Only once was she able to participate in the Stompwijkse Paardendagen. The Esmee who died at the beginning of this year loved nothing more than horseback riding. A month before her death, her mother gave her Tappie, her new horse. On Friday, about twenty family members and friends will commemorate the girl who would have loved to have been on her horse with a special trip. For which Natasja, Esmee’s mother, steps back on Tappie for the first time since the teenager’s death.
The special memorial tour for Esmee starts at the Elza Hoeve farm in Leiden. This is the stable where Tappie stands and where Esmee used to visit as a baby. A procession of twelve horses, accompanied by more than twenty people, departs here for Stompwijk. All horses have white flowers and white ribbons in their manes. The riders wear a black shirt from adidas: “Esmee’s favorite shirt.”
The Stompwijkse Paardendagen are an ideal opportunity for the family to commemorate Esmee once more. The girl previously participated in these traditional horse days with a friend. Esmee’s stepfather stands next to a pony standing in front of a decorated cart and watches the procession of horses and people. “She really thought this was fantastic,” says he against Omroep West. “I think she will ride with us and be there.”
Natasja, Esmee’s mother, rides the tour on Tappie. “I had bought it for her a month before her death. She was very happy with it. Fortunately, she was able to enjoy it for a while.” Since the funeral, Esmees mother has not ridden on Tappie. “That makes it extra emotional.” According to Natasja, Tappie is a wonderful horse. “It is a Spanish horse. She has spirit. The days after Esmee died the animal was very quiet. Just like the cows on the farm. As if they could sense what was going on.”
The memorial tour evokes many emotions among those present. On the one hand, there is the feeling that Esmee would have loved the trip and should have even laughed about it. “She would have loved this,” says a friend of Esmee’s mother. The girlfriend has known Esmee since she was very small, so of course there is also a lot of sadness about the loss. “We are there for each other and we are very close,” she says about recently. “But how can you deal with it when someone is pulled out of life like that?”