In rubber boots and truly happy - Amina's journey from office life to eco-stable

Six years ago, Amina Yessina left a successful career as a financial director in a prestigious company to pursue a childhood dream: to work with horses professionally and build her own stable.

The first time Amina ever sat on a horse was in her distant childhood, and it lasted only for a few minutes. However, that was enough to ignite a deep desire to one day have a horse of her own.

"I remember when I was little, my mom and I would go to our summer cottage, and not far away in the fields, horses were grazing. I would sneak away to watch them. I used to spend all my free time observing and sketching horses. One day, a herder approached me. He was thirsty and asked me where he could get water. I pointed him to the cottages, and he offered me to ride on his horse. He walked beside us, holding the reins," Amina recalls.

Amina's father passed away when she was a little girl. His final wish was that she become an economist and find a respectable job. And so did she, shelving her dream for a later time. Years passed. She built a career and rose to become the financial director of a large organization.

"In 2020, in the middle of the pandemic, I started thinking about what I really wanted in life. After all, we only get one. I resigned and joined a stable as a regular worker, earning 500 tenge per horse ride. And there I was, leading a horse around the circle, bridle in hand, dressed in stable-worn clothes and rubber boots, and I couldn’t stop smiling. I was so happy! " she shares.

Slowly but surely, Amina pursued her dream. She registered a public association, attended meetings, spoke about equine work, and began developing hippotherapy, though initially at a partner's stable.

Hippotherapy is a method of rehabilitation and social integration for people with disabilities, and often a first step toward adaptive equestrian sport. The interaction with a horse, which acts as a living simulator, helps improve coordination, balance, and muscle tone, while also enhancing the psychological and emotional well-being of the riders. It offers individuals something they often lack elsewhere: the freedom of movement, the possibility of athletic achievement, renewed self-confidence, and the joy of full participation in both sport and community life.

"After six years of working with horses, I’ve come to believe hippotherapy is the most humane approach to equine care. My business partners support all my ideas. We have horses for sport, available for rent. But for hippotherapy, we use specially trained horses that aren’t confined or tethered — they graze freely. Children come for rehabilitation with various conditions, such as cerebral palsy or musculoskeletal disorders. In collaboration with their doctors, we tailor exercises and intensity to each child,"

Amina explains.

Yet Amina's vision extended further: to build a stable based on circular economy principles. One major challenge for farms is animal waste. On average, a horse produces 20 kilograms of manure per day — more than 7,000 kilograms per year. Amina started exploring ways to process the waste. Her project received support from the seventh phase of the GEF Small Grants Programme and UNDP in Kazakhstan.

Together with her partners, Amina tested two methods of manure processing: one using earthworms to produce vermicompost, and the other using bio-bacteria to produce biohumus. "We currently have two pilot sites in the Akmola and Karaganda regions. The first uses earthworms, but it’s a long and labor-intensive process. The second uses bio-bacteria, and the process takes about two months," says Amina.

Now, all the manure at the stable is converted into biohumus, and it is used as fertilizer on fields growing forage crops both on their own lands and in affiliated farms. "We grow potatoes, and normally we use mineral fertilizers on our fields. Now we’re trying eco-friendly organic ones. We'll harvest the next crop in a year, and thanks to our organic fertilizer, the quality of our produce will definitely improve," shares a farmer involved in the project.

In 2024, Kazakhstan adopted the Law "On Organic Production and Circulation," followed by a national standard on organic fertilizers: "Vermicompost. Technical Specifications." Amina is confident these legislative changes will help farmers manage livestock waste and produce effective organic fertilizers. "I shared with my partners the news about the legislation and the idea of a closed-loop eco-stable, where all waste is processed and reused. They supported me, and we launched a joint project. It has since expanded and now it covers two regions," she says.

Amina’s dream has become something much bigger than just a stable. She supports children with disabilities, recycles waste, engages local communities, and puts the principles of the circular economy into real-world practice.

"I know we won’t change the world in a day, but every ride a child with a disability makes on horseback is a step forward, and every kilogram of manure turned into fertilizer is a gift to the Earth. We’re not just building a stable, we’re building a new model where care, ecology, and humanity move forward together."