Thanks to MS, I am learning to ride!


21 January 2020

Alison Chubb was diagnosed with primary progressive MS in 2006. Despite the challenges her MS brings, last summer Alison competed in Riding for the Disabled’s prestigious National Championships.

Here she talks about how she’s following her horse riding dream and learning to make the most of every opportunity that comes her way.

Getting a diagnosis of PPMS

My diagnosis was a process of elimination. Retrospectively, I’d had symptoms for years. In the late 90s on holiday in Greece, I wasn’t sure why I couldn’t cycle like my husband did (in the heat!) – was I so unfit? Was I riding a duff hire bike? A couple of years later, during a walk in the lovely Yorkshire Dales, I came to a stile and I just couldn’t lift my leg over it. I burst into tears, knowing something was wrong.

My GP referred me to a neurologist who began the arduous process of carrying out numerous tests. They were all to rule things out – stroke, motor neurone disease… to be honest, getting a diagnosis of MS in 2006 was a relief!

My life growing up

I’m a dairy farmer’s daughter and grew up on a farm in Northumberland. But, much to my consternation, I never had a horse and never learned to ride. Like many little girls, I was pony-mad. Schoolmates assumed I would have my own, but I had to explain Dad’s annoyingly inarguable reason; “a horse eats more grass than a cow and doesn’t give as much milk”.

Finding my local RDA group

Flash forward 40-odd years, and I have lived with MS for a few years, now. My husband and I are on holiday, staying with a family friend who happened to be one of the founders of the New Zealand branch of Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA). At home I’d started reading Melanie Reid’s articles in The Times Saturday magazine. After fracturing her neck in a riding accident, she is paraplegic, and her column extolled the virtues of RDA. Melanie recognised how beneficial riding could be for many disabilities, and she specifically mentioned MS. I felt someone was trying to tell me something…

Back at home, online searching led me to the Bedale RDA group. Within 6 months, I had – amazingly – won our regional heats and qualified for the 2014 National Championships. I didn’t do very well, but I was just chuffed to be there, competing in the Countryside Challenge (a simulated hack, or walk on horseback, where you navigate various obstacles.)

If there are things you fancy doing and you can see a way to try them – go for it! If any readers have PPMS, like me – or have moved into SPMS – we all know there’s no going back so we have to make the most of every opportunity that presents itself.

Making progress

Fast forward again, to 2019. I am now riding at the Richmond and Catterick RDA group. My trusty mount is Dexter, a gentle, piebald cob. I am now being encouraged to achieve my riding ambition, which is to rise to the trot. As I have no muscle memory, never having learned to trot pre-MS, my MS-damaged nerves mean my brain has to learn a new, albeit less efficient method. It’s taking a while…! I often say that although my own legs hardly work, using a horse’s four legs to walk is brilliant! The sense of freedom is great.

The Richmond and Catterick group invited me to compete again in the Countryside Challenge. I was gobsmacked when it was announced that Dexter and I had won in the regional heats! So five years after my last triumph, I was back at the RDA National Championships! As I have primary progressive MS, to have held a place five years on is very positive progress to me.

The big day arrived!

As Dexter didn’t travel well, we borrowed a horse that I had only ridden once before the National Championships from Stokesley RDA – Jasper, a lovely bay ex-hunter. Jasper and I competed in the 50th Anniversary of the RDA in July 2019. With carriage driving, vaulting, dressage and show jumping, the National Championships is the biggest event for disability riding – even bigger than the Paralympics. Although I was a couple of points off winning a rosette, we all had a ball! The positive, encouraging atmosphere over the whole event was the epitome of the RDA motto: “It’s what you can do that counts.” Thank you, MS!

My advice to others

If there are things you fancy doing and you can see a way to try them – go for it! If any readers have PPMS, like me – or have moved into SPMS – we all know there’s no going back so we have to make the most of every opportunity that presents itself.