Help Me To Make History! - Paris 2024
About me
I don’t believe in dreams, I believe that if you truly want something, you will do everything you possibly can in order to achieve it.
My name is Ranee Tamia James, I am 21 and I am an equestrian athlete, student and mother. My desire to achieve my dreams and persistence leads me to purse every possible route in order to achieve them. I believe in opportunity, however, I am a strong believer opportunity does not just fall in your lap, it is acquired through a get up and go attitude and the constant pursuit of existing opportunities, as well as creating opportunities for yourself.
My riding story begins in 2008. I was in Antigua for my grandparents' wedding vow renewal, I was 9 and decided to join my cousins at a summer camp. About a week into the camp, a local man brought his horse for the campers to have a ride on. I had a 2 minute lead round in a circle, then after a lot of begging and pleading, I got another ride. I was addicted to horses already, announcing their presence every time I would drive past them, but for me, this moment, the first time I ever sat on a horse, was the moment that made me who I am today.
It wasn’t until I was 14 that I rode again. I had asked my dad for lessons numerous times in between, however, with lessons as expensive as they are, and being the oldest of 4, this was not affordable for us at the time. When I was 14, my uncle booked myself and my sisters a riding lesson, my first ever lesson, on July 13th 2013. This one hour lesson re-sparked my fire, and driver me to further purse riding. After many months of nagging, and begging, my parents finally allowed me to volunteer at a stable about an hour away from my house.
For around 2 years, I spent all my free time volunteering at the stables, weekends, school holidays, and occasionally after school. My duties there would be to groom, muck out, tack up and lead riders on the horses and ponies through the woods. It was a busy yard, so I wouldn’t get to ride as often as I wanted to, and prior to volunteering here I had only had one lesson before. Despite this, opportunities that I got to ride were very valuable to me. Lessons were not offered at this stable, so I would ride a horse or pony in the woods accompanied by another volunteer. I learned the basics of riding through a combination of watching others ride, and copying what I had seen in YouTube videos. It may have not been the best start riding, as I did pick up a few bad habits, and well, old habits die hard, but learning this way really pushed me to want to learn more, and want to be great. Over the years, I worked at many different stables, in exchange for my lessons, I found this to be the most affordable way for me to develop.
At 16, I had my first lease horse. The name I gave her at the time was Majesty, but this was later changed. Things were complicated with her from the offset. She was meant to have arrived in June, however, there were so many complications, that she didn’t arrive until September. The day I got the phone call she was arriving, was, unfortunately, the day my grandad passed away. She was a 13-year-old thoroughbred horse that was bred to race but never raced, she had a rough life prior to coming, and wasn’t trained at all. Even with everything I was facing at the time, I still made my best efforts to care for her. I had asked for her to be stabled at the bottom of the road from my sixth form so I could see to her. I was in sixth form five days a week, from early in the morning, and had to be dressed in business attire as part of the sixth firm dress code. This meant that every day I was going to the stables in the mornings and afternoon in a skirt or dress or some kind of business attire. I tried my best to care for her, but I was looked down upon by other people at the stable. There was an incident, where a woman, who disliked me, and was very clearly racist, told her owner that I was constantly coming to the stables “inappropriately dressed” and that I had attempted to ride her, which we had agreed not to, as she was not ready, and it was dangerous. This was a lie, as I had taken her tack out to get her used to it, in order to train her to ride. It was this woman’s word against mine, and the owner decided to not loan her to me anymore. This was heartbreaking for me, as I loved this horse very much. I would still visit her at times, however, when I returned from Antigua from my granddads funeral, I went to visit her, only to find out that she had moved her while I was away. I haven’t seen her since. I had other loan horses since, but she was my first, and special to me.
Between the ages of 16 and 18, I spent my time hustling for riding time, with my ambitions of one day riding in the Olympics always in my mind. At 18 I took a scholarship opportunity and moved to my country of origin Antigua. Here I began to have weekly lessons. It seemed I overestimated my riding abilities at first, thinking I was much better than I was, and all my bad habits came to light. However, with a lot of patience, and hard work, from myself and my coach, my riding developed leaps and bounds, and I am now a more confident and developed rider. Being in Antigua opened up the opportunity for me to compete well as getting to ride a variety of horses. Not only did I get the opportunity to ride, but also the opportunity to work with rescue horses and nurture and help to train them. Since I was little, it has always been my dream to compete Internationally representing Antigua, and my time in Antigua has allowed me to build the foundations to do so.
The next step for me is to now pursue my Olympic goal in full force. I have set my sights set on the 2024 Olympics in Paris, and without a doubt, I will be there. But for me to accomplish this goal, I now need to overcome the barrier which has been stunting my progression for years - finance. In order for me to progress, I need access to a horse of my own, a good trainer, equipment, transportation, and finance for competitions. I have been in employment since I was 16, and due to circumstances, I have never been able to save suffice to fund this goal, so I am turning to alternative forms of funding. Aside from this Go Fund Me campaign, I am also working, teaching riding lessons, doing graphic and web designs, and starting my own apparel line. As funding comes from each of these, I plan to add them to the total on my fundraiser.
This extremely important to me, I plan to make history as the first black person of colour to compete in the Olympics. As well as this, Antigua has never had an equestrian athlete compete in the Olympics, and the island had never won a medal, so I plan to be the first. I want to diversify the equine industry, and lathe the way for future generations. Every step I take along this journey, I want to do everything I can to make it easier to fir those coming up behind me. I’m not just doing this for personal benefit, but also to inspire a generation. With your donations and your help, I can make history!
How You Can Contact Me
I’d like to take this moment to thank you very much for reading my campaign, I hope you have found it engaging and will consider supporting me.
To contact me further to discuss, please do so in the following ways. For businesses that would like to consider sponsoring me, please send me an email and I will forward you my sponsorship proposal.
Via email: [email redacted]
Via Instagram: @ebony_in_equestrian
My website will be up and running shortly
I look forward to hearing from you!
Blessings and Love
Ranee x
