Willberry’s Wishes were contacted by Chrissie, a good friend of Robyn Tierney, from Ireland, to ask if they could give Robyn some horsey happiness after the death of her beloved Dad to cancer.

Robyn’s love of horses was inspired by her dad, Ivan. He learnt to ride horses slightly later in life and eventually became Master of the local drag hunt. After buying her a horse of her own, Robyn joined her dad out on the field.

Five years ago, whilst out on a hack with Robyn, Ivan had a fall and was taken to hospital for a few simple checks. Sadly, the results in hospital gave him a shock diagnosis of cancer. Despite his advancing illness through chemo, Robyn’s Dad supported her horsey experiences throughout the next five years. Robyn took over the care of her dad’s horse as well as her own, but as her dad became increasingly unwell, her riding took a backseat and she lost some of her inspiration to ride.

Chrissie thought it would be lovely for her to get away for a short break, ideally with somewhere to ride a horse too.  Whilst Willberry had little knowledge of Ireland, he put his wand into action and found the magical Westport Woods Hotel on the beautiful west coast in County Mayo, run by Michael O’Connor.  Michael was very sad to hear of Robyn’s difficult few years and was delighted to help us to organise a weekend riding break and some rest and relaxation in his stunning spa hotel. 

When we got in touch with Robyn to tell her of our surprise break, she was absolutely elated!  Although the trip was postponed due to Covid restrictions, Robyn enjoyed a fantastic weekend there in September, together with her mum and brother to help enjoy the stay.

The first day’s riding was on a beautiful warm sunny day, spent on miles of golden beach, picking through pools and estuaries, then opening the lungs for wonderful head clearing gallops along the wet sands.  Robyn said it was the best experience ever:

“I remember the feel and sound of Cody’s hooves touching the cobble at the edge of the beach and I’m pretty sure this is the point the wide grin was fixed on my face permanently for the next 3 hours!!! I was fortunate to catch a glimpse of my brother walking on the beach in the distance. When he saw us coming, he captured the most wonderful video of us cantering flat out across the open beach. So grateful to have this memory caught on camera! The timing could not have been more perfect.”

The second day turned out to be the opposite extreme! Lashing rain and strong winds buffeted the hotel when Robyn woke up, but the true horsewoman that she is, she donned her waterproofs and headed to the yard without a second glance!  This time they took to the mountains, over rugged crags and challenging steep stoney tracks, but Robyn was equally overwhelmed with the scenery and the exhilaration of being on a horse up there with the world beneath you.  Although she was totally drenched by the time they got home at the end of the day and was ready for a soak in the bathtub at the hotel, she enjoyed both days equally, and was so glad that her mum and brother could be there too to share the wonderful break away.

“My dad was my best friend and in sharing our passion for horses it made us so close, it is wonderful to have someone to share your horses with and I miss him immensely. I feel close to my dad when I’m with horses and in my heart I brought him on those amazing treks in Westport too. I brought with me a Willberry hat silk and I wore a wee pin of Wilberry on my back protector, and I hope in some way that meant Hannah was able to enjoy my treks with me too. I know anyone who loves horses would have been as happy as me.”

Willberry was absolutely thrilled that the break gave Robyn so much pleasure and joy after such a terribly difficult and sad few years, and our thanks go to Michael and his team at Westport Woods Hotel for giving Robyn such wonderful experiences and memories to keep forever 💗

Tabish is an incredible 13-year-old girl who was sadly diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in 2019 and is undergoing 3 years of treatment.  She used to ride when she was younger, but in the tough times after her diagnosis her mum Jo decided it would be a wonderful tonic for Tabs to start riding again.  As she didn’t have her own pony, Jo decided to put a request on her local whatsapp group to see if anyone had a horse or pony that Tabs could ride from time to time.

A wonderful lady called Pippa immediately offered her own horse to ride, which was a lovely horse but at around 17hh a little overwhelming for Tabs!  She then found a friend’s smaller horse for her to ride, and as soon as Tabs sat on Monty she was in heaven! 

It was Pippa who contacted Willberry and his team to see if they could help Tabs develop her riding skills with some riding lessons at the nearby equestrian centre run by Julia Bodman.  Well of course Willberry was delighted to help, and so Tabs began to have regular lessons on Monty, which she absolutely adored, and which gave her something wonderful to look forward to in between hospital visits.

Willberry went to see her in action in a lesson with Julia and were very impressed to see what a natural and competent rider Tabs was. 

She had a week of lessons and Julia had hoped that by the end of the week she might be cantering, but by the end of the lesson on Monday Tabs was cantering and even jumping a small jump!! 

Julia was flabbergasted!  Tabs and Monty showed what a great team they were, and Willberry gave them some extra gifts of a smart Willberry numnah for Monty and a Willberry jacket for Tabs – ready for when they go to their first show together!

                        

Pippa also took Tabs to The Hannah Francis One Day Event at Larkhill, where Tabs was given the VIP treatment with a driven course walk and even the chance to sit up in the cross-country commentary box to watch and hear how it all works!

                    

Willberry is so thrilled to help Tabs on the road to being a top rider, and who knows, even becoming our next Olympic gold medalist!! Our thanks go to Julia Bodman who has given Tabs so much confidence and belief in such a short time, and we just can’t wait to see what she does next 💗

Almost 2 years ago a bunch of friends who grew up riding with Hannah, started plotting a plan to remember their incredible friend and raise funds for the charity so close to their hearts in the process. 

Ideas flew about, a marathon? a ball? a sponsored ride? But it was decided that they needed to do something that challenged them, after all the challenge faced by Hannah was unimaginable. 

So Run, Swim, Bike for Han came about. The challenge?

 Half marathon

 Tag-team the length of the English Channel (32km between us!!)

London to Paris

For all of us at Team Willberry, Hannah will forever be our biggest inspiration, featuring in our thoughts for almost every decision we make as life continues on around us. But on Hannah's birthday this year, Janice kindly got in touch to mention the life-changing impact Hannah had on her life, despite never meeting her in-person. 

 Janice has managed to achieve some incredible things in the last few years, Team Willberry was so touched by how she was #inspiredbyHannah to change her life, we thought you might like to hear her amazing story. 

"I was involved in the Wobbleberry Challenge and arranged a number of residential training weekends at Milton Keynes Eventing Centre for those of us aiming to complete the challenge. I was also fortunate enough to join one of the weekends with my mount, The Chocolate Pony! Chocolate was my daughters event pony that I had stolen for the challenge but not having ridden for a few years (and being very wobbly) it certainly was a challenge.

Not only is Janice the fittest she's ever been - it turns out she's stumbled on an incredible talent! Since her message she has qualified for the All England ladies powerlifting championships, the English Bench Press Championships, has won age category competitions and has even set a new record in her region! 

Team Willberry wishes Hannah was here to see the incredible impact she continues to have on people's lives, but gosh, we are so proud of both her and the incredible achievements Janice has achieved whilst channelling's Hannah's "Dream Big, Fight Hard, Never Give Up" mentality. 

#inspiredbyHannah. 

Lindsay has been an incredible supporter of Hannah’s Willberry Wonder Pony for years, using her marathon running to raise money for the charity.  Sadly, last year she was diagnosed with breast cancer, and underwent gruelling chemotherapy treatment and a mastectomy at the end of January.  Incredible lady that she is, she was back running and pushing herself despite the treatment, and in October she actually completed the virtual London Marathon just four days after a chemo session, raising an incredible £1200 for Hannah and Willberry, with her very special little Ringoberry by her side throughout!  Lindsay is also one of our amazing 16 runners for Bath Half, we are thrilled to have her as part of #teamwillberry 💗

Well, Willberry decided that Lindsay deserved a special treat for everything she has gone through, and worked with his volunteers to think of a big surprise during these limited times.  Something extra special that wasn’t too far from her home in Ivybridge in Devon.... no competitions open to spectators yet.... no big events happening.... how about somebody very special in the eventing world..... Bingo!!  A treat for Ringo!! And Lindsay of course 😊 Who better to go and visit than our country’s leading lady, Olympic medallist, Badminton and Burghley winner, World Games and European Championships gold medallist, the wonderful Mary King!

As soon as we asked Mary if she could give Lindsay a trip around her yard, she said an immediate and unequivocal “Yes!” and a date was set!

And so, on a slightly damp Wednesday in June, Lindsay and Ringoberry made their way excitedly to meet a true Eventing legend in real life!  She took her three best friends along with her too, who have supported and cheered her through all her difficult times, and their close bond is obvious.  Jill and Maryberry, Sam and Remyberry and Zoe and Ladyberry came with Lindsay to meet the Wish fairies first for a coffee in a local café, where the little Berries were equally thrilled to meet their own hero – Willberry!  What a time they had telling Willberry all about their lovely owners and the fun they had together with their horses.

Soon it was time to go and meet Mary, and what a warm welcome they received, both from Mary and her lovely dog Barney who hounded everyone to throw him a ball constantly!

Mary spent so much time chatting about her career, built from a clearly very determined small child with no horsey background through tough years of training with the indomitable Sheila Wilcox to her hugely successful eventing career, which is far from finished yet!

Lindsay and her friends were shown all around the yard, met some of Mary’s lovely young homebred horses and even had a guided tour of the impressive lorry, complete with slide out which Zoe accidentally triggered by leaning on a button!!

To top off the amazing experience they were even treated to tea and homemade flapjacks by Mary in her beautiful home – they had to keep pinching themselves!!  Lindsay and Mary even had a common bond as Mary is competing in the London Marathon later this year, so many tactics to discuss!

Willberry had decided the morning held one more treat for the lovely ladies, so they all went to Sidmouth for a lovely lunch at the Fort Café overlooking the sea, which despite the yukky rain which had settled by then was still a fantastic place to complete the wonderful morning.  Ringoberry and the other Berries just had to go and dip their toes in the surf too, even though their manes and tails got a little soggy too, it was worth it!

We cannot say a big enough thank you to Mary King for her kindness, warmth and generosity in giving her time to share her home with Lindsay, it meant the absolute world to her and will be a memory she will never forget.

Keep running and keep #kickingcancersbutt Lindsay – you can do it 💗