A Kingsbridge woman, awaiting knee replacement surgery, has pledged to swim 12,000 metres in a month for local equine based charity, Sirona Therapeutic Horsemanship CIC, based on the Dartington Estate, outside Totnes.

Sarah Morgan, explained that she wants to get fitter and thought that combining her swimming campaign with a fundraiser for Sirona was a brilliant idea.

Sarah’s eldest son, Jack, was autistic and when puberty arrived he struggled to regulate his emotions and it made life very difficult for the family.

Jack was like a volcano, always simmering, ready to explode when something or someone annoyed him.

Sirona, using their unique equine based therapy sessions, taught Jack how to calm down and work on controlling his emotions better.

Jack bonded deeply with one of the horses called Chapas, a rescue horse from Spain, who due to being forced to wear chains on his face, was extremely wary of people.

Jack learnt how to be loving and gentle and Chapas sensed that Jack was also a damaged soul and the two became best buddies.

Sadly, Jack is no longer around to benefit from Sirona but there are always more people needing help than there are places available.

Sarah said: “Many children and adults struggle with their mental health and if my fundraising can help support another young person learn to cope with life better then that will be by way of saying thank you to Sirona for all that they did for my son.

“I am swimming 12,000 metres of Dartmouth Golf and Country Club’s pool by going five times a week and swimming 50 lengths each time.

“The pool is 12 metres long and 250 x 12 = 3000, 3000 x 4 = 12,000.”

If anyone would like to support Sarah they can donate via her GoFundMe page, the link for which is shown below.