Do it for Brodie

You may have caught Natalie on BBC Breakfast on Wednesday, but this time it was in a supporting role. This isn’t a Park Lane Stables story.

Brodie was a 16 year old girl and talented showjumper, close to her mum Emma and devoted to her horse Archie. But she was being bullied at school and starting to struggle with her mental wellbeing. Shockingly, in March 2020 she took her own life.

Emma says: “After losing my beautiful girl I realised that I had two choices: to lie down and admit defeat or to stand up, carry on and fight to help others. I began to understand the huge impact and the rise in poor mental wellbeing and suicide in young people. I began to see the stigma around young people feeling unable to ask for help and support with their mental health. As I began my own journey of raising awareness I wanted to do what I could to help prevent the loss of more young lives that leave so many parents, families, peer groups and whole communities in utter devastation and heartbreak.”

Emma has thrown her energy into raising money for mental health charities, including PAPYRUS, SAMARITANS, Mind, Young Minds, and Riders Minds.

On 25 November Emma started an epic 157 mile walk from The David Broom Event Centre in Chepstow to London Docklands, home of the International Horse Show. And behind her, all those miles, she pulled a life-size resin horse called Miles.

On Wednesday 14 December the BBC Breakfast team were in Hyde Park to welcome her to London. And Natalie, Louis and Trigger were all there to offer moral support.

Poor mental health is invisible but deadly, and can affect anyone who finds themselves under intolerable pressure. We’ve seen this at first hand from the participants we work with, and we applaud the amazing work that Emma is doing in her daughter’s name.

#DoItForBrodie 

 
Read more about Do it for Brodie and the charities it supports.