From learning to ride bareback at the age of 13 to helping found the Whitford branch of NZ Riding for the Disabled (RDA), horses have been a near constant in Lady June Carter’s life.
“It was just amazing watching things that you think will never happen,” shares June of seeing people transform with the support of equines over her many years as an RDA founding member and volunteer.
At 91 years old and blind, the charitable organisation is still a huge part of her life – only now June is the one turning up to ride. Laughing, she says sometimes others can’t believe she’s still riding, but unless bad weather prevents it, June does so every week.
“I’m so pleased I’ve been involved over the years and now I’m here riding myself,” says June, who rides gentle giant Pounamu, or Pou as she lovingly calls him.
“Each session is 45 minutes – I ride in the arena, the garden and end with some trotting. It’s good exercise and really nice to get out.”
She admits that when she started riding with RDA in 2024, she needed to brush up on a few skills.
“But for the most part, it just came back to me.”
A lifelong bond with horses
Now, even though she lost her sight three-and-a-half years ago, riding is so instinctual that June is totally at ease communicating with Pou as they navigate
the Drury property.
“I know what I’m supposed to do, and the horse knows his job and we get along just fine,” she smiles.
Every year, more than 3000 people with disabilities, hidden or otherwise, benefit from the therapeutic horse programmes nationwide. June’s first involvement began almost 50 years ago when it was suggested that she, fellow founder Diana Arlington and a group of others, could run sessions at the local Whitford Pony Club, where June’s daughter Shirley-Ann was a member.
“Mothers were saying, ‘You can use my daughter’s pony,’ and next thing, we were leading children around every Monday morning,” recalls June.
“We didn’t know what we were doing in the very beginning, but we learned by popping children on ponies.”
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Sharing one of her favourite RDA memories from years past, June lights up.
“There was one girl of about 18 who was always thumping on her chest, but then she would sit on the horse and hold the reins perfectly still.”
More than just a ride
The devoted horsewoman has many stories of remarkable experiences when people are given the time and space to connect with horses. That’s why she remains so passionate about the charity and its volunteers.
For June, being around horses is about far more than riding. Over the years, it has been a source of friendship, purpose and a way to give back to her community.
Even now, she says, “If I hear a child crying, I think, ‘Oh, I wish I could do something for him and put him on a horse or something.’”
She jokes that horses partly influenced her decision to immigrate from her native UK to New Zealand in her twenties.
“I met my husband [the late Kiwi timber magnate Sir Richard Carter] in a pub in England and came out here to New Zealand, mainly because he had some horses that I could ride on the family farm at the time,” she laughs.
Her secret to a life well lived
They went on to purchase a property in Whitford and later developed a significant farm and homestead in Ararimu.
Her approach to horses has also shaped the way she approaches life. They have taught her to be patient, gentle and calm rather than trying to force things.
“You don’t roar around them, yelling and screaming,” she says.
“You just quietly walk up to them, give them a rub on their neck and tell them everything’s okay.”
When asked her secret to staying active in her later years, June reveals, “I’ve never really thought about my age. I don’t worry about it and it seems to work
itself out.”
She has no plans to stop riding any time soon.
“I want to keep doing what I am doing until I literally can’t,” June says.
“Life is for living and trying to help other people. What you give out, you get back.”
To find out more about South Auckland RDA or donate, see southaucklandrda.org/donate
