Danni Menzies is a model who has a interesting story. Someone played a trick on her and she was badly hurt. Not able to leave her own house because she was so fearful, she had a problem. She went to the horses for help! Danni Menzies started helping the horses by saving them from slaughter and in turn they helped her with her fear! ~Declan

Rescuing horses gave Danni Menzies the strength to conquer her demons

By Clare Johnston 16 Mar 2013 09:11 as posted on The Daily Record

DANNI was left house-bound after an accident at university that led to her developing agoraphobia, but started working with horses to force herself outside and changed herself to a model, TV presenter and campaigner.

SHE has taken horses destined for the slaughter houses of Hungary and turned them into showjumpers – but in doing so, model Danni Menzies not only rescued the animals, but herself.

Having been left house-bound after an accident at university that led to her developing agoraphobia, Danni returned home to the Perthshire estate where she was raised and, simply to force herself outside, decided to work with horses.

But in the following months, during which time she devoted herself entirely to the recovery and training of the rescued animals, she too became transformed, changing from a social recluse, to a model, TV presenter and campaigner.

Six years ago, Danni, now 25, was studying textile design at Loughborough University when an accident in a bar was to completely change her life.

She explained: “Having worked at the bar, the guys who were operating a bucking bronco knew I could ride horses and thought it would be funny to put it quite fast so I got propelled face-first into a metal stage that smashed my nose in.”

Danni was taken to A&E for emergency treatment, but soon found her recovery would be far from straightforward.

She said: “In the few months afterwards I thought I had a virus or something, because every time I tried to leave the house I felt really ill and then I’d go back to bed and would feel fine. I’d go into the garden and be fine, it was just when I left the front door.

“It wasn’t conscious, I’d sweat from head to toe, be feeling sick, I’d have to lie on the floor I’d get so dizzy and I’d have no idea what was wrong with me. It was a physical reaction rather than me thinking ‘I can’t go outside’.

“I didn’t go anywhere so, after a few months, I eventually moved back home. After that I got depressed because I was a very outgoing person, I went out every day and in the evenings and then everything just stopped.”

After returning to the 120-acre Mains of Taymouth holiday estate owned by her parents, Danni retreated further into herself until her family intervened.

“My dad said: ‘You need to try to do something, put some ideas together for a business plan or something to keep you busy over the summer.’ And that’s what got me started with the horses.

Danni Menzies aged 19 with Nina the horse when she was suffering from depression

“I decided I wanted to start a riding stable and it spurred me on to get a horse myself while I was going through the depression.”

Danni’s decision to look for a horse took her to the yard in the east of Scotland of a rogue trader who was selling old and dying horses as showjumpers.

Unaware of his reputation, Danni bought a horse from his stables.

“We got Nina first of all from him and then we got a few more horses. It seemed a bit dodgy – they were not in very good condition with various issues.

“I took a gamble and thought they had the potential to be good horses with the right work.

“I started working on them and, with the first horse Nina, we realised she had a lot of potential.

“At one stage I put her up for sale but when it came down to it, she was the one who helped me through so much, as well as me helping her.

“I couldn’t sell her and she ended up going to my sister.”

But it was in advertising Nina for sale online that Danni first heard from Kay – a British woman living in Hungary who has devoted her life to rescuing horses from the slaughter houses.

She had been selling these horses to the dodgy trader, believing she was sending them to a better place in the UK.

Danni explained: “Kay called and said, ‘We saved Nina. She was on her way to a meat factory and we rescued her. Do you have any of our other horses? I’ve suddenly heard all these things and I want to know what’s going on.’

“The trader was trying to make a quick buck on the horses by buying them in cheaply and selling them on for more.

“The horses had been severely neglected in Hungary, but once he got them, as far as we could see, he just shut them in a stable, they didn’t have hay and they didn’t have water.”

One of Danni’s favourite horses, Vezur, was so weak when she first got him she feared he wouldn’t even make the journey back to the estate.

“Vezur was the worst one and is the one I’m most proud of,” she said. “When we got him we didn’t have much of a choice. We had been sold a horse that had to be put down and we went for our money back and, at this point, the trader was getting rid of everything. He said: ‘Just take what you want,’ so we were left with Vezur.

“He was an absolute skeleton. When we put him into the horse box we were having to lift his legs to get him to move forward. I thought he was going to be dead by the time we got him home.

“We put him in a field and were feeding him between five and seven times a day.

“He didn’t move for about two or three weeks. It was a slow process of taking him for walks, walking next to him trying to get him to build some muscle.

“It was about six months before we could get on him and he was so excited when we first started riding him. He loved it after having no energy. We’d get on him and he’d just take off.

“After a while he took to jumping, and the next summer we sold him to my little sister’s friend. He’s doing really well and competing now.”

Danni devoted all her time to caring for her horses – and in doing so she gradually forgot her fears and inhibitions and got back to being the bubbly, outgoing girl she was before her accident.

“We took in other animals too and I decided I would open up a small riding yard at the estate,” she said.
“We got a rescue donkey and cats and rabbits, so it was the whole thing that helped. I was getting up every day and thinking about looking after all of them rather than what was wrong with me.

“I’d spent such a long time saying I want someone to make me better and I went to see all these doctors and, actually, what it came down to was I just needed to make myself better but it took such a long time to realise that.”

Danni’s transformation was not just a psychological one.

When she first moved home she was a size 14, but she put so much energy into looking after her animals, she soon slimmed down to a tiny size six.

Four years ago, a photographer friend of her father asked if she would like to try modelling. Just weeks later Danni was getting regular work in Edinburgh and has since moved to London to pursue her career further.

She now also does regular presenting work for major consumer brands – but while she enjoys the glamour of this side of her life, her heart is set on making a documentary about the appalling treatment suffered by horses who are destined for slaughter abroad.

And her efforts couldn’t be more poignant in the light of the recent scandal in which horse meat has been discovered in processed beef products and prepared meals across the EU.

Danni said: “I’m going out to Hungary in the next few weeks and it’s going to be the first time that I’ve actually been there and met Kay in person.

“In the future I want to be able to rescue more horses. A lot of them being sent to the slaughter houses are not actually bred for meat, but they’re for families and farmers who can’t afford to keep them any more and they’ll get more money to sell them for meat than as a pet.

“I’d really like to do a documentary showing how the horses can be taken from the slaughter house to the show ring in six months.

“Potentially these are very good horses that are going to slaughter. In future I’d like to set up a charity to save them.”