, Dad got the horse on the same day and we didn’t get a caravan.”

Julie - Christina’s mum

It’s exercise on the horse where it actually embeds the hips into the right place and gives them a lot of physio exercise without them even realising they’re exercising.

She horse rides four times a week in the winter, every single day in the holidays if she can. She does quad biking, she does sailing, she does lots of stuff with her time.

I’m just so proud, because she’s come on such a long way. In all areas of life, the confidence levels. I enjoy just seeing her having fun with her friends. It’s about children like Christina getting out there, having fun and just doing what they want to be doing on a day-to-day basis. It’s, you know ..they go to some competitions, and they win some and they lose some. It’s about going out, enjoying the countryside, having a giggle with your friends, having a bit of a gossip as you go, and smiling. If she’s smiling then that’s great with me.