Our Featured Adult Rider for the Month of May is Tim Verney!
“I enjoy the community and spending time with the horses, the young and older Lancers. We are all very equal at Lancers: I have helped riders reach things they can’t or answer questions and I’ve had a junior rider show me how to blanket a horse or fix a bridle. It’s a great thing to be a part of this place. I appreciate what the program does for the youth. It is so wonderful to see the young ones develop as riders and leaders, develop confidence and knowledge, and become strong people. We need more strong women in the world. Lancers does a great job of that.”
Tim’s first memory of Lancers was when he came to Halifax for a conference many years ago. He got off a bus after visiting Citadel Hill and saw the barn in the middle of the city.
Tim started riding in late 2018. A friend introduced him to Chevy and he really liked him! By that point, his wife, Julianne, was involved with the therapeutic riding committee and they went to another barn where she could try riding a horse as a blind person. He soon decided that he wanted to be a part of it too! He took some lessons at the other barn and started volunteering with the Lancers therapeutic riding program and then became a rider in that program for a while. Tim mentioned, “I’m a person with disabilities and I felt it was important to be on both sides of that program: as a rider and as a volunteer helping to support it”.
Ever since Tim started at Lancers, he showed a strong aptitude for riding and it was clear that he wanted to go further with the sport than what our therapeutic riding program offers. So when a space opened in our A5 adult lesson, we had Tim come in for a trial ride and it was clear that it would work out. At Lancers, Tim has participated in Lancer Days (our Lancer-only jumping clinics), rider levels, and volunteered for SO much - from therapeutic riding, to August Clean Up, to videos (including transferring old Lancer VHS to digital) and night hay (the list goes on). Tim is always a pleasure to have at the barn. He takes a genuine interest in learning and progressing his skills and helping others around him.
Tim has come to find horses to be such wonderful creatures: smart, funny, kind and gentle. He added, “riding and working with horses is very important for my mind, my body and my soul”.
For Tim, riding at Lancers and getting to know the horses of Halifax has enriched his life in so many ways. He told us, “I work in social services and time with the horses, whether it’s riding, tacking up, or cleaning and maintaining the barn, has been so good for my mind, body and spirit. We are very lucky to have this place in the middle of downtown Halifax.”
Tim’s sense of humour is like no other and he is always happy to be at the barn and we’re happy when he is!. We’re so fortunate to have Tim as a Lancer and we can’t wait to see how his riding progresses even further!
