A teenage author who found the “magic of horses” helped her deal with her autism is using her experiences to help others through books.
Libby Scott, 14, learned to ride age 10 and the same year wrote an online piece, Life of a Perfectionist, about her experiences of being autistic. The piece went viral when her mother Kym tweeted it, and this led to Libby pairing up with children’s author Rebecca Westcott to write her first book, Can You See me?. The book centred around the main character Tally’s diary entries – written by Libby – about her autism and split education between mainstream school and an educational programme at a local stables. When Tally meets an autistic adult at the stables she is helped to open up through caring for horses.
Since then Libby has appeared on radio and television, educating people about autism, and this month released All the Pieces of Me, a prequel to Can you See Me.
Libby learned to ride at Chelsfield Equestrian Centre in Kent and told H&H that initially she struggled owing to nerves and because taking commands from instructors could make her very stressed, but when a new instructor Neil joined the riding school it “changed everything” for her.
“He’d worked with a lot of autistic kids. He was gentle but clear and made me feel I could do anything. That’s when my riding confidence and ability flew up a notch. He is the inspiration behind [coach] Ginny in our books,” she said, adding that she has since moved to Gloucestershire and is looking for a new riding school in Cheltenham.
“At my last stables I had two horses who were special to me in different ways; Nigel, who I rode for four years and was my best friend. I always let him have a fast canter around the arena after every lesson as that was his favourite thing to do. He was my jumping horse and the one I did my first jump on, so I feel like we had a really close bond for that reason.
“The other one was Peaches. I had a very special bond with her. One day she spooked and I had my first proper riding knock-back which worried me for a few weeks, but I always got back on her and gradually learned to trust her again.”
Libby said there is “something magical about horses”.
“Even though all animals are amazing, the majesty of a horse and the connection I find with them is like no other animal,” she said.
“Me and the horses I have ridden connect with each other with no words, they know when I’m anxious and I know when they are. It’s a real partnership and that’s when riding is wonderful.”
Libby said when she was a child she never considered being an author.
“I didn’t think I was that great at writing, but I definitely enjoyed it. I thrived off creativity and freedom. I didn’t want to write about what they told me at school, I wanted to be Libby Scott. Thankfully this book opened a golden door for me to spill out all the parts of me that had been hidden away for so long,” she said, adding that she was contacted by publishers Scholastic after they saw her viral piece on Twitter.
“Fiz my publisher contacted my mum and offered me a book deal. They found an author they thought I’d work well with who could help me tell my story in the way I wanted to. Rebecca and I clicked immediately – together we devised the plot and characters, and then Rebecca put the story down and I made changes and wrote the diary entries as Tally.
“The rest is history. It’s been amazing so I’m really grateful to Scholastic and Rebecca for putting this opportunity in my hands and letting me run with it.”
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