The British Racing School (BRS) is well known for its key role in providing rounded training for young staff coming into the industry, and in recent years within its grounds in Newmarket a new charitable project has been launched.
The Newmarket Pony Academy (NPA) was the brainchild of Godolphin's charities manager Penny Taylor. In association with BRS CEO Andrew Braithwaite and former CEO Grant Harris, she formulated a pilot for a scheme aimed at helping vulnerable and disadvantaged schoolchildren in the catchment area of Suffolk and Cambridge.
“The schools can book a week and put together a group of young people who really need this opportunity,” says NPA manager Anna Sylvester, a graduate of the BRS herself who had a long career in racing and point-to-pointing yards before turning her attention to education within the sport.
“The groups are either chosen by the school or the school brings the whole year group. The programme is centred around year six [age 10 to 11], so they're young enough that they haven't gone up to secondary school, and are about to embark on that quite difficult age for young people. We also work with people referral units, alternative provision, specialist schools, and secondaries. We've done a bit of work on exclusion, non-attenders, and severe anxiety students, which has also worked very well.”
Funding was secured for an initial three years, with financial assistance coming from West Suffolk County Council, Godolphin, the Sir Peter O'Sullevan Charitable Trust, Thompson Family Charitable Trust, Orbit Housing, Tattersalls and the National Lottery. Jockey Club Estates also pitched in to build an office and classroom for the academy students on site at the BRS, while legendary former jump jockey John Francome is the academy's ambassador.
The learning module for the five-day programme focuses on equine care in a way that brings in elements of the national curriculum work in English, maths and science.
“For example, they write instructions for how to muck out using imperative tense and short, concise sentences,” Sylvester explains. “They estimate horses' heights, and then they go and measure them, and they learn a lot about diets. They feed the ponies and then link it to their own diets, so we talk a lot about the importance of a balanced diet, carbohydrates, protein, et cetera, which brings in some science.”
She continues, “But predominantly, the week is designed around building confidence, self-esteem, teamwork, and resilience. And coming out of Covid, there has been a massive rise in anxiety and mental health issues. They do a lot of working together in teams, and using the horses puts them a little bit out of their comfort zone. And it's fantastic to see how they bond with them and how they grow as people throughout the week. Most of them have never touched a horse before.”
In addition to the week-long courses, the NPA provides after-school clubs which are supported by Tattersalls.
Sylvester says, “We run the half programme, which is for children on free school meal benefits, so they get to do the horses but also get the free meals and activities provided on holidays. That's funded by West Suffolk County Council, so we are building up our funders.
“We have our own minibus, which was funded by the Thompson Family Charitable Trust, so we can pick up and drop off children within their school day to make sure there's no barriers to them attending. We work with 20 local schools at the moment and we do the driving for any schools up to a 20-minute drive. If there are schools from slightly further away that want to get involved they just provide their own transport. Predominantly, the programme is geared towards vulnerable and disadvantaged children but we also work with a lot of young carers, child protection, children in need, children in care, and looked-after children.”
Throughout 2021, 331 children attended the Newmarket Pony Academy, looked after by four staff members and 17 volunteers. Funding has also been secured for next year, while recently the NPA has gone 'on tour' in association with the Riding A Dream Academy, offering regional weeks in London and Birmingham, the former utilising Epsom racecourse as a base to work with children from Peckham Academy. Expansion is on the cards, including the hunt for the perfect ponies to add to the team, who are either owned by the NPA or loaned.
The academy has also recently been approved as a League Pony Club Centre. With further funding from Newmarket town councillor Andy Drummond and his wife Belinda, all after-school members of the NPA can now become Pony Club members.
“They can do their Pony Club badges and everything Pony Club-related, which is fantastic,” Sylvester says. “It's definitely breaking down barriers for these young people who wouldn't have the finances or the means to be able to join something like the Pony Club. They hold a few rallies here, so they will be able to join in with those.”
She adds, “Though we are based in Newmarket, where the cars stop to let the racehorses cross the roads and they see horses every day, it's amazing how many young local people haven't had the opportunity to get involved with horses. And that's the bit where we really shine, that real hands-on, practical experience.”
As well as doing its bit for children in the local community, there is a potential upside for the racing industry in funding a project such as the Newmarket Pony Academy or the Riding A Dream Academy. In the case of the latter, that is starting to be seen, with five graduates from the Racing Foundation-funded course already working in the racing industry. The younger children referred to the NPA by teachers or social workers have an initial pathway for continuation through the after-school clubs.
“We take them from year six, 10-year-olds, and they can be with us all the way up to 14, where they potentially could go onto the flexible learning plan at the Racing School, or 16, when they could go onto the foundation course,” Sylvester explains.
“The beauty is, being at the Racing School, they see the training courses taking place, and if there are young people that find their safe place, their haven, through horses, then they're often able to go into the industry. And we do talk to them about the whole industry, so they get a really good idea of what goes on.”
The 'trickle-up' effect would certainly be of benefit for an industry which is eager to recruit more young staff to its front line, but it is merely a sideshow to the core work of the Newmarket Pony Academy in its day-to-day work of helping youngsters through equine therapy. And as everyone working in the business knows, they may bring with them hard work but horses are fundamentally good for the soul. The more people that can discover that first hand, the better.
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