A story about a community of children who were growing up on the Ballymun estate, in the outskirts of Dublin in themed 90’s.

The estate, built in the 1960s, and since torn down, lay on the outskirts of the city, and had become notorious for substance abuse, crime and unemployment over the years. 

In 1996, The government were planning to take the horses away from the children, on the grounds that they were not being treated well, and the kids had become a nuisance. By passing this legislation in 1998, they put an end to generations of horse ownership by the families living on the estate.

When I arrived in Ballymun I immediately saw the children riding their horses around the estate bareback. After spending a week with them, I could see how having the responsibility of caring for their horses gave them a positive and healing focus in their daily lives. It gave them a reason to be outside, connected to nature. It gave them self respect. It kept them away from crime. You rarely saw adults outside. Just the kids playing together tending to their horses. 

Instead of taking the horses away from the kids, it seemed a better option to support them in owning the horses, and caring for them properly. We have seen this story play out in deprived urban communities over the years. How do you fix crime? Unemployment? Substance abuse? By giving them support in healing. Being connected to nature and animals, and their roots. I completed the story by photographing the monthly meeting at Smithfield Market, where horse communities would meet up from all over Ireland to buy and sell horses.