Kristi has been battling duodenal cancer which has sadly returned once more, and she had a longstanding dream to meet the superstar Valegro.  When Kristi’s friend Jane asked Willberry if he could help, Willberry got straight to work and contacted Carl Hester’s fantastic team.  They were immediately keen to help out, and even though Valegro is now retired, they were delighted to invite Kristi to the yard to meet him.

Kristi and Jane arrived at the beautiful yard in Gloucestershire where Carl and Charlotte Dujardin are based, and were surprised to be greeted by peacocks, hens and guinea fowl before they could even see a horse!

Alan Davies, International travelling groom for Carl and Charlotte, came to greet them and took them to meet all the beautiful dressage horses in the yard...... WOW!!! One intelligent head after another came out to say hello, and enjoy the cuddles from the ladies, with Jane taking a particular shine to the stunning mare Times Kismet.  After a tour of the arenas and a wonderfully entertaining insight into ‘behind the scenes’ life from Alan, it was time to meet the great man himself...          

Valegro and Uthopia had two special stables to themselves with views of the fields, and Kristi could barely wait to stroke him!  With the stable door wide open, he stood politely and soaked up the adoration and love as if it were only to be expected!  Uthopia was equally gracious next door, and two kinder, more gentle horses would be hard to find.  Valegro (aka Blueberry) even had his own Blueberry horse treats made especially for him by NAF!

Kristi and Jane finally had to drag themselves away and leave these incredible athletes, but they took with them some very special moments to store in their special memory banks ❤️

Our huge thanks go to Alan Davies for so generously giving us his time, and such fascinating and funny anecdotes of life looking after the very best dressage horses and riders of our time.  We are forever grateful and send all our love to the whole team there.

Rachel wrote to Willberry wondering if he might help her through difficult times by fulfilling a dream of hers.  Rachel was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2018 and underwent the gruelling chemotherapy and radiotherapy, followed by extensive surgery.  To stay positive throughout her recovery, Rachel set her sights on a Wobbleberry event with her lovely mare Dushy, but decided that at 18 perhaps Dushy was a little beyond such excitement!  She bought an ex racehorse called Kes in December 2021, only to discover two weeks later that the cancer had returned and was incurable.

Rachel is determined to make the most of her life, and so she decided to ask Willberry if he could help her to chase her dreams of completing the Wobbleberry challenge, with the help of a training session with the inspirational event rider Jonty Evans.

Jonty knew Hannah and has always been a staunch supporter of the charity, even throughout his own physical and psychological battle following his horrific riding accident at Tattersalls event in 2018.  So when we asked him if he could help us by giving Rachel some of his valuable time, this incredible man said an immediate “Of course”!” and we began to make plans.

As Rachel lived a long way from Jonty, he very kindly offered her a stable for the night for Kes, and we found a gorgeous hotel nearby for Rachel and her husband Pete to relax and enjoy after the lesson.

And what a fantastic lesson it was.  Jonty shared the wealth of his knowledge and experience with Rachel, and the partnership grew in confidence throughout, jumping the bigger fences with ease by the end of the lesson.  Rachel’s smile just got bigger and bigger!  The following morning there was an unexpected treat in store for Rachel when she arrived at the yard; Jonty offered to let her ride the legendary Cooley Rorke’s Drift or “Art” as most of the equestrian world knows him.  Rachel was blown away by such a lovely treat and had the most amazing time on board, although she said afterwards “I don’t think I did him justice!”

We are forever grateful to yet another staunch friend in the wonderful eventing world, Jonty, who gave his time, insights and support so readily and generously.  Jonty, thank you from the bottom of our hearts.  We can’t wait to see Rachel and Kes at an event next year, so #keepkickingcancersbutt Rachel and we will all be cheering you on soon❤️

Sam wrote to Willberry asking if he could help her with a very special treat to help her through her cancer battle.  She had been diagnosed with bowel cancer, and following surgery was going through her six month chemotherapy course.  Sam had a very particular dream and that was to ride on the Newmarket gallops with her little horse Goldie, together with her friend Pia.

Well Willberry was gobsmacked for a moment – was it possible for anyone other than jockeys aboard million pound thoroughbreds to set hoof upon those hallowed tracks?  This was a very new challenge, but he had faith in his team to give it their best shot and try to make Sam’s dream come true.

After a couple of conversations with trainers, Willberry decided to go straight to the top and write to the Jockey Club head office – I mean the worst they could do was laugh at them wasn’t it?! 

The loveliest part of being a part of Hannah’s Willberry Wonder Pony is that you are constantly surprised and humbled by people’s generosity, and the Jockey Club were no exception.  Much to their amazement, wonderful Lindsay from the Jockey Club Estates came back with an immediate “Yes we can”!  But before we could even begin celebrating, Lindsay also offered Sam and Pia a tour around Newmarket training grounds and the Jockey Rooms followed by lunch – wow wow WOW!  Lindsay thought it would be better to have the two treats on different days because the horses would not want to be on the lorry for too long, so the good news was relayed back to Sam that she had not one but TWO treats in store.  She was blown away by such a kind and generous offer, and couldn’t wait to tell Pia! 

Because Pia's horse, Annie was struggling a little with a dust allergy in the dry summer, the first treat was the tour of the grounds with Lindsay, and lunch, courtesy of kind and generous Charlotte.  Sam had the most memorable day,

“Watching the horses training on the gallops this morning was wonderful - seeing so many of them was awesome! Lindsay's tour of Newmarket and all of the yards was brilliant ... we had no idea there were quite so many.”

They then had a lovely lunch on the patio at the Jockey Club, being treated like VIP’s and enjoying the delicious food.  An extra treat was a tour around the Jockey Club afterwards with Charlotte, looking at the amazing art collection and learning all about the history of horse racing.  What a day to remember!

Once the rains had fallen, it was finally time for the big day on the gallops! Sam and Pia were so excited, but Willberry had one more surprise up his sleeve.. He had found someone very special to come and take some photos of them in action.  Dominic James is an incredible photographer whose work is known globally as well as in the racing world.  He was exceptionally generous in giving his valuable time to come and spend the morning with Sam and Pia, and was so lovely on the day, making them feel completely at ease.

Dominic took some beautiful photos which Sam and Pia will treasure forever, and we are so grateful and thankful for his support and generosity. (Photography by Dominic James of @horsesintraining.)

           

They had the most fantastic time on the gallops, getting a little taste of that exhilarating feeling of speed – even if Goldie and Annie weren’t quite as fast as the racehorses, they believed they were! It really blew the cobwebs away for a day, and both Sam and Pia have been talking about it ever since. A truly memorable experience where just for a few hours nothing else in the world mattered.

There are barely enough words to thank Lindsay for her incredible support and generosity in making this wish possible – we literally couldn’t have done it without you! Our huge thanks also to Charlotte for giving so much of her time to make the girls feel so special, and of course once again to Dominic for his time and talent to tell Sam’s story in wonderful photographs that will last forever. 

Keep kicking and keep galloping Sam and Goldie 💗

After enjoying a fantastic lesson with Wills Oakden, Jo was given a second treat when Willberry’s very own Scottish Fairy Jemma Docherty flew into action again.  The Wish team heard from Jo’s friend Fiona that she was going to Blair Castle International Horse Trials and wondered if they could arrange for Jo to meet a rider if possible. 

Well in typical Jem style she managed not one but two treats for Jo!  On the first day she was treated to a drive around the cross country course with the amazingly generous Matt Heath.

The next day she met her idol and Hannah and Willberry’s very good friend the legend that is Pippa Funnell!  What a fantastic weekend and some very special moments to put into Jo’s memory bank. 💗

Our huge thanks go to Matt and Pippa for taking time out of their busy days to generously give their time, care and support both to Jo and to Hannah’s charity.   And of course, our special thanks to our special Scottish ‘Team Willberry’ volunteer, Jemma Docherty – you’re amazing! 💗

Willberry was contacted by a lovely lady called Charlotte to ask if they could help make a wish come true for her good friend Heather.  Heather had suffered brain injuries and was registered disabled, but then was sadly diagnosed with stage 4 cancer in her adrenal gland.  Charlotte has been trying to make as many happy memories for Heather as possible, and Willberry was delighted to see his team jump into action to help make another special event for Heather.

Heather has a sweet cob cross mare called Polly who she determinedly rode through her first chemo treatment and is still out competing when she is able.  Charlotte knew she would just love to go to an adult riding camp with Polly, and so plans were made for her to go to Aston le Walls riding camp in the summer.  Heather was absolutely over the moon when she heard the news, but there was a second issue that she had no transport to get Polly there.  “No problem!” said Willberry, and they enlisted the services of the excellent AWE Horse Transport, owned and operated by the lovely Amber Woodhouse.  Amber was immediately on board with the scheme, and kindly offered her ongoing support for the charity in the future.

So at the beginning of August, Amber collected the precious cargo Polly and took her to Aston le Walls for an exciting few days ahead..   Polly travelled well in absolute luxury in the smart little two horse box, and she was very happy indeed to be treated to a haylage net!

The camp turned out to be absolutely super, the weather was lovely and with a good breeze so humans, horses and dogs didn’t overheat. Charlotte had booked herself a place with her horse too, but suffered a huge disappointment when Billy went lame just days before the camp and was unable to go.  Undeterred, Charlotte went anyway without her mount, and supported and cheered on Heather throughout each day.  Aston is a first class venue for these events, and the camp organisation was excellent.  Polly hadn’t done a stay away camp or competition before, but she took it all in her stride. Heather and Polly were treated to four lessons over the two and a half days, with two grass XC sessions, one arena SJ and one arena XC. Polly had previously only done one arena XC competition prior to camp but absolutely loves her jumping and didn’t seem at all phased by rustics or jumping on grass. Heather said “Polly dragged me into the jumps apparently loving her camp activities!”  Many positive comments were received from the instructors about Polly and her potential, she’s such an honest pony and really tries her best. Heather was so thrilled to be able to take Polly away for some intensive instruction, something she couldn’t have afforded to fund herself. Their neighbour in the lorry park and stables had ovarian cancer and over a long dinner the new friends discussed how essential horses were in maintaining motivation and giving a purpose to each day in the face of such an awful illness.  

Charlotte told us, “We are lucky to be a part of such a wonderful community through our united equine passion.  The whole weekend went so smoothly from start to finish and I can’t thank you and Willberry enough for making this possible. The cards Heather have been dealt seem so unfair and this was such a lovely bit of escapism for her.  She is so so grateful to Willberry and the Wish team for giving her what she called “the mental holiday from my day to day reality.”

Heather is now saving up and determined to get to another camp, hopefully with her good friend Charlotte and her horse Billy to share the fun.  Keep #kickingcancers butt Heather!! 💗