Eat Sleep Ride is HEIR Approved

Our founder Danielle McKinnon has been published in Brainz Magazine with a powerful new article, "The Box Every Leader Climbs Into." Drawing on lived experience, a £50 rescue pony and 24 acres of regenerated landfill, she explores what horses teach us about real leadership — presence, calm, trust, and the courage to lead as your whole self.

Behavioural Science Researcher — Herd Dynamics Ishanee Podder joined ESR while completing her MSc in Behavioural Science at the University of Glasgow. An economist and dedicated social volunteer originally from India, she's helping build the evidence base behind our Herd Dynamics leadership model — translating what happens between horses and people into insights others can learn from. When she's not researching, you'll find her dancing, painting, or out on a trek.

Featured in the ALLIANCE Scotland’s Connected Communities case study series, highlighting our intergenerational volunteering model, youth pathways, and community impact through meaningful work with people, horses, and nature. The feature also explores Herd Dynamics and our vision for Quarry Farm as a connected rural community resource.

Join us for a soulful evening of Borders folklore, told fireside under one of Scotland's darkest skies. Part of the inaugural South of Scotland Dark Sky Festival — Saturday 17 October 2026, from 7pm at Quarry Farm.

Shared leadership sounds collaborative and progressive, but in reality it is often slower, more uncomfortable and far more demanding than traditional control-based leadership. In this article for Brainz Magazine, Danielle McKinnon explores how horses, neuroscience and leadership theory reveal a deeper truth about leadership: real collaboration requires emotional regulation, psychological safety, financial clarity and strong governance. Drawing on her work through Eat Sleep Ride and the Herd Dynamics leadership programmes, Danielle explains why leaders must learn to read stress signals, share responsibility and balance embodied awareness with structural accountability.

Our 2025 Impact Report shares the story of how Eat Sleep Ride continues to transform lives through horses, nature, and community. From youth leadership and volunteering to equine rehabilitation, environmental sustainability and wellbeing programmes, the report highlights the people, partnerships and progress shaping our work across the Scottish Borders and beyond.

Eat Sleep Ride is looking for new trustees to join our board as we continue to grow as a registered charity. Based in the Scottish Borders, Eat Sleep Ride works with young people, families and communities through horses, nature and learning. Our programmes support wellbeing, confidence and leadership while also developing innovative environmental projects such as biofuel and community growing.

We're actively preparing Eat Sleep Ride and our experiences for the travel trade, with bookable listings now live on GetYourGuide, Viator, ClassBento, and Upiria. These platforms allow visitors, groups and corporate clients to discover and book our equine- and nature-based experiences directly, while helping us test demand, pricing and accessibility across different audiences.

Eat Sleep Ride is delivering a monthly programme of free youth arts workshops for children and young people aged 5–21, running from March to September. The programme offers inclusive, accessible creative activities inspired by horses and nature, designed to build confidence, creativity and self-expression. Sessions are welcoming for all abilities, and family members are welcome.

Pitching, vulnerability & momentum On Thursday, our founder pitched Herd Dynamics at Barclays Eagle Lab – Scale Eagles, reaching the final 10 from over 100 entries. While we didn't take the funding on the night, the conversations that followed mattered most — with new connections, interest, and real momentum around building sustainable income to support the charity work we deliver through Eat Sleep Ride.