Love for horses sees school dropout mint Sh3,000 daily

Nairobi, Kenya: The sudden end of formal schooling can be traumatic to young people. More so, a Form Four candidate who quits midstream.  This happened to Yonah Nelson, a former student of Muhuri Muchiri secondary in Nairobi County.

A family related issue saw him discontinue schooling last year, after he had registered for the KCSE exam. He was devastated and left Nairobi for Mombasa County, as he explored his next course of action. Yonah would wander off at the Kenyatta public beach. It was while loitering on the beach that he thought of taking up the job of a beach horse rider.

 He is now in charge of two horses including feeding, work at the beach and how they get medical the attention of a veterinary doctor. “My employer has entrusted me to fully take care of the horses,” he says. He feeds the animals at night and during daytime when the tide is high and when forays at the beach are prohibited. He also waters them three times a day. Yonah’s love for horses started while still in school.

“I would admire and help a horse handler who used to offer rides to children at a fee in one Nairobi’s estates over the school holidays. This is how my love for these animals was cultivated,” he says.  On a good day Yonah makes about Sh3,000.

The business agreement is that he takes 30 per cent of the days earning with the horse owner taking 70 per cent. “I charge adults Sh200 per ride and children pay Sh100,” he says. Foreign who are adults pay Sh300 while children pat with Sh200,” he says. He discloses that there are more riders on weekends than on weekdays. Curiously, Tuesdays are jinxed with few visitors to the beach.  The beach riding business is not without its rules and Yonah strictly obeys the Kenya wildlife Service regulations.

“The KWS insists that the horses must walk and not run on the beach lest they trample marine life to death,” he says. He also restricts his trade to the designated reaches of Kenyatta beach and doesn’t stray onto other parts of the coastline, which are essentially a marine park.

 Hotel companies also privately own the adjacent beaches and Yonah usually avoids trespassing. He explains that horses are moody and occasionally they can refuse to be ridden. “Part of my trade is to coax them to agreeing to be ridden when they are in a foul mood,” he says. His job entails understanding each animal thoroughly and handling it appropriately in and out of the beach.

Muchiri observes that the imagination that money flows at the beach is wrong since it is patiently made.  “Many people come, try their hand at beach riding but quit because they never last long enough to understand the cycle of this business and its unique challenges,” he says.

He says one key area in attracting riders is the horses’ general health and appearance. “The animals must be spanking clean all the time, he says. “The sight of horses kicking out and switching their tails because of flies spoils this trade, he says.

He occasionally brushes them to remove traces of sand from their hair rigs them with the right riding seats.

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