Road to Sunflower Beach — Why I Am Doing This

Godwin Makafui
Apr 25
4 min read

By Marie, Founder of Horse Riding XP Ghana

I have been working with horses in Ghana for a few years now. And in that time I have seen things that are very hard to unsee.

Horses on the beach that look like they have already given up. Skinny. Tired. Eyes that have stopped looking for anything. Being beaten to move. Being pushed past what their bodies can take. And the people around them — the riders, the tourists, the passersby — either not noticing or not knowing what to do with what they are seeing.

I noticed. And for a long time I did not know what to do with it either.

So I started doing something.

What HRXPG has been doing

Through our initiative Bridging the Gap, Horse Riding XP Ghana has spent the past two years working directly with beach horse operators across Accra. Not to judge them. Not to shame them. But to support them — financially, practically, and with real resources on the ground.

Because here is what most people do not understand about the horses you see suffering on the beach. A lot of what you see in those horses comes from lack in the lives of the people caring for them. This is not just an animal welfare issue. It is a human one. You cannot separate the wellbeing of the horse from the wellbeing of the person holding the rope.

We have responded to emergencies. We have supported horses in stables across Accra and Ghana. We have shown up when nobody else did. And we have done most of it quietly, without a platform, without a campaign, without asking for anything in return.

Until now.

Our horses had a hard year

While we were busy caring for other people’s horses, our own horses were going through something.

Ruffian is my very first horse. The gentlest soul I have ever known. He has spent the last seven months recovering from injury after injury — almost all of them caused by his relentless attempts to get to Miss Mochi, who arrived from Togo last year and immediately became the love of his life and the source of all his problems. Ringworm. Swollen lymph nodes. A metal pole through his leg. Stable rest after stable rest. He is finally starting to come back and I have never been more relieved about anything.

Sugar lost his mother at two weeks old.

Zara was only with us for a month before she died — mistreated by a vet and there was nothing I could do. I raised Sugar on a bottle. He is small and behind where he should be developmentally but he is catching up and he is the most determined little horse I have ever seen.

Miss Mochi came from Togo and licked my hand the first time I saw her.

She reminded me of a horse I really miss and my heart told me immediately that I had to have her. She was difficult when she arrived — refusing to move, standing still for an hour at a time. I thought I had made the wrong choice. Now she is doing so well in training and I am so proud of her I could cry.

Mrs Brown and Annabelle came to us as rescues.

Entrusted to someone who did not do right by them. Mrs Brown is the sweetest horse — massive ears, tiny head, the most gentle nature despite everything she has been through. Annabelle is three years old, full of energy, and still finding her way.

Five horses. All of them going through something. All of them being cared for every single day by a team that shows up before dawn and does not cut corners.

And none of them ready for the beach.

Why I am doing this publicly

I have never asked for help before. Not publicly. Not like this.

But we have medical bills and we do not have working horses. The small revenue we make goes back into the horses. And I realised that if I kept doing this quietly, alone, the horses would keep suffering quietly and alone too.

So I made a decision. I am going to document this journey. Every step of it. The hard days and the good ones. The setbacks and the small wins. The real cost of doing this properly in a country where the infrastructure does not exist to support it.

And I am asking for help.

What Road to Sunflower Beach is

Road to Sunflower Beach is a campaign and a mission.

The goal is to get all five horses — Ruffian, Sugar, Miss Mochi, Mrs Brown, and Annabelle — healthy, strong, and ready for the most ambitious thing Horse Riding XP Ghana has ever done. We are planning a community event at Sunflower Beach Resort in Accra where our horses will be based for several weeks and our community will come, stay, and ride.

It is the first event of its kind in Ghana.

But before we get there we have work to do. And we need 10,000 helpers to do it.

A helper is anyone who shares this story, visits the stable, donates what they can, or simply tells someone who might care. Every action counts. Every single one.

We are at the beginning of this road. And I have already been reminded of something I have always believed.

Once you set out to do something with your whole heart — the universe conspires in your favour.

We are just getting started.