SOME people face remarkable challenges in life. The ability to cope with high levels of pain, and above all, that steely determination to make a full recovery, often returning to the activity that caused injury in the first place. One such remarkable lady is Emma Cahill. Her story is fascinating, tragic, an example of sheer determination, but one that thankfully has a happy ending.

It all began in the 1990s when a young Emma asked her non-horsey parents for riding lessons for her birthday at Carrickmines Equestrian Centre. Her parents could not afford to treat her to further lessons so she asked the owner of the stables if she could have a job and that was her passport to more lessons and getting to know how to care for horses.