Nicky Pellegrino, 56

Journalist and author

Joy means something totally different to what I do for a living. I spend my days indoors sitting at a desk, so joy is being out in nature, moving. I love animals so being surrounded by them is ideal.

My ultimate in joy is to take my horse Uno and my dog Lucy out to Woodhill Forest near Muriwai, West Auckland and just ride. It’s so peaceful. I don’t see anybody, I hear birds and cicadas as I ride through the forest and I can see the sea. That is the ultimate freedom.

I think there is something about horses. My horse is very calming, a real character and very sweet. I call him Saint Uno because he is so good. Friends’ children can have pony rides on him. He’s just the cruisiest horse. I’ve had other horses in the past and spent a lot of time getting bucked off, which is not quite so joyful. Uno is really not going to do anything spectacularly silly, so I can relax.

Recently I was stuck writing my latest book TinyPiecesof Us, so I went for a ride with

Uno and I was so deep in thought, I failed to duck for a branch. I was wearing my glasses and the branch swiped my glasses off my face. I am so blind, I couldn’t find them so I had to climb back on Uno and say, “Take me home,” and he did.

I can get into that state where your body is busy doing something and it frees your mind so that you can think stuff through and make connections in a way that it just doesn’t when you’re sitting in front of a computer.

Sometimes I think joy requires a bit of work, it doesn’t just arrive. After I’ve had a really good ride, or a dressage lesson, I get a really good burst of pure joy because I’ve put in the effort.

I’ve had horses for about 25 years and I don’t like to think of a time when I can’t ride or if I’ll ever find another horse as good as Uno.

But I look at the Queen

– she is still riding in her 90s on these nuggety little Welsh ponies. She rides along in her headscarf quite happily. She’s my inspiration, old Queenie.