The Newmarket Pony Academy has changed the life of schoolboy Finley Lawson.
Category
🐳
AnimalsTranscript
00:00My son started his journey with the New Market Pony Academy when he was in
00:08primary school. In year six he came on the pilot scheme that they had at New
00:13Market Pony Academy for a week. It's always been an interest of his but not
00:17something that we could really access due to my personal situation as a
00:21single mother and a lack of money to spend on these things. So he came along
00:27for the week he absolutely loved it he came home every single day absolutely
00:32buzzing about all the things he'd done and seen and learned and he taught me a
00:36few things but this has been yeah the absolute making of him and without the
00:43free place at the Pony Academy giving him the opportunity to be able to ride
00:46once a week we never we wouldn't be in this position and he wouldn't have
00:50realized his passion and his love for riding which has now grown into horse
00:54racing and hopefully you know he'll have many more years of enjoyment from
00:59horses and racing thanks to the New Market Pony Academy. I've seen him
01:02develop week on week he's incredibly enthusiastic listens to what he's meant
01:07to be doing and carries it out well you know he's always eager to do more. I
01:11think it's the program that he's on in the New Market Pony Academy really gives
01:16these kids that wouldn't get the opportunities in any other walk of life
01:19to be with horses and I think half the problem we have now is staff are coming
01:23in at an older age and haven't spent the time with horses that they need to do at
01:27a younger age. Finley's very comfortable around animals and I think that's
01:31because he's been around them for such a long time already. He's a member of staff
01:35that you know I can probably foresee being here for a number of years you
01:39know once he's done all the programs and the courses at the racing school you
01:43know we'd like to have him here as a full-time member of staff and these are
01:46the members of staff that stay in racing because that's what they're born to do
01:48and that's what they enjoy doing. It's not like they've come here on a whim and
01:52it's not like they've come here because they've got nothing better to do they've
01:54come here because they've chosen to be here they've chosen to be involved in
01:57horses and they've chosen to be involved in racing and that's at the moment what
02:01we're lacking and with the British Racing School with the New Market Pony
02:04Academy I really feel that we're going in the right direction to get these kids
02:08along and to to promote these sort of members of staff in racing. He's a
02:12totally different person now than when I first saw him at the New Market Pony
02:17Academy he's got a lot more confidence in himself he's more assertive he wants
02:22to please so he listens well to whatever instructions you're asking him to do and
02:27he's very very hands-on and he's very you know wants to just get on and do it
02:32really. So I started on a pilot program and we rode every day of the week and we
02:39learned about all the different foods and how to tack up and stuff and then
02:44because it kind of got back to horses and then I signed up for the New Market Pony
02:49Academy program which also helped because I can get more experience with
02:53riding and definitely helped me tacking up quicker brushing them know that learn
02:58all the stuff about how to care for a horse properly and then I got more
03:02experience and more experience and then came here and now I work at James
03:06Ferguson's every Saturday and ride here every Thursday and learn more about
03:09horses and how to tack up even quicker. It's got me more involved in wanting to
03:13work in racing I think and it's made me love horses more than I ever have
03:18before. My confidence and resilience has gotten much better to do with school
03:23work and horses and everything in between. It just feels so natural now
03:26after being in the racing school for so long I can just do it about even
03:30thinking about it.