It was Winston Churchill who famously said “there is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man”.
Gemma Smith would agree with that, saying the sense of calm that comes from being with a horse, either on or around one, is almost meditative.
The Wakatipu woman recently launched boutique equine experience Willow & Mane at her Lake Hayes home, an initiative designed to help other women find both their feet and their seat while reconnecting with nature and themselves.
Having ticked off her first week of a pilot programme this term with three clients, it was everything she imagined it would be with exactly the sort of clientele she was aiming for.
“I think it might have legs,” she said.
With a background in environmental planning, Mrs Smith practised as a resource management planner and co-owned a local planning consultancy before venturing into early childhood education.
In 2008, she and husband Mike identified a need for quality early-childhood care services in the Queenstown area.
Four years later, they opened their first Gems childcare centre in nearby Lake Hayes Estate and later added two more in the area, employing 60 or so staff.
Last year, they sold the childcare business after what had been a very busy time, establishing and running the business, coupled with raising their own family — daughters Libby (15) and Briar (13) — and operating their successful Kincardine Angus cattle stud.
Mrs Smith had been looking for a project that would allow her to blend her personal passions with her experience but it was difficult to find something that allowed flexibility for school hours and term time.
She investigated returning to urban planning but could not see how she could commit to that with also needing to be present for her daughters.
With both girls keen equestriennes, they spent a lot of time travelling to competitions and it took some co-ordinating to keep the family organised, along with supporting Mr Smith, who is also president of Angus New Zealand, with his cattle and industry commitments.
Having seen the pace of life that she had lived, and also that of her friends, Mrs Smith had been conscious about making a change.
The childcare centres were established when her own children were very young and it had been “very serendipitous” building an offering around what they wanted their daughters to experience, which even included regular visits to the Smith farm.
The couple “thoroughly enjoyed” their time in the childcare sector, particularly establishing a team and getting things up and going.
But to keep going, with the scale the sector was going, they needed to take it to the next level and Mrs Smith felt she had run her course, and it was time for the couple to do something else.
They always had multiple things on the go and they had finished their journey with that particular one.
In five years, their daughters would be finished with secondary school and the couple had made a conscious choice that the next stage in their life would be built around their children as a priority.
What she did discover was there were women in the Queenstown area who had some flexibility and were looking for something for themselves within their week, outside of the demands of their existing work and family loads.
Enter Willow & Mane, an initiative aimed at allowing women to reclaim a childhood dream or return to a passion they once had, to find some space for themselves and reconnect with horses, and find some confidence.
The Smiths already had the land, next to Lake Hayes and above the Kawarau River, and the horses, including some “specials” well suited to learner or nervous riders.
That included 21-year-old hunter Jandal, who had “done everything” and was affectionately known as Jandal the Dreamboat — he even had his own fan club.
“It doesn’t matter what age or stage [of rider], he looks after them,” Mrs Smith said.
A recent stint fundraising for sport at the local market allowed her to do some “market research” when she ran into old colleagues and friends, women around her age and older, and the response was resoundingly positive.
She believed there was scope in the market as no-one else was offering such a service locally and it was completely personalised to the client in a safe, non-judgemental environment where they could take it at their own pace.
Taking it at their pace was the key to the success of the programme and she believed there would be a “community” of women to come out of the initiative.
Everyone would have different goal — one of her clients had dedicated much of her life to her children’s riding and had lost her own confidence.
Another said it was a toss-up between learning how to fly a plane or learning how to ride a horse properly and she chose the latter. Her goal was not horse ownership and visiting Mrs Smith would be the closest she came to owning a horse.
A friend who turned up last week said she had lost all her confidence but when Mrs Smith turned around, she had her feet out of the stirrups and was “chatting away relaxed as anything” while sitting on Jandal.
Mrs Smith, who has had horses since she was 5, had come to realise over the past few years that while she might not have any formal equine qualifications, she had a lifetime of knowledge to share with others.
She also had gathered a large network in the equestrian world from her own involvement, whether that was hunting, or the adult riding club when she first got back into riding in her mid-20s, or her involvement with pony club.
For any women on a journey to horse ownership, then she could “hold their hand through the process and share the network”, she said.
Willow & Mane had a sense of purpose for her. She enjoyed making a positive impact but it would be in a small way, not as a large-scale venture.
“I’m not taking anyone to the Olympics,” she laughed.
If she could provide an opportunity for five or six women a term to have a genuine, positive experience on a weekly basis, then she would be happy.
Women, she believed, often juggled a lot more than their male counterparts and if it got to that point in life where they could take a few hours out for themselves, then Willow & Mane could fit the bill.
The first session was all about figuring out where the client was at, what experience they had and what their goal was. Understanding their goals was very important, she said.
“I’ve been surprised at the interest and support. It’s been amazing,” she said.
