Kath West's horseriding saddle

Horseriding saddle, adapted for Kath West, made and adapted by Sandon Saddlery, United Kingdom, c.1974

“It was lovely just to be able to get out in the country, into the fields, across the bridlepaths”. Kath West

Kath learned to ride through Riding for the Disabled and found real freedom in the sport. She first rode when she started senior school. She loved it so much that her and her family invested in a pony and specially adapted riding saddle. This bespoke western saddle is raised at the front to give Kath something to use to pull herself on to the saddle and to grab in case of emergency. It also had adapted stirrups. Kath’s dad used to go out with her, but Kath always wanted to go faster and faster. Kath’s dad learned to ride to keep up, and this was a passion they shared for many years.

Electric wheelchairs at the time were not built to go off-road, so riding gave Kath the opportunity and freedom to go out into the countryside and explore. Riding also gave Kath the chance to be as tall as other people for once. In the 1970s, wheelchairs did not raise up and down like they can today, so Kath’s perspective was generally down around waist-height. But when Kath was riding, she was at head-height or above for a change.

Thalidomide was a compound found in drugs prescribed to people in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Although today it is associated primarily as a treatment for pregnancy related nausea, it was also prescribed to anyone experiencing symptoms of colds, flu, headaches, anxiety, and insomnia. Thalidomide causes nerve damage in the hands and feet of adults, but when taken in early pregnancy it causes impairments such as limb difference, sight loss, hearing loss, facial paralysis, and impact to internal organs. One tablet is enough to cause significant impairments. Researchers later identified that there was a link between the impairment a person is living with, and which day of the pregnancy thalidomide was taken. UK distributors withdrew the drug in 1961 and a government warning was issued in May 1962.