Amateur event rider Erin Donnelly is aiming to ride in her first charity race this autumn – and to raise awareness around enjoying a full, active life with a stoma.
A stoma or ostomy is an opening on the surface of the abdomen which has been surgically created to divert the flow of faeces or urine when a health problem means waste can no longer leave the body via the normal channels. People with stomas wear a bag on their abdomen to collect the faeces or urine, which they empty and change as needed. It is estimated that one in 335 people in the UK live with a stoma, according to charity Colostomy UK.
Erin, 26, has an ileostomy, which is a type of stoma where the opening is from the small intestine to let out faeces.
“In April 2021, I thought I had a stomach bug – I lost 10kg in 10 days, at which point my Mum said, ‘I think we need to go to hospital’,” said Erin, who was diagnosed with acute onset Crohn’s disease, a chronic inflammatory bowel condition.
“After three weeks of drugs, they started to talk about surgery. It was very quick – on Thursday they said they thought they were going to have to give me a stoma and take out my large intestine. Mum said surely there was something else they could do, but they said they didn’t think I would live to see Monday if we waited even over the weekend.
“I woke up feeling like a new person – so much better – and my first thought was how soon could I get back on a horse. My surgeon was amazing and said he thought I could be back riding within six weeks.”
Perthshire-based Erin has ridden since she was three and competes at British Eventing grassroots level with the now 20-year-old Irish Sports Horse Sherrygroom Clover Lad.
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She said: “I had an amazing year when I started eventing again after getting my stoma – I did a BE90 and thought maybe I could get to the one-star Blair at in August. It was so emotional when I did because I didn’t even think I’d be eventing again.”
Erin Donnelly competing at Blair Castle.
(Image credit: creditUnknown)
Taking on a charity race with a stoma
Erin has also loved racing since she was young and at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, some friends went to a thoroughbred sale, where they bought five horses instead of one because prices were so low. They offered one to Erin and her mother Rhona, saying they thought the yearling – Split Stone, known as Marco – would develop into a good event horse.
“I broke him in myself and then we went to trainer Nick Alexander and asked if he’d have our scrawny thoroughbred – he ran in a few races but wasn’t very successful,” said Erin.
Erin’s charity Flat race is on 31 October at Wetherby, in aid of the British Horse Society.
“A friend did it last year, we went to watch and I thought, ‘I have to give it a go’. It’s only over a mile so there’s not much tactics involved, you just need to go for it,” she said. “We have to pass the jockey fitness test on 18 September, which I think is the hardest part.”
Erin originally intended to ride Marco in the race, but he has had a couple of nosebleeds so she now intends to transition the six-year-old into eventing and is on the look out for a horse to ride in the race. She is riding out at Nick Alexander’s yard to get fit.
“I used to go and ride Marco there and they are the most welcoming team,” said Erin, who fits in riding around working as a mechanical engineer in the water industry for RSE.
“It’s a hard job but I really enjoy it and they are very good about flexibility if I say something like, ‘I’ve got to go this afternoon, my horse has the dentist’.”
“I’d love to show another rider you can live a normal life with a stoma”
Stomas can be permanent or reversible; Erin’s is permanent and she has also had surgery to sew up her rectum.
Asked about the challenges of having a stoma operation and continuing to ride, she said: “One that people find really funny is that before the surgery I took my Pikeur jodphurs into the hospital to make sure I got it in the right position under them.
“When I was breaking in Marco and having to lie over him I was conscious of it – it’s those things you don’t expect. When I think back to when I first got it, it was a case of let’s try a first canter and then let’s try a first jump. The lead-up to the first event back was nerve-wracking as I didn’t know if I’d have the same strength, but it felt like constantly ticking off milestones.
“The first year I was really protective and the first time I fell off I was like, ‘Thank goodness, now I can stop worrying about that’. The longer I have it, the more I just get on with it.
“I have had a couple of surgeries since, the most recent in June 2022, and that one really made me think I need to go and push myself even more than I did before I had it.”
Erin sees the charity race as an opportunity to show people what is possible with a stoma: “When I was told I needed a stoma, I didn’t know anybody with one, so it was a huge thing for me to see people see living a normal life with one – I’d love now to be that person for someone who rides horses and is looking at having a stoma and wondering if they can still do all these things.”
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Pippa is a true eventing geek and has been H&H’s eventing editor since 2005. She has first-hand experience of competing up to British Eventing intermediate and international CCI2*-L level, and has worked in the industry on a top event yard. Pippa enjoys nothing more than immersing herself in the sport at the highest level, reporting from the five-stars and international championships, including the Olympics.
