Victoria Pendleton interview: ‘Being around horses is therapeutic – nature’s better than any pills’

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Pendleton was among the sports stars and celebrities in action at Goodwood in August
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Malik Ouzia @MalikOuzia_9 November 2019

As defeats go, Victoria Pendleton ranks the one she suffered at Glorious Goodwood this summer among the easiest she’s had to take.

Riding a horse whose chances she optimistically rated as “slim-to-none”, the double Olympic cycling champion finished well-beaten in the Magnolia Cup, a charity race set out to raise money for Wellbeing for Women.

The story was up ahead, where 18-year-old Londoner Khadijah Mellah, becoming the first rider to ever wear a hijab in a race in Britain, triumphed in the female-only contest to cap a fairytale journey so remarkable that not even the film crew making it the subject of their documentary could have hoped it would come true.

Mellah had sat on a racehorse for the first time just four months earlier and barely passed her riding assessment in time to compete, her story striking a particular cord with Pendleton, who also arrived in the sport without what she calls a ‘horsey background’, in 2015, before going on to ride at the Cheltenham Festival the following year.

“It was the best result possible,” Pendleton says. “It was such an incredible story because she really has done something sensational and something very inspirational for the sport.

Khadijah Mellah wins the 2019 Magnolia Cup on Haverland at Goodwood

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“I love it, and such a beautiful, sweet girl, such a positive energy. For such a young woman, she's got a lot of control, a lot of poise, a lot of determination.”

Those are the same qualities that Pendleton has herself displayed in abundance time and time again, first in becoming queen of the velodrome, and then in defying the naysayers to complete a successful transition from track to turf.

She counts legendary jockey AP McCoy and Aiden Coleman, who rode Paisley Park to a magical win in this year’s Stayers’ Hurdle, among those who helped most, but it is the animals themselves that continue to have the greatest impact on her life.

In an interview with The Telegraph earlier this year, Pendleton revealed her struggles with self-harm, suicide and severe depression, and while she has cited a surfing trip to Costa Rica as a key turning point in her battle, riding out retired national hunt horses at home every day also plays a major therapeutic role.

“Being in the presence of a horse is kind of humbling because they're such intuitive animals, they reflect where you're at. They don't need words, they read through all of that, and they see who you are. I know that sounds a bit funky, but they do.

“There's something very special about the power of nature. You're never fully in control and accepting that, and being able to cope with whatever they throw at you builds your resilience and confidence. Only with time do people really understand what an incredible source of therapy it is.

Pendleton rides Pacha Du Polder at the 2016 Cheltenham Festival
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“It seems to allow you a simplicity of thought that the chaos of everyday life doesn't allow. The therapy it provides is much better than any pills you might take to help alleviate stress and anxiety.”

There’s something strange about hearing one of Britain’s most successful Olympians describe herself as “an armchair fan”, but that’s exactly what Pendleton claims to be these days.

“I do like to watch the racing,” she explains. “I get very excited when I know people or horses in races. I end up jumping up and down on the sofa, getting really into it.”

This weekend, it is likely to be British racing’s golden girl Bryony Frost that has Pendleton on the edge of her seat, as she bids for an historic hat-trick of wins on board the Paul Nicholls-trained Present Man in the Badger Ales Trophy at Wincanton.

Watching racing, Pendleton sometimes has to remind herself of the heights she scaled in finishing fifth in the 2016 St James’ Place Foxhunter Chase at Cheltenham (“I can't believe it, just looking at the size of the fences. Did I actually do that?”), but it was Frost who shattered a glass ceiling when becoming the first female jockey to win a Grade 1 race over fences at the sport’s biggest meeting in the spring.

“We've raced to point-to-points together on many occasions,” Pendleton says. “We've shared changing rooms - I say changing rooms, it's more like a tent in a field!

“Bryony is through and through, enthusiastic, from the heart, and everything she says really has a resonance. When she says something, she means it, she doesn't say things for effect, and that kind of authenticity in her approach is infectious.

“She's the kind of person you want working on your team, and Paul and her have got a great relationship there in Ditcheat. Onwards and upwards, and I hope they have many more successes this season.”

As for Pendleton, her next challenge is yet to be decided – “I’m looking for one, so answers on a postcard” - but may well involve jumps of a different kind: “I recently did my accelerated skydiving licence, so I can jump out of planes by myself!”

Victoria Pendleton was speaking in association with Currys PC World. She stars in the latest iteration of their Christmas Campaign, which went live yesterday.

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