Finding friends and peace of mind through a riding club
‒ For me, riding means all kinds of contacts with horses and like-minded people, says Sari Maunula as she prepares her horse, Stara, for the day's riding lesson.
Even though it is a rainy day, there are plenty of riders and horses out in the yard at Niihama Riding. The yard-patrolling orange stable cat, Nappi, can also be seen around. Maunula is familiar with the stable, having ridden there for over twenty years. She started riding from the very beginning, almost at the same time as her daughter. Maunula was over forty years old at the time.
‒ I had never ridden as a child and had no previous experience with horses, Maunula recalls.
At first, the horses seemed scary, but after a couple of months that sense of tension disappeared.
‒ Once I got the basics and I wasn’t so tense, I could concentrate on just riding. Sometimes new situations still make me a bit tense. There is no other stress when riding, because you are focused on the present and riding.
Like-minded friends found through the riding club
Friendships can be built through riding as well. Maunula tells that she often sits on the terrace after the riding lesson and talks to her friends at the stable about more than just horse-related matters.
‒ There are many people I know here and I have made friends through riding. We become very close and we know what is important to each other and in what way.
Being part of a riding club is more than just riding. The riding club organises many races and events, where people can volunteer to help out in the café, the office, the track, or with official tasks such as judging.
‒ Working together, we can achieve many things, such as the renovation of the boxes that we are currently carrying out. You also meet a lot of new people through volunteering, Maunula says with a smile.
Riding offers both challenges and care
Co-operation between rider and horse is important in riding. The horse is Sari Maunula's most important hobby friend. Although riding requires physical bodywork, it is also about responding to the horse's movements in the right way. According to Maunula, riding is about self-development.
‒ Sometimes you can do really well and be proud of yourself. But another time, it may not work. Then you have to be patient and try again and again. When you succeed afterwards, it makes you feel good.
The stable also serves as a place to relax.
‒ There's no time to think about unnecessary things and when you relax, other things will fall into place. For me, it's a kind of holistic mind-body therapy.
The City of Tampere has awarded the Tampereen ratsastusseura riding club a general sports grant. The Tampereen ratsastusseura riding club is the largest in Finland and has approximately 1,000 members. The club has been operating since 1926.
