‘It’s the first time that my dad was able to admit he was proud of me’

Starting a business is never easy. Agathe Jreijiri’s journey with grief has led to her starting her own horse equine therapy business at 20 years old. Courtney Stevens hears it all.

Chase your dreams: Agathe with her horse Gold.

Fairy lights fill the screen. Agathe’s warm smile is comforting, she’s finally happy after living a lonely life during a troubled time in the Netherlands. “I found it really hard to fit in because I was just known as the English girl,” she says. This isn’t the case. In fact Agathe

Jreijiri, 20, is originally from France and now lives in Wiltshire, England.

This is her second time back in the UK after moving here to study her GCSEs and A-Levels. Agathe has lived a nomadic lifestyle, growing up in countries like Dubai, Egypt and the Netherlands. “It was an eye opener to see all the different cultures and meet lots of different minded people,” she says.

It may seem that Agathe has lived the life of luxury, but the past couple of years have been challenging for her. Back in December 2021, Agathe decided to drop out of her hotel and event management course at the University of Applied Sciences of Utrecht in the Netherlands after just four months.

The decision came after grieving the death of her aunt and having no one around she could turn to for support. “My aunt had been battling cancer for a really long time. On my first day of uni, I rang my mum in the morning to say something feels off, and that’s when she told me that my aunt had passed,” Agathe says.

This news was a big part of the reason why Agathe decided to leave university. “I was one of two international students in my class. With my aunt passing away and not really having anyone around, it felt like I was just being cast aside.”

Agathe has no regrets about leaving university, “I wanted to do something that I thought was going to bring something to the world,” “My mum was semi supportive of my decision as my aunt was her sister so she understood the grief I was going through.”

However, not everyone was supportive of her decision at first. “My dad was not sold on the idea at the beginning as he’s a very business orientated man. I had to do a pros and cons list and create a business plan of what I wanted my future to look like,” she says.

After leaving university, Agathe took some time out to focus on herself. She went back home to spend Christmas with her family and also started taking medication from the doctor to help with her mental health. It was around this time Agathe really started to think about her future and career. “I had always been interested in horses, ever since I was 18 months old,” she says.

Agathe has had her own horse, Gold, for nearly seven years here in England, so instead of moving her horse over to France, she decided to move back here to be with him.

Her initial plan was to help out on the yard where her horse is kept. When she came back, Agathe suffered another setback after discovering that Gold was no longer able to be ridden due to ongoing problems with his back.

“I didn’t know what to do, which is when I turned to equine facilitated learning,” she explains. “It was a no brainer that I needed to follow this track because I love horses and I thought it would be good to help others who are struggling with their mental health after everything I’ve been through.”

Agathe explains that equine facilitated learning promotes personal growth through interactions between horse and human that is guided by a coach.

Agathe is currently completing a year long training programme to become a qualified coach and her business, Gold and Bee Ltd, which she runs with her business partner, Alison Dunevein-Gordon, was officially registered on November 14, 2022.

Starting a business is hard work, but it’s something Agathe won’t let stop her, even at such a young age. “There’s been moments where I’ve thought ‘am I going to be able to do this’ because I am so young. I don’t reveal my age to clients because I don’t want to not be taken seriously,” she says. “That’s the biggest hurdle for me, going into all this self-development at such a young age.”

Working with clients on a daily basis can be tough but Agathe explains that the horses and coaches are well protected when it comes to their own mental health, “It’s an emotionally challenging job. You get people with all sorts of worries coming to you for help, from ‘do I leave my partner’ to ‘how do I tell my parents

something’,” she says.

“I’m a firm believer in crystals. All our horses have their own set to protect and heal them and we also use CBD to help support them through emotional settling,” she says, “As coaches we will debrief with each other after a session and we also spend time with the horses ourselves.”

After making such a huge life decision, Agathe says the support has been extremely positive. “It’s been overwhelming,” she says, “It’s the first time that my dad was able to admit he was proud of me for something that I’d done, which was a big step for me.”

Her friendly smile fills the screen as she says, “Alison (her business partner) has been incredible, I couldn’t thank her and her horses for their support enough. We’ve built such a strong friendship and I wouldn’t have been able to have done this without her.”