Philippe Videlot

How did you become a sponsor?

Philippe Videlot

Almost by accident! My wife and I are keen horse-riders and very sensitive to children in difficulty. We wanted to make our own small contribution to society by combining the two.

After some research,we found out about Cheval Dire, an organization that rescues badly treated horses and trains them to work with disabled children.

How did you go about it?

We made contact with the organization's chairwoman. She was amazed: usually she has to approach people to find financing. We attended a therapeutic riding session where horses are used as a means of physical and psychological therapy. Downs Syndrome children tend to express their joy very openly while some other severely disabled children barely seem to react. However their teachers are unanimous: in the evening, the children seem calmer, quieter and happier. To finance a new training ring and a handimove (a special device for helping disabled children mount a horse),we naturally turned to the Veolia Environnement Foundation and the SFR Foundation, since my wife works for SFR.

What's the next step?

We have put together a project called "8 sabots, 4 pieds" (8 horseshoes, 4 feet), which consists of crossing France on horseback over a distance of 800 kilometers. We will be living in complete selfsufficiency for two months, with just our sleeping bags and enough food for 24 to 48 hours. In the morning,we'll travel as far as we can and around 2 to 3 in the afternoon, we'll start looking for a place to stable the horses.

What is the purpose of this adventure?

It's an old dream but it's also a way of developing our action with Cheval Dire. We will be talking about the organization with all the people we meet: village residents, mayors, shopkeepers and entrepreneurs, etc. We also have an educational partnership with my daughter's school, which is a way of helping her cope with our long absence and also raise the awareness of the schoolchildren.