A much-loved rider who inspired others with her positivity and determination as she worked through a bucket list while she was terminally ill will be remembered for always “smiling in the face of adversity”.
In March 2019 Joanna Hare was given weeks to live; she was told the breast cancer she was diagnosed with in 2012 had spread to her brain. Jo was told to put her “affairs in order”, but she continued to defy her prognosis and surprise doctors, until her death in the early hours of Monday (22 May).
Jo spent the last four years working through a bucket list with her friend and coach Fiona Mackinnon. The pair enjoyed many horsey adventures – including Jo riding her home-bred gelding Freddie side-saddle at the Caledonian Showing Championships in October 2021.
When H&H spoke to Jo shortly after this Jo said she would “never just sit down and die” and that she kept having to “extend her bucket list”, as she credited Freddie and her other home-bred Jimmy, who is produced by Colin Hamilton, for “keeping me going”.
Activities she ticked off included riding Freddie on the beach, returning to the Caledonian Showing Championships in 2022, visiting gin distilleries, meeting Pippa Funnell, speaking to Ben Hobday, challenging Wills Oakden to try side saddle, – and “rarely taking no for an answer” to anything in life. In December 2021 she was awarded an ambassador certification from the Side Saddle Association in recognition of her “determination, willpower, encouragement, and inspiration to side-saddle riders”.
Jo and Freddie pictured at the Caledonian Showing Championships 2022. Credit: Sinclair Photography
Despite nerve damage and weakness caused by her illness and treatment, Jo “adored” being in the saddle, and her lessons on Freddie with Fiona were full of “mischievous giggling”.
“She was left-handed and whenever she was riding I would say ‘Jo is your right rein four inches shorter than your left?’ and she would say ‘How do you know?’ and I’d say ‘Because Freddie is bending extremely well to the right!’,” said Fiona.
“If you told her something she’d just giggle, and then ignore what you’d said. It was always a naughty giggle. She worked in insurance in Bermuda years ago and she used to tell me that her tai chi instructor used to tell her, ‘Be childlike but not childish in life’ – and that has always been Jo.”
Jo riding Freddie, pictured with Fiona Mackinnon
Fiona said another special memory was Blair Castle Horse Trials in 2021 when they took Freddie for some showing classes, as well as the BE90.
“I was riding Freddie in the riding club horse class and Nicola Wilson was a guest judge. You had to demonstrate opening and shutting a gate, and Freddie thought this was highly amusing and tried to jump the one-metre wide stile at the side of it. He had the whole audience in hysterics,” said Fiona.
“I wanted the ground to swallow me up. One lady was roaring with laughter beside Jo, and Jo, who was laughing too, said to her, ‘That’s my horse’. The lady said ‘Oh, I’m really sorry,’ and Jo said ‘I think it’s hilarious’’. Then Nicola Wilson said ‘He’s a game little chap isn’t he?’ We were the Thursday entertainment – Freddie very much has Jo’s sense of humour.
“We have lots of fond memories from Blair. Jo will for ever be remembered for her ferret-footing down the road from her B&B to get her gin and supper. We couldn’t keep up with her!”
Fiona and Jo’s final adventure together was the Howe Spring Show at the end of April where Jo watched Fiona and Freddie take champion ridden horse and reserve supreme.
“She was always smiling in the face of adversity. No matter what, she had that positive attitude, and she loved her animals,” said Fiona.
“When she died I spent the day in tears, but she wouldn’t want that. There’s always something reminding me of her, or I’m finding one of her hankies, and I think, ‘Oh Jo’ and I smile, because I know that’s what she would want. She wouldn’t want people to be miserable.
“She was a little whirlwind. We should all be a bit more Joanna.”
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‘I will never sit down and die’: rider with terminal cancer hopes to inspire others to embrace life
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