We all like to hear a good story about someone has made a recovery from M.E. and returned to something of the working and social life before this dreadful illness struck.

There are also some heart-warming tales about how individuals manage to have a successful time or episode, despite its awful effects.

Share your story with us here by sending an e-mail to info@mefreeforall.org with "Good News/Recovery Stories in the suject line.

From: Britta Francis, Bristol.

I've ridden more or less all my life and knew horses could be very powerful and help emotionally; unbeknown to me, it was to take a whole new twist.

The muscle spasms and tremors and cognitive problems mean I am unable to look

after myself as well anymore. I really struggle with the dyslexia and dyspraxia elements of the illness and have difficulty typing. I have had to give up my training and my career, my independence and all my hobbies and sport.

It was around a year ago. Jennie had her elderly horse she was about to bring back into work following a tendon injury. He was 20 years old then. She suggested I have him on a free loan; she would pay all the bills and keep and I could just ride him. He couldn't do any more than a 5 minute steady walk and I couldn't cope with any more, so we seemed well suited. So it was that Harry entered my life!

He totally changed and adapted into his new role as a therapy horse. Usually very fast and a bit on the wild side, he learnt to recognise when I was really unwell and goes so steadily. He will still put in a few very slow motion spooks because he knows they make me laugh but it's so slow motion there is no way I can fall off; he just knows how to

look after me. If I'm feeling a bit better he is more active and lively. He totally changes the way he goes according to how he senses I am feeling. I don't know how he knows, but he just does and adapts to it.

He, also, had to learn to ignore my legs in spasm. He was an advanced eventer and affiliated dressage horse, trained to respond to the slightest aid, so initially when my legs went into spasm he went forwards faster! He quickly learnt, however, that spasms were different than aids, and now totally ignores my legs in spasm. Yet, if I ask with the lightest of aids,he does what I ask for instantly; it's like he is telepathic and just seems

to read my mind.

I can no longer walk very far but now, on him, I can go the places I used to love walking to, for he carries me there. He has become the light in my life, my focus, my hope and most importantly my strength. There are times when the constant, severe pain and feeling so unwell do get a bit too much to handle.

When I've hit rock bottom a few times, I have considered ending it but Harry is always there and always totally changes how I feel. I absolutely love him to bits, he has become my whole world, my reason to get up each day, even on days I feel I can barely move, he means everything to me, I can go from crying my eyes out to smiling and laughing because he is there. He has a magical way to just make me forget all the pain and illness, just to totally escape and have the courage to be me again, for I had lost all my confidence.

Harry gives me confidence - when I'm on him I talk to people I meet, when I'm not I'm too shy to talk to people generally. He is my physiotherapy and my psychotherapy and my strength to go on.

Everybody says what a change he has made in me. Every time I talk about him I'm smiling. When I'm hypnotised (a treatment for pain management), I picture him and apparently Ieven smile while I'm "under". When I've had the painful injections I have to

have fortnightly, I'm in too much pain to ride him, but just cuddling him makes the pain easier. I've developed sudden, horrendous migraines and he has just stood patiently. When I got off he put his nose in my lap to look after me.

We went hunting over winter, I fell off the second time and, as I was walking him back up to the gate, I could barely stand as it was slippery and my legs were shaking. Somehow Harry just knew and I was able to lean against his shoulder and he basically held me up and walked steadily beside me until we got to a bit where I could get on him again.

He is such an incredible horse. I want to share how Harry is helping me with a very physical illness and how much he helps me deal with it mentally and emotionally. There is always a dark side to these illnesses that nobody else sees. It is always Harry who gets me through them and out the other side.

Because of his wonderful nature and with enormous help from my friends and family, we lived out our dream and competed last summer in the ridden veteran classes. We went to our first county show, Harry looked after me and we were 2nd and 3rd, qualified for theArea and Regional championships and the shows' championships. In September, we were 2nd at the Regional championships.

I could never have achieved this on any other horse. I couldn't have ridden any other horse for that long or at that level (as it was I was left bed bound for nearly a week afterwards). Harry just knew this and just did it all for me, I didn't have to use my legs on him at all. He just knew what I wanted and performed incredibly and, as a result made every dream come true and has given me the happiest of memories.

I'm trying to write a book about our journey together but with the cognitive trouble it is taking a long time to do. Harry continues to get me through each day and each low patch and is there to bounce and spring with happiness for the highs too; every single day he puts a smile on my face. I owe him everything and he owes me nothing, for he has already given me more than I could have dreamt of. Horses really are incredible therapy and Harry is just my horse of a lifetime really. I probably wouldn't be here without him.

Our story has been spread, we feature on the Spillers horse feeds website, on the Equus spirit website and, to my disbelief, we have just been to the Royal Bath & West show where we appeared in the main ring every afternoon as they told our story as an example of the relationship between horse and human, as part of the BHS Pageant of the Horse, and hopefully in mentioning that I was very ill with M.E. / CFS it will have helped raise awareness of the illness and how disbaling it can be as they spoke about how I have had to give up my univeristy degree and my career as a result of my

illness.

I'm now in total relapse as a result of pushing myself way too far past the boundaries and my own limits all last week, but it was a once in a lifetime chance to live out my dream of riding in that amazing main ring and, well, if it has helped highlight how disbaling M.E. / CFS can be, then so much the better!

With Harry, I have lived out and realised my dreams of riding at county level, gone one better than I'd dreamt and gone to regional level. It has taught me dressage, I've ridden in the moonlight, I've galloped up the bit on ham I always used to pretend to gallop along on my imaginary horses, always dreaming one day Id be on a horse and, finally, I've lived that and many other dreams, we have been hunting after years of me dreaming of being able to ride to hounds again but, more importantly, he has put a smile on my face every day, he has become my focus, my passion and my hope, he is my legs and takes me places I can no longer manage to walk.

He is the reason I get up each day and the reason I keep going despite the pain and feeling yuck. He has done me so much good, even the hospital agree he is wonderful therapy. I've been told to keep riding to help my back, so he is my physiotherapy, and the warmth he puts in my heart, he is also my emotional therapy, he lets my cry into his mane, or lean on him when I'm weak, he will go really steady if I'm feeling rough, or give me a livelier bouncier ride if I'm feeling better, he just senses it and adjusts how he goes accordingly. Even the specialists at Frenchay hospital agree he is wonderful therapy for me, and at first they were the ones telling me I had to give horses up!

I am SO incredibly grateful to his old owners Jennie and Marc for letting me have H, through all this; so many days I would have considered myself bed bound but I've been so desperate to go and see him that I've forced myself to get up, and once I'm there I feel better than I did, I can forget the pain to some extent and most importantly I enjoy myself and have fun, which is critical right now. He gives me so many hopes and goals, there isn't a single day he hasn't made me smile, he is SO incredibly understanding, he

has really stepped into the role of "therapy horse" fantastically and is just brilliant, he knows when my legs go into spasm to just ignore them and yet will respond to my leg with the lightest of touches when I ask intentionally and is so patient with me.

I will be forever indebted to both them and Harry.

Britta Francis, Bristol.

We think we could have another "Seabiscuit" on our hands here. Tell us what you think about Britta's and Harry's story and we'll publish them here, or on our Forums. We think Britta will get her book written and published one day and we'll do anything we can to help.