Five-year-old horse lover tackles long distance ride for friend with cancer
A five-year-old girl has braved wet and cold weather to complete a five-mile ride
to raise funds for a friend with cancer.
Berkshire-based Isabelle Lesinski chose to take on the challenge for four-year-old Gideon McCabe who has a brain tumour.
Isabelle donned fancy dress and, with the help of her mother Natasha, rode her Welsh pony Bonnie further than ever before.
They completed the ride last month (28 November) and raised £255 for Gideon’s treatment and other causes his family are supporting.
“Gideon has had brain surgery and is currently undergoing chemotherapy,” Natasha told H&H.
“Isabelle was at preschool with him and they were good buddies. We recently moved and she misses her little chum and often asks how he is.
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“So we decided to do a fancy dress ride to raise some money for him.”
Isabelle and Bonnie dressed up as a red arrow for the ride and were joined by other liveries from their yard.
“The owners of New Barn Farm very generously donated £100 to the cause — we were overwhelmed,” said Natasha.
“At the two-and-a-half mile mark we stopped for a break at the Pot Kiln pub as it was so wet, cold and windy. A round of hot chocolates warmed us all up.
“Dressed as a Red Arrow we were quite conspicuous — a car stopped us asking what were we doing and he later sponsored us as well.
“Isabelle handed out well done rosettes by Hobbitts Rosettes when the ride was finished as a thank you to our friends for their support.”
The Lesinskis are planning another sponsored ride in the summer.
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Rachael joined Horse & Hound in 2014, initially as a digital sub editor then became part of the news team as a writer in 2015. The philosophy graduate studied journalism at the Press Association before working as a local reporter at the Brentwood Gazette. Rachael is now a mum of two and still loves all things equestrian, including hacking, dressage and jumping with her cob Bert. Rachael left the H&H staff to go freelance in June 2019, but still contributes to our magazine and website, as well as our sister magazine Country Life, among others.