Chesham teenager shared how her life has changed thanks to horse riding after a difficult syndrome put her life on hold and affected her mental health.

Fourteen-year-old Ayla Warnes from Chesham struggles with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, an incurable condition causing very flexible joints, chronic pain and fragile skin that breaks easily.

She’s been able to find a moment of relief from her anxiety, tics, OCD, pain and fatigue since starting horse riding at Rossway Riding for the Disabled in Amersham 18 months ago – and especially thanks to the bond she’s formed with a pony called Hector, whom she’s set-up a fundraiser for.

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Ayla said: “The amount of help riding has given me with my anxiety, how much confidence, it helps so much with my tics and OCD, they disappear.

"That’s something I really rarely get a break from.”

Before her EDS symptoms worsened, Ayla was a keen dancer, but had to give it up after she began to decondition, meaning she couldn’t physically move from the sofa and couldn’t go to school for a year.

She explained: “Being in school for two lessons was a push.

“I couldn’t sit up for long period of time.”

Having to use a special chair or wheelchair made her anxiety worse, and there was a lot of fear she wouldn’t get stronger, Ayla’s mother Holly Warnes said.

Eventually Holly got in touch with Rossway RDA chairman Irene Purse in Amersham to try and improve Ayla’s situation.

Holly said: “We’ve seen so many medical practitioners over the years, but not one of them suggested she tried riding.”

“Since I’ve been riding it’s been building my strength, especially in my neck and back, so much so that I can be in school almost the whole day now,” Ayla said. 

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Even just sitting on a horse is exercise but being with Hector means more than that – his kind energy gives a sense of hope for Ayla, and the young pony can adapt depending what kind of a day Ayla’s having.

Ayla said: “He’s very responsive to me and my needs when I’m riding.”

Feeling better meant Ayla was once again able to go out with her friends. Although being back in school was good “it was also a bit scary, because I have a lot of anxiety around school, but a lot of that came from kind of teasing about my condition, how little I was in school and things like that.

“I realised I don’t need to have those anxieties anymore, because riding has changed that.”  

Holly said: “Ayla said riding gives her the same sense of freedom and self-expression that she used the get from being at dance.”

“And actually there’s something more in riding that dance didn’t have for me,” Ayla added.

As well as riding not hurting her like dance did, “riding is very similar to dance, with the movement, but I’m doing it with an amazing animal,” Ayla said.

“Riding has been helpful not only to my physical wellbeing but also mental health, and it gives me a break from my anxieties, something I rarely get.”

As Hector’s upkeep costs Rossway RDA £6,000, Ayla’s launched a fundraiser for the special pony and the “amazing” Rossdale community, which can be found at here.