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Susy Smith’s relationship with horses has been a bit unstable, but the story of a local riding school has made her consider taking up the reins again

Always keen to rise to new challenges, I took up horse riding at 50. This was a slightly crazy decision, given that I’d always been afraid of horses. Even my younger sister’s tubby little pony used to scare me. When we were growing up, she’d bring him to our suburban street and, while all the other children gathered round, patting and stroking him, I kept my distance, eyeing him suspiciously and expecting a cantankerous nip of someone’s hand at any moment or a well-timed kick to send a child flying.

Years later, when I lived in rural Hampshire and one of my daughters took up riding, I began spending my Saturdays at the local stables, watching her. The young riders all seemed so confident and fearless around these large, unpredictable animals. As my daughter progressed from walking and trotting to going on countryside hacks, I started to envy her ability and I wondered whether I could overcome my fears and learn to ride.

I picked up the basics on a docile, reliable cob, who plodded patiently around the paddock, with me perched, stiff as a board on his back. But I gradually learned to relax and mastered the movements to tell him when I wanted him to turn, speed up or jump. I was elated. It seemed I had allayed my misgivings and

I felt brave enough to join organised rides. But on one of these, the horse I was riding suddenly took off without warning, at full gallop across a field, with me clinging on for dear life. I was terrified! I somehow managed not to fall off, but it convinced me I’d been right all along and that I just wasn’t cut out for a life in the saddle.

Nonetheless, my daughter still loved horses and when, a year or two later, we moved to the outskirts of London, I looked for somewhere she could continue riding. That was when I came across Park Lane Stables in Teddington. I knew instantly that I’d found a gem. One of the few remaining urban stables, it sits slap bang in the middle of a regular residential street. There you are, strolling past rows of Victorian terraced houses, 1930s semis and 1960s blocks of flats, when suddenly a horse’s head pops over a stable door. The stables have been there since the 1830s, when the local fire service kept horses to pull the fire wagon, and are a popular feature of the local community. Since 2008, Park Lane Stables have been run by a redoubtable woman called Natalie O’rourke (pictured below). She believes horse riding shouldn’t be the preserve of the rich and allows people to pay what they can afford. Park Lane is also a Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA) centre, catering for children and adults with disabilities and learning difficulties. For those unable to ride a horse, there is a specially fitted carriage donated by a local garage that holds wheelchairs, so it means no one is turned away. The lives of many youngsters with challenging conditions have been turned around by their connection with the horses. At one end of Park Lane is Bushy Park, the second largest of London’s Royal Parks, and it’s rare to visit and not see lines of trotting ponies or the carriage containing smiling children passing by.

When Covid hit and the stables couldn’t open, volunteers took the ponies to visit local people in isolation, delighting everyone from small children to the elderly as they patted the ponies through their open windows. But in 2021, the stables faced an even greater challenge when the landlord wanted to sell up. The property was valued at £1 million. It seemed inevitable that, after almost 200 years, Park Lane Stables would be no more. Yet no one had reckoned with the determination of Ms O’rourke.

A crowdfunding page was launched and, once word got out, celebrities rallied around, PR experts and businesses offered their services for free and the media took up the story and ran with it. Could the stables be saved? When O’rourke appeared on breakfast television, money began rolling in from thousands of ordinary people all over the country; some even drove by the premises to push what they could afford through the letterbox. The fundraising target was reached just in time and celebrations began. But they were premature. The landlord had received a higher offer. In May 2021, the stables shut its doors.

Still, the story wasn’t quite over. If you don’t believe in fairy-tale endings, you might like to think again. This is a classic, for the stables live on. The whole rollercoaster ride is documented in Natalie O’rourke’s book Only Heroes and

Horses (Hachette, £16.99 – a percentage of sales goes to the stables). It’s so inspiring.

I’ve even started wondering whether I should take up riding again…

FOR MORE DETAILS visit parklanestables.co.uk. Next month, Susy says no to any more Christmas presents. Meanwhile, you can follow her on Instagram @susysmithmacleod.