The founder of a Leicestershire horse discovery centre which helps people who struggle with anxiety and stress is delighted to have been shortlisted for two East Midlands business awards.
Dina Shale, 48, who lives in Hinckley, runs The Way of the Horse which uses horses for therapy sessions.
She has been shortlisted for an East Midlands Women’s Award 2019 in the category Outstanding Woman with Community Impact. Her other shortlisted award is for community excellence for the East Midlands Nachural awards run by business leader and event manager Ninder
Dina also advises at Rescue Ranch UK on the same site in Lutterworth, a charity at which her husband Derek is the chairman. It takes in horses and ponies who are abandoned or neglected.
The animals are nursed back to health and given a new life, a process which can take months. They are then available to be re-homed, sponsored or work with clients for the therapy programs.
Dina set up The Way of the Horse Discovery Centre four and a half years ago and it is based on an 11-acre site.
There are currently 11 horses on site. It is a not-for-profit organisation at which she and her team have developed self-help programs for children and adults who have suffered emotional hardship, such as anxiety, trauma and stress, all with the assistance of rescue horses.
She said: “A number of clients and former clients nominated me for the women’s award which is amazing as it shows how much we have done for them and how they appreciate the programme.
it means a lot. It has been challenging to run these ventures. Even though we work with small groups, we have a big impact on their lives. It is so good to see the effect the therapy has on their outlook on life.”
Dina said she was overwhelmed by the generosity of an anonymous donor who recently offered cash support to one of her clients, a girl from Leicester aged 11.
The girl, who is not attending school, had her funding to attend The Way of the Horse sessions cut by the education authority.
Dina said: “Companies had started to respond to my appeal and then one businessperson who wished to remain anonymous kindly stumped up the money for this girl to continue to come to my centre.
She responds to the horses she looks after and this will make an enormous difference to her life.”
The presentation night for the Nachural awards is on Friday, September 27 at Leicester’s Maher Centre in Ravensbridge Drive.
The East Midlands Women’s award gala night is on Friday, October 11 at Colwick Hall Hotel in Nottingham.
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