‘At night, I prayed I wouldn’t wake up’: The riders tormented by stable bullies
A WORLD record-holding professional showjumper has revealed the litany of torment she has endured at the hands of bullies.
Susan Oakes told how she felt so desperate and “terrified” after a bloodstock agent threatened to beat her up that she almost felt driven to suicide.
The 33-year-old, who holds the puissance wall jumping and triple bar jumping world records, spoke out as campaigners warned that an “epidemic” of bullying is tarnishing equestrian sports.
Bullying at stables, clubs and competitions is having a dire impact on riders’ lives that is driving them to give up the activity and even attempt to take their own lives, they claim.
In response, welfare groups have launched an anti-bullying campaign in conjunction with Greater Manchester Police (GMP) to provide help for victims.
Dozens of victims have come forward to report incidents of bullying since the “Not On My Yard” campaign was launched by Tudor Rose Equines, a riding group covering Lancashire, Cheshire and West Yorkshire, and Greater Manchester Police last month.
Ms Oakes is no nervous novice. As a rider, she had encountered bullies before, but it was just a year before making her attempt on the records, in summer 2012, that she reached her lowest ebb.
“Before attempting the world record for the first time, I was meant to lease a horse from a bloodstock agent in Ireland,” she said.
After the agent perceived he had been slighted by Ms Oakes for failing to recognise his assistance, she apologised.
“It didn’t seem like a big deal,” she said. “But when I went back to training, he turned up three hours later ... to come and confront me. He saw me and said ‘I’m going to beat seven shades of s--- out of you’.
“I was terrified. I was shaking. I just wanted to get away from him. If I saw him in the street today, I’d run a mile.”
In October 2013, Ms Oakes went on to claim the two records in the national sports arena in Dublin. But behind her success lies a catalogue of torment caused by bullies.
“I went down some roads so dark that I didn’t think there would be a tomorrow,” she said. “At night, I actually prayed that I wouldn’t wake up the next morning.”
In another incident, she was told by a horse dealer that if she ever visited his town, he would make sure “I’d never leave”.
Ms Oakes describes bullying in the world of equestrian events as “an epidemic”.
“I have seen people hospitalised for depression caused by stable bullies,” she said: “This campaign – Not On My Yard – can really make a difference.”
One of the campaign’s founders, Samantha Furlow, said it had received as many as five calls a week from riders of all ages and abilities who had been driven away from the sport.
She told “Many of them were suffering from depression as a result of bullying and we know of at least one young woman who has taken her own life because of yard bullying.”
Sgt Cara Charlesworth, from GMP, said: “Dozens of people have come forward to report crimes since the campaign was launched.” A number of incidents investigated by police so far have been deemed serious enough to be taken to court with cases due to be heard in the coming months. The bullying reported includes: harassment, with adults and children alike targeted; verbal assaults, with victims forced to change their daily routine and ride at anti-social hours; damage to horses and theft of equipment such as saddles. In one incident reported to police, a horse had its tail and mane cut off just before an equestrian show. In another disturbing case, a young girl in the Manchester area was assaulted with a broom by another female rider. One rider, Melody Hames, told how she was bullied as a youngster for two years at a riding yard in the North West. She became so upset and frightened she left and began riding elsewhere. “That experience will stay for me for the rest of my life,” she said. Now a renowned horse barber who specialises in grooming horses, she said the problem persists in equestrian circles. “I Susan Oakes, who holds puissance wall jumping and triple bar jumping world records, says she was threatened by a bloodstock agent visit stables every day and I get at least one person talking about being bullied. The ages vary but the stories are the same. Horses are meant to be therapeutic. A place you go for peace, not for emotional trauma,” Ms Hames said.
The anti-bullying campaign follows a series of revelations of historical abuse in equestrianism. Riding instructor James Keers, 56, was sentenced to two years and three months in prison last year for sexually assaulting a series of girls as young as 13 in Scotland between 2000 and 2014.
In July, Damien Midgley, 39, was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for assaulting four girls under the age of 13 he tutored at a riding school in Yorkshire.
The British Equine Federation has also backed the Not On My Yard campaign, sending leaflets to stables and pony clubs across the country. monstrosity”, in which he either tried to kill the man or watched his comrades be murdered.
The ex-Royal Marine, awarded a “certificate of appreciation” by the commander of Northern Ireland operations, is thought to be the first Chelsea Pensioner to be questioned over historic killings in Northern Ireland.
He said of the incident: “I fired at him but I don’t know where my rounds landed. When I looked through my rifle scope I saw a man in the attack mode with a weapon. He was pointing his weapon toward my main gate, where I knew there were other Marines on sentry duty. I was acting under orders.”
He said he had taken part in a “lawful ambush” in which “you are there to kill and when they turn up with that weapon your job is to blow them apart”.
He added: “For 45 years, I have stood alone on this event with no offer of investigative explanation from any authority. Our services never needed more support than they do today.” He said the investigations were “destroying morale” and serving as “comfort to the enemy”.
The former soldier, who never married, decided to become a Chelsea Pensioner seven years ago. Normally, a Royal Marine is eligible, but because he served in the Army for six years, he was allowed to move into the famous hospital.
Two ex-paratroopers, now 67 and 65, are being prosecuted for murder over the death of an IRA commander more than 40 years ago. The former soldiers are accused of murdering Joe McCann, who was unarmed, after they opened fire as he fled a checkpoint in 1972.