Work–horse balance
The charity founder who’s working to restore the planet one tree at a time
Amanda Bronkhorst is a mother of one who founded JUST ONE Tree in 2019. She is working hard to restore the planet for future generations, one tree at a time.
Work life…
I set up JUST ONE Tree to give everyone the ability to combat climate change and reverse biodiversity loss — it costs just £1 to plant a tree. We now plant trees in seven countries. We’re also helping to tackle ocean acidification and rising sea temperatures via kelp forest regeneration in the Philippines and off the Australian coast. We help bring environmental education into UK classrooms, and we hold a nationwide event, JUST ONE Tree Day, which provides a springboard for environmental projects and tree planting. The inaugural event saw 80,000 children plant a forest of over 100,000 trees.
How I got here…
I was a producer on TV commercials like Shreddies’ ‘Knitting Nanas’ and Lego’s ‘Let’s build’ for 20 years until four years ago, when my daughter, Sena, was born. I planned to return to work, but with my partner Rob also working long hours in filming we realised that Sena would grow up barely knowing either of her parents.
So I put my career on hold, intending to return to work when Sena started school.
Two years ago I realised something. Hacking my horse Milo through one of the big fields near my yard, Bury Farm in Edgware, it was so dry that the ground had split and it didn’t feel safe to gallop. It hit me that we were beginning to feel the effects of climate change.
Doing my bit…
Last summer climate change really hit the headlines. It was when I read that humankind had only 10 years to prevent irreversible damage that I panicked for Sena’s future. Initially I felt helpless and frustrated, but then I discovered how cheap it was to plant a tree. I thought that if we could do it collectively we could achieve so much more. And so JUST ONE Tree was born. In our first year — 2019 — we partnered with more than 50 businesses, engaged with 350 schools and planted in excess of 750,000 trees.
My horse…
Milo is a 14-year-old, 16.1hh jet black Irish Draught cross. He’s one of those horses who puts a smile on my face when I ride him. When it goes well, he feels incredible. There is nothing quite like feeling the
“The ground had split and it didn’t feel safe to gallop. It hit me that we were beginning to feel the
effects of climate change”
power in that big engine beneath you. He is also the sweetest of souls.
I think we make a good team as I’m not the best rider, but he’s safe and sensible and keeps all four feet on the ground. He can be a bit nervous, but I enjoy the challenge of taking his concentration away from what is worrying him.
We love going out and about, whether that’s to a sponsored ride or hacking in new places. We also do low-level dressage and I’m hoping to learn to jump soon.
Horsey roots…
My parents’ house backed on to a stud farm. I wasn’t allowed to ride, though, as they were too worried that I would hurt myself. When Superman actor Christopher Reeve broke his neck in a riding accident that sealed the deal. So instead, every day after school, I would sneak into the fields and make a fuss of the horses.
When I was 30, I wondered what to buy a friend for her birthday. She had grown up near horses and I knew that she missed them so I bought her a hack. Having never really ridden, I decided to have a few lessons so that I could join her. That was in the April, and I was hooked. That October I bought my first horse Grissom — a just backed (but thankfully very chilled) Thoroughbred.
My motivation…
My job keeps me going, along with the belief that we can turn things around and create a future for us all. The wonderful ‘thank you’ messages from head teachers to business owners are also motivating. I was sent a clip of a school in Spain taking part in our JUST ONE Tree Day. They had made up a song: ‘I’m planting one tree today; we can save the world this way’. It was overwhelming to watch.
Milo is my escape while having a small child and running a non-profit organisation. He’s my freedom and my fun, but also calms my mind — like meditation. Then I feel centred again.
A busy schedule…
Sena started school in September, so I’m still tweaking our new schedule to see if I can improve it. At the moment I’m working very late, but I’m hoping that Sena may eventually start after-school clubs and that my other half may be less busy and do the odd school drop off, which would all help me to free me up to work during the day.
A typical day…
7.15am I get up and get Sena ready for school.
9.30am I get to the yard, muck out and do most of the chores. Milo is laminitic and so while I muck out he is either wandering around his corral (an area outside his stable that the yard owner has created to allow him to roam around), eating hay, or, if the sugar in the grass isn’t too high that morning, I’ll have texted someone at the yard in advance to turn him out into the field with his friends.
10am If I’m riding I’ll go out now and
afterwards turn Milo out in one of the three bare paddocks with hay for the afternoon. I then finish getting his stable and dinner ready so that the lovely livery girl just has to catch him at the end of the day and shut his door for me.
12pm I get home and have about two-anda-half hours to eat my lunch and work. 2.45pm I make a mad dash to collect Sena from school. Once we’re home, we spend some time together before her hour of TV, when I do some more work and make dinner. Then it’s bath time and bed.
7pm Once she’s asleep, I return to my desk and work late into the night/early hours.
Hobbies and pets…
I’m a real outdoors girl. Snowboarding used to be my main passion, and scuba diving is where my love of the oceans comes from. Both of those have been put on hold since having Sena. While having a young family and a horse isn’t easy time-wise and financially, I’m so thankful that I’m managing to make it work.
NEXT ISSUE A single parent and horse owner who works for a software company.