Island Life Magazine Ltd June/July 2010 | Page 140

the rider

Island Life - June/July 2010

Sasha the horse, Colin Leal able-bodied whip, Vanessa Burden disabled driver, Tiffany Foster groom

An honour to help disabled

Colin Leal tells Island Life in his own words a fascinating tale of how
pursuing a pastime has given him great pleasure and satisfaction as
well as helping others. By Colin Leal
Driving a horse and trap for the
disabled was something I knew nothing
about until I became involved almost by
chance.
Now, some eight years on I regard it
as an honour to have been asked. I find
that driving in the grounds of Osborne
House gives one a great sense of the
past and on fine warm days there is
nothing more enjoyable.
There is always plenty of fun and
friendly banter and if you are lucky
even a bun and a cup of coffee. I have
to admit I feel quite good about giving
time for people who are perhaps less
fortunate than myself.
It all began when Gill Warren visited
my farm in early spring 2002 and
caught me long-reining my riding horse
Sasha, the first job in getting her to
listen to instructions without me on her
back and using my legs to aid control.
I had no real experience at all of
driving and was just using a common
sense approach. Gill insisted I would
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soon need a trap and it just so
happened she was going to sell the one
she had arrived on.
She invited me to go and try it for
myself, so over the next few days I did
some homework on traps and thought
to myself Gill thinks I’m going to
succeed in this driving lark. I also knew
how she had lovingly maintained her
“Bennington Buccaneer two-wheeler
which was in excellent condition.
Meanwhile I had borrowed an old
trap from Phil Legge of Brickfields
Farm and managed to get Sasha to
perform quite well, and in a few days
I was out on the road. Of course I
had ridden Sasha all of her riding life
having had her as a foal so I knew her
temperament and how she behaved.
During this time Gill was very helpful
lending me bits and pieces of harness
and giving me the benefit of her driving
knowledge. I decided to buy Gill’s
“Bennington Buccaneer”, raising the
cash by selling my 1959 featherbed

Norton motorcycle. My long suffering
wife is scared stiff of horses but
tolerates my crazy interests!
So one morning I took Gill’s trap,
which she kept at Brickfields, Sasha
loved it compared to Phil’s old hard
going one. Looking back I think it was
advantageous to start a horse in an old
safe, but hard going trap because when
you then use a decent one the horse
seems to be really grateful.
In the following weeks I often drove
down to see Gill in her cottage at
Binstead for a chat so that I could
glean more of her driving knowledge.
Then out of the blue one day, Gill
asked me if I would like to take my
horse and trap to Osborne House,
where people who were keen on horses
but disabled in different ways, met to
learn to drive a trap or just be driven
round part of the grounds and enjoy a
get together.
Gill told me that she and her horse
Steff would be there and of course I

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