Book description
A heartwarming collection of stories from a woman who brings together
disadvantaged children and abandoned racehorses, with remarkable results.
Thirteen-year-old Sophie hadn't uttered a word to anyone for over two
years when she got out of her parents car at a remote farm in Devon. Her
parents were beside themselves with worry, and at the end of their
tether, but try as they might, nothing seemed to make a difference.
They'd heard about a place called Greatwood through friends - where
owners Helen and Michael Yeadon looked after retired racehorses - and
decided to take Sophie along for a visit.
Helen asked Sophie to help her change the dressings on the infected
cuts on the legs of Darcy Day, one of their more troubled horses, and it
was instantly clear that these two had some kind of special connection.
Darcy Day would normally back away from people, but this time she
lowered her head and stepped forward, to let Sophie stroke her nose. It
was the start of an incredible relationship that would transform both
horse and child, and it gave Michael and Helen an idea.
They registered as a charity, moved to bigger premises, and began
inviting children with a wide range of learning disabilities to
volunteer to help with the animals. The results were amazing -
traumatised horses and anxious or disturbed children bonded with each
other, and every week little miracles were happening before their eyes.
Boys with diagnoses such as Asperger's Syndrome or Attention-Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder, or those who'd been excluded from school for
unruly behaviour, flourished through the discipline of working on the
farm. Girls made timid and anxious by abusive backgrounds or school
bullies came out of the shells. In this book are twenty of the most
incredible tales of children who were given back their futures by the
unique and extraordinary institution of Greatwood. Helen Yeadon and
her husband Michael are the founders of Greatwood, a charity they set up
in 1990 to care for retired racehorses and children with special needs.
Helen has always been an animal lover. She grew up on a farm in
Wiltshire and was riding horses from the age of seven.
She and Michael used to run a small hotel in the Cotswolds, before they
moved to Devon and started collected retired racehorses, dogs, goats,
chickens, geese and sheep. It was there that idea for Greatwood was
born.
