Ferrari Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton says horses are his “next thing” after riding one for the first time ahead of the US Grand Prix in Texas.
The seven-times world champion, who races with the Italian team’s famed black stallion logo on his car and is used to handling plenty of horsepower, revealed he was allergic to horses as a boy but overcame it with treatment.
Speaking to reporters at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas, the 40-year-old Briton recalled a bond with a horse in a field near his home when he was a boy.
“It would come over to me and I’d spend time with it. Then I’d walk home and notice my allergies start kicking off and I’d struggle to breathe,” he said.
Hamilton said he went through a desensitisation programme and took medication when he did a cover shoot with a horse this year for Time magazine to mark his arrival at Ferrari.
“Yesterday I did the shoot with a horse for Plus 44 [his lifestyle brand] and I was like, ‘Can I ride it?’ I got on and it was an amazing experience,” said the Briton, whose pet bulldog Roscoe died last month.
“The horse started moving, started to gallop and I didn’t know what to do. I panicked a bit but it was beautiful.
“I’m excited about this next kind of phase of my life, where I’m going to be around horses more and get into riding. That’s my next thing.”
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