By Rupi Mangat
Published: Saturday Nation magazine: 10 April 2025
Kenya’s South Coast boasts one of the world’s most beautiful beaches with powder white sands and the tropical blue waters of the Indian Ocean. Protected by a stunning reef that’s rich with colourful corals and marine life, it’s paradise for beach lovers who love to walk barefoot on the beach, snorkel, scuba dive, deep sea fishing and kite surfing. Added now to the list is horse riding, a new adventure even for those who have never sat on a horse.
“Everybody wants to ride on the beach,” states the Kenyan-born Sheila, patting one of her horses at the stable near the beach. “We ride between 7.30 a.m. and 9.30 a.m. and then in the evening between 4.30 p.m. and 6.30 p.m.,” tells the horse woman who fell in love with horses as a child, a passion that’s not waned six decades on. “It’s cooler for the horses before the sun turns on its heat,” she continues. “Horse welfare is the number one priority at this stable”.
“I’ve always been animal crazy,” tells the deeply tanned woman, a member of the country’s 44th tribe, Living alongside her horses in the field are rescued donkeys, dogs, cats and turkeys. The turkeys she jokes are not for eating.
The stables are fast earning a reputation for being among the best with well cared for and happy animals and birds. The local youngsters are encouraged to visit and many are being trained as horse-handers and some taking up riding.
Riders are introduced to the horses and care is taken to match the rider to horse for both to feel comfortable. “Horse etiquette has to be observed but despite a full briefing, we’ve had people taking selfies and nearly falling off the horse,” she tells.
Childhood
Having grown up in Kisumu on the shores of Lake Victoria (Africa’s largest and the world’s second largest freshwater lake and the source of the Nile) on the opposite side of the country Sheila attended Kaptagat boarding school where horse-riding was available. Her father impressed by his daughter’s (including her younger sister’s) passion for horses, bought a pair for the girls. A few years later she moved her horse to Kibos on a sugarcane plantation and finally to Kisumu.
The horse experts were sure that the horses would not survive the heat.
“I was 15 and rode bareback and barefoot in Kisumu during the school holidays. No one had seen real horses in Kisumu at the time,” she recalls. “The impala roamed wild in those days and the herd would follow me. People would ask if my horse could be eaten”.
After schooling in Kenya, Shelia went on to study nursing in England specializing in infection prevention and control, getting married, having her two children, settling down in the country and continuing with her passion to ride horses.
Yet when she and her husband retired in 2020 from the medical world, they decided to resettle in Kenya. “I had left my heart home,” she states.
Setting up Business
The business of horse-riding wasn’t on the cards. Sheila fully intended to retire.
But karma followed.
Through a valued friendship she rode a friend’s young horse for three years. Shortly, the two women partnered to offer horse riding on the beach including giving riding lessons. They built new stables for the horses and acquired other horses, travelling as far as South Africa to do so.
Today, Sheila is the owner of Suryasta Stables (Hindi word for sunset). Her retinue consists of eight horses that belong to her and two rescued donkeys, including three thoroughbred retired race horses, an American Saddlebred and an American Quarter Horse. The two latter horses are almost unknown in Kenya even though Kenya has an equine history of horse racing, polo and eventing.
Horse Therapy
At this point, Sheila’s training as a medic and a horse-woman is coming into play. She uses her horses to treat kids with cerebral palsy after she discovered a German-funded local institution for children with cerebral palsy in Diani.
Horse therapy is used to treat people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), especially military veterans in the UK or those who have witnessed or experienced devastating ordeals. Sheila has been working with PTSD veterans for many years and intends to include therapy with her horses where needed. She already has clients with anxiety who respond well to treatment.
She talks about the local kids with cerebral palsy. “These kids live a short life but need a lot of equipment for daily life. Their bodies tend to twist so a child needs things like a spinal jacket, a wheelchair, hand sling, therapy and constant care.”
“So now, I’m using my horses for both mental and physical therapy. It’s a tall order to take kids with cerebral palsy horse riding, because each child requires three horse handlers. Unfortunately the society that we live in here does not have much awareness about cerebral palsy and sadly these kids are kept away from people.”
When these children become comfortable atop a horse, it’s the ultimate trust between human and horse. Sheila explains this.
“Horses are prey animals. When you are a prey animal, you are always running away from being eaten. But when the animal allows you to approach it or ride it, there’s trust being developed.”
The beauty about you riding on the beach is that part of your money goes to supporting these special needs kids while you get the sun, sea and sand for a healthier body and mind.
Sheila can be contacted by WhatsApp on +254 707036899
Moonlion Safaris 
It’s always a great pleasure reading your articles. You are so good at storytelling and always look forward to more. You are a great inspiration to many.
Warm regards, Diana
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