LAST night June Burgess of Horses for People took part in the first Association of Irish Racehorse Owners/ HRI ‘Owners’ Information’ evenings held at Down Royal Racecourse. The aim of the sessions is to share information with owners on the many post-racing opportunities for racehorses. June has been working with international charity Racing to Relate and Down Royal Corporation of Horsebreeders on a ground-breaking project, Thoroughbred Assisted, which follows the retraining of recently off-track thoroughbreds for use in equine assisted services.

As part of her guest editorship in this month’s Country Life magazine, the Duchess of Cambridge announced that June was one of her 12 ‘Countryside Champions’. The Duchess visited June’s beautiful facility in Ballygraffan in May where, since 2013, she has offered equine assisted learning for adults. “More than 300 people have attended our horse-assisted workshops for leadership, personal development and wellbeing, 50% of those are former armed-forces personnel many of whom are suffering from PTSD,” June shared.

Also in Northern Ireland this month, Princess Anne, visited the Irish Equine Rehabilitation and Fitness Centre (IERFC) in Lisburn. HRH The Princess Royal visited the unique equine therapy centre for a tour of the facilities. “As a young, wholly privately funded business it was a great honour and privilege to have our work and facility recognised in the equine industry,” owner Michelle Kane told Horse Sense. “It was an honour to have HRH Princess Anne watch demonstrations on the water treadmill, of cryogenic therapy and of our salt room, and of course ask plenty of very knowledgeable questions on each therapy!”

Worthington Chiropractic was also on-hand to give a demonstration on an ex-racehorse and the Princess also met sponsored riders Joanne Sloan Allen and Team GB rider Sameh El Dahan.