Eat, Sleep, Ride

13/09/2026

13/09/2026

12/09/2026

Last week, Eat Sleep Ride was a finalist in two categories at the Scottish Borders Business Excellence Awards — Innovation in Business and DYW Business of the Year.

No trophy this time, but a room full of brilliant Borders businesses and our wee farm right in the middle of it. Still proud as anything.

Thank you to everyone who's part of ESR — team, volunteers, partners, and the horses who do the real work.

10/09/2026

What if asking about su***de could save a life?

Today is World Su***de Prevention Day. If you're worried about someone, the best thing you can do is ask them directly: "Are you thinking about su***de?"

It won't put the idea in their head. It tells them you've noticed, and that you're ready to hear the answer.
This year we've been listening to people across South East Scotland about what helped them through. Again and again, they told us: someone asked.

If that's you today, these numbers are for you too.
Samaritans 116 123 · Breathing Space 0800 83 85 87

***dePreventionDay

10/09/2026

25 people currently give their time to this yard. Some of them are 12. Some are retired. Between them they muck out, lead, listen, teach and turn up in the rain.

Part of what we're raising on the Kiltwalk in two weeks is the ability to have volunteers stay on site with proper support — because for some of them, distance or what's happening at home is the only thing standing between them and being here.

The rest goes to Beauty's operation, 10 ABRS blocks for our young people, and 10 subsidised pony day places in the holidays.

👉 justgiving.com/campaign/horseandhope

09/09/2026

It's Scottish Employability Day 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

63 pony days at Quarry Farm this summer — and a good number of them run with help from young people who first came here as participants.

Two young people now in paid employment under work permits. Two 16-year-olds on work experience. Two students from Borders College working towards ABRS exams and Dynamic Youth Awards. Two more, out of mainstream school entirely, now on alternative provision and put forward for ABRS qualifications and Youth Achievement Awards. Two young volunteers who travel in from Gorebridge and have built a working mushroom farm as part of their Young Environmental Leader Award. And one young person who planned and led her own funded session from scratch.

Turns out 20 rescue horses are very good at teaching turning up on time, working as a team, and keeping going on a hard day.

08/09/2026

📊 Someone independent came and checked whether what we do actually works.

Ishanee Podder, MSc Behavioural Science at the University of Glasgow's Adam Smith Business School, has spent this summer evaluating the Diamond Model — the shared leadership approach behind Herd Dynamics.

She designed, ran and stored the surveys herself, with University of Glasgow ethics approval and no ESR involvement. We only ever saw anonymised, aggregated results. That was the point.

What she found:

✅ Every validated measure moved in the predicted direction. Not one participant got worse on any of them.
✅ Self-esteem 25.1 → 30.4. Wellbeing 45 → 60. Self-efficacy 27.3 → 32.5.
✅ Self-efficacy — belief in your own ability to handle things — was the strongest and the only statistically significant result. Which makes sense. You cannot bluff a 500kg animal into cooperating with you.

The honest caveats, because we'd rather say them than have someone else find them: this is a small study. Eight participants, twelve facilitators, seven families. No control group. It shows the direction of travel, not proof.

If you lead a team and you've ever wondered whether your people would follow you if you didn't have the job title, that's what Herd Dynamics is for. Get in touch at [email protected] to talk about a session for your organisation.

Thank you Ishanee. Genuinely useful work 🐴

06/09/2026

One week until we walk 🏴 £5,000 = Beauty's operation + 10 ABRS blocks + volunteer stays on site + 10 subsidised pony days.

Sponsor our team: justgiving.com/campaign/horseandhope

05/09/2026

Independent evaluation. University of Glasgow ethics approval. Surveys run entirely outside our control.

Every measure moved in the right direction. Nobody got worse. Self-efficacy showed the strongest change of all — because horses don't respond to job titles, only to whether what you're doing matches what you mean.

Small sample, no control group, and we're saying so.

The same approach runs through everything here, from leadership sessions to the young people on the yard every weekend. Come and see it for yourself — we're always looking for volunteers 🐴 get in touch at [email protected]

03/09/2026

This is Beauty.

A rescued Thoroughbred who came to us after a hard start, and who has spent the years since helping young people find their confidence again. The ones who won't speak in a classroom. The ones who arrive angry. The ones who've been let down before.

She now has severe spinal problems and needs specialist veterinary treatment.

Our team walks the Kiltwalk in two weeks, and Beauty's operation is the first thing the money goes to. After that: 10 ABRS blocks for our young people, support for our 25 volunteers to stay on site, and 10 subsidised pony day places for the holidays.

£5,000 is the target. Sponsor our walkers 👇

justgiving.com/campaign/horseandhope