Hamilton reflects on his first experience with riding a horse in Texas

Having ridden a horse for the first time ahead of this weekend’s United States Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton revealed he was allergic to horses as a boy but had overcome it with treatment.

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton joined Ferrari this year, partnering Charles Leclerc at the Scuderia. Although he is used to handling plenty of horsepower in his professional life, he has now revealed that he was allergic to horses as a boy but had overcome it with treatment.

The Briton said that he did a cover shoot with a horse for the Time magazine a year ago, but he needed to go through a desensitization programme and take medication to overcome his health issues.

Having now ridden for the first time ahead of the U.S. Grand Prix in Texas, Hamilton reflected on his experience, also revealing what health issues he needed to overcome in his childhood.

“I was at the factory and then headed out here, had some work in LA, and then I came here. Yesterday, I rode a horse for the first time, so it was an unbelievable experience. When I was younger, there used to be a horse in a field nearby—just a shire horse. It was this beautiful horse. It was always on its own every day, so I’d go and stop, and it would come over to me, and I’d spend time with it.

“But then I’d start walking home and notice my allergies start kicking off, and I’d struggle to breathe. I’d really struggle, and I didn’t know I had asthma. It wasn’t until I was around another horse another time and had an asthma attack—it was a really scary experience because I didn’t have an inhaler or anything.

Hamilton continued: “So, I stayed away from horses since that day, when I was probably 14 or something. I went through a desensitisation program because my allergies were crazy, particularly for hay fever in the UK, were crazy. I hadn’t thought about it much since. Then I did a shoot at the beginning of this year with a horse for the Time 100 magazine.

“I took medication, antihistamines, and I was able to be around the horse—no problems. So yesterday, I did the shoot with a horse for Plus 44, and I was like, “Can I ride it?” I got on, and it was just… wow. It was an amazing experience.

“Then the horse started moving, started to gallop, and I was like ‘God!’ I didn’t know what to do. So I panicked a little bit, but it was beautiful. I’m really excited about this next kind of phase of my life, where I’m going to be around horses more and really get into riding. That’s my next thing,” concluded Hamilton.

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