Jem Croft: Not a Paralympian, Not Therapy - Just an Equestrian
A returning guest to the Equitas Podcast, Jem Croft has spent years pushing the equestrian industry to make room for riders who are neither Paralympians nor therapy stories. This time, the conversation goes further than advocacy alone.
Ask Jem Croft what she wants people to understand about being a disabled equestrian, and she doesn't reach for anything abstract: “I just want to ride. I just want to be around horses. I just want to enjoy what horses give us, and I also happen to be disabled.” It's the idea she's built her platform around, and it's where this conversation starts too.
Jem became disabled at 15, through chronic illness, and had to relearn how to walk, talk and dress herself - riding came back to her before walking did. Years later, in lockdown, she started posting online about what daily life as a disabled equestrian actually looks like, pushing back against an industry that, in her experience, only ever seems to have two categories for disabled riders: Paralympian, or therapy case.
At the centre of the conversation is Joy, the ex-racehorse mare Jem specifically hadn't planned on buying. She had ruled out a mare, a young horse and an ex-racer, and ended up with all three!
What Jem describes discovering in Joy since is a horse who reads her physical needs with a precision she still finds hard to fully explain, on the ground and in the saddle.
The conversation also moves into a period of Jem's life she doesn't often discuss in detail: leaving a dangerous relationship, losing her home and support network almost overnight, and finding, in a moment she credits as pivotal, a reason to keep going that had nothing to do with anyone telling her to be strong.
From there, Sarah and Jem talk about what representation actually requires from an industry that's often good at saying the right things: specific gaps in venues and brand marketing, and Jem's own fight to finish a professional qualification using methods the exam board hadn't accounted for. And they talk about the cost of being the person who keeps raising all of it - why Jem stepped back from social media for a period, and what she's had to learn, later than she'd have liked, about boundaries.
It's a longer, more personal conversation than Jem's last appearance on the podcast, and one that has many good things to take away.
Find Jem at @jemcroftpararider on Instagram.
