“THERE are so many clever trainers, jockeys and stud farms who are running excellent social media accounts at the minute with videos made to entertain, educate and inform. It is easy for their followers to access these and they are bound to be bringing smiles to faces through these difficult times.

“Could we ordinary racing folk do more and, if so, how could we pool our resources to help? It’s a question that I, with my small ‘social farm’, found myself pondering over, because being social was part of my normal job description. Like so many other people’s jobs, mine got turned on its head by recent Government regulations around social distancing.

“Back at the beginning of last year I was kindly allowed article space in The Irish Field to write about having a good year in 2018 for my small racing yard, and about the efforts and commitment myself and my family had put into starting up a ‘social farm’.

“A social farm allows people with a social need, a disability or illness to come and work alongside us, the horses and other farm animals we have here. Although, like every other small non-profit outfit, we struggle with financial support, we did manage to secure a small start-up grant, mentoring support (free from places such as our local college), and Rural Support NI helps us a lot in securing new referrals and completing the important paperwork before somebody can start with us.

“The social farm is becoming a larger chunk of my working week and it has made me more aware and in awe of what full-time carers, be it parents, kindship carers or people like foster carers, do for those who they look after every day of the week. This is especially so for those with extra needs, disabilities and illnesses who have found themselves in recent weeks with all their normal services practically ceasing, and then having to navigate their way through isolation regulations with those who they are caring for, pretty much on their own.

“While many of us in the equine world are lucky to have onsite space to wander around freely and care for our animals throughout the lockdown period, others, especially those categorised as ‘high risk’, now find themselves housebound. What else, besides social media posts, could people in racing do to help others less fortunate than themselves through these tough times?

“My adapted social farm idea is to offer personalised video tours of my animals, using my foal, the racehorses, the lambs and our pigs to bring some cheer into households. Not only can I keep in touch with the families that we normally have here, I can stretch it a lot further to families that have never visited the farm but would still love to connect and hear from us.

“This is easy to do using technology that is already on nearly all of our mobile phones, like Facetime or WhatsApp. I am sure a lot of people are already communicating and keeping in touch with each other via these media channels and they need no introduction from me.

“However, how about racing pooling its resources together, in a collective effort, to connect with those who they don’t normally reach out to? Many of these people desperately need some cheerful pictures to help them through their day. So many people, from youngsters through to the elderly, are out there and they have favourite jockeys, trainers and horses they adore.

“My suggestion is to make a platform that will allow these families to put in a request to speak to a jockey, meet their favourite horse via video link, and more. This will offer people a unique opportunity to communicate with their heroes in these tough times. If it took 20 minutes out of your day, once a day or once a week, or if you just did it as a once off, it would be worth it to see the cheer you can bring to others. As a bonus, you may get yourself a few more likes or new fans who could be there championing you when racing returns.

“The message from my yard is simple – ‘we are open to chat’. If anybody you know might benefit from a personalised video chat and a tour around our small farm, we would love to hear from them. We would also love to hear from anybody who thinks they might be able to help make this communication opportunity bigger than just my doing it on an individual basis, or those who are already successfully doing so. A combined effort means that everybody who is willing to offer to help can do so easily.

“My contact details are contact@behindthestabledoor.co.uk or you can find us on Facebook or on Twitter @behindthestabledoorclub or #stable_door.

“If you know anybody who would benefit from a chat or a video tour around my small farm they would be welcome. Don’t forget that your CV might not say champion jockey, or champion trainer, but people have been following you on their screens or at the races, and you have fans out there who would love to hear from you. Perhaps you have been a regular companion to them in the past.

“Until we all get to meet again, stay safe everybody, take care of yourselves as well as others in whatever way you can, and I look forward to seeing or hearing from you soon!”