Fiona Galbraith is a horse owner and keen rider based in Benbecula. As luck would have it, next door to her is the Uist Community Riding School where her mother has been involved for a long time. This is where Fiona’s keen interest came from.

‘My mum actually was the kind of horsey one originally, and she grew up around horses and she always wanted horses, so when we moved here with my fathers work, she got a horse quite quickly and taught me and my sister to ride. It was an army riding school back then, but my mum became heavily involved. She was on the committee, she volunteered and she taught lessons.’

In the late 1990’s The riding school was handed over to the community and has been a success ever since. At the moment, the Riding School employs three people on a permanent basis, with that number increasing with part-time staff during the summer and volunteers throughout the year. The school is now under new management of a previous rider of the Scottish National Equestrian Center in Edinburgh.

Fiona mentions that ‘She’s absolutely amazing. There’s also a waitlist at the moment for people who want to come and volunteer, so it’s absolutely thriving.’  Uist Community Riding School own seventeen horses, but also house some other locally owned horses on top of that, these range from the cutest of Shetland ponies to Olympic-ready huge horses. So, big or small, the stables are open to all to try out horse riding. ‘If you’re a tiny Tot, you can ride the Shetland. We cater for beach rides, so even if you’ve never sat on a horse before, or you know how to ride you can come and join in.

I own my horses that are kept down there, and there’s about four others who do the same. We’re back and forth pretty much every day, feeding, checking, and looking after them.’

‘…Well, most mornings! Sometimes I’m lazy and the riding stable will feed them for me. Yeah, you can’t really hide from them, really. They know if you don’t turn up. After I’ve finished work for the day, they’ll be waiting at the gate for me.’

‘When I was a teenager, my friends were getting a lie-in on a Saturday morning, but we were up mucking out stables. If you want an animal, you have to look after it. It teaches skills of responsibility and discipline early on. You have to do the work. Horse riding is an all year round thing.’

The school has recently been reroofed, offering a cosier canter around the grounds. In the summer months, they offer pony rides, pony days, summer camps, regular or one off lessons and competitions along with other events throughout the year. During the blustery, cold and dark winter months, the riding school offers indoor lessons. The riding school is a place-to-be over the calendar year and the venue hosts many events for people of all ages. Fiona mentions that

‘kids love it because not everybody can have their own pony.’

‘The Riding School definitely provides a centre for people to come together and learn a sport, learn a skill and socialise as well. I mean, it’s such a social hub on a Saturday. It’s heaving with all sorts of age ranges from like seven or eight years old right up to people my age and older.’ 

Fiona, as a teenager built a comrade of new friends in her new island home through her new hobby. She’s now part of a wider community and she’s made some lifelong friends through horse riding. 

‘On a Saturday, you can go down and you can easily spend the whole day just chatting and socialising. There’s such a big community of riders, not only in Uist, but in the whole of the Western Isles. There’s a Facebook page called Western Isles Riders, and everybody there chats about their horses and upcoming competitions and things like that.’

It is hard work physically, and also mentally because you have to be aware of what your horse is thinking as well. You build up a connection with that animal, it’s not like riding a bike, it’s not like learning to drive.

You are only in control to a certain extent because that horse does have a mind of its own. And when you get that connection and when you achieve a milestone, like you learn to jump or you have your first canter down the beach, the adrenaline rush and the thrill you get is. It’s also great exercise.’

To book a lesson or see wha’s going on at the Uist Community Riding School look online here: uistcommunityridingschool.co.uk/