Kirsty founded The Bridle Path to bring visibility to a part of domestic abuse that can be overlooked: what happens when abuse is bound up with rural isolation, farms, horses, animals, land, livelihood and community.
Kirsty is a qualified Independent Domestic Violence Adviser (IDVA), Independent Sexual Violence Adviser (ISVA) and Older People’s Violence Adviser (OPVA), with frontline experience supporting people affected by domestic abuse and safeguarding concerns.
Her work is shaped by three things that rarely sit together in one conversation: professional domestic-abuse practice, lived experience, and a longstanding connection to horses and equestrian life.
She created The Bridle Path after repeatedly seeing how rural, farming and equestrian realities can fall outside the shape of mainstream provision. For some survivors, leaving is not simply about a relationship. It can mean animals, land, tied housing, transport, finances, work, family businesses and an entire community noticing that something has changed.
Kirsty's aim is to make those realities harder to miss — through awareness, professional training, writing, research, partnership work and the development of specialist support.
“Leaving is not the same as being free. And in rural life, the gate can be only the beginning.”
Kirsty JuddKirsty brings professional knowledge of domestic abuse, sexual violence, risk, safeguarding and the realities people face when trying to access support.
Her speaking and writing do not treat abuse as an abstract issue. She brings the human reality of coercive control, leaving, post-separation abuse and rebuilding a life.
Her equestrian background gives her a distinctive understanding of how animals, property, distance, transport, livelihood and close-knit communities can shape risk and help-seeking.
Kirsty is available for podcasts, interviews, panels, conferences, professional events, awareness sessions and media contributions.
Why isolation, transport, privacy, tied housing, farming structures and community visibility can change the experience of abuse.
How concern for horses, pets and livestock can affect safety decisions, disclosure and the ability to leave.
Why separation does not automatically end control, fear or risk — and why recovery requires more than an exit plan.
What professionals and organisations can miss when standard pathways do not account for rural life, older victims, men or complex family and financial ties.
Turning survival into advocacy, writing, service design and practical change without reducing survivors to what happened to them.
The journey of creating a specialist social-impact organisation around an issue that has been under-recognised for too long.
Kirsty writes as K Judd, combining lived experience, professional insight and the equestrian world she knows personally.
A practical England and Wales guide exploring post-separation abuse, systems, safety and recovery after leaving.
Kirsty's memoir of domestic abuse, survival, understanding and returning to self.
Kirsty also writes on domestic abuse in later life and equestrian fiction, alongside regular articles about rural abuse, coercive control, animals, recovery and the gaps survivors encounter.
Read Kirsty's WritingKirsty joined The Story Behind My Stories to speak openly about lived experience, domestic abuse, survival and recovery — and the journey that led to The Bridle Path Initiative.
For interviews, podcast appearances, panels, conference speaking, professional events or media comment connected to domestic abuse, rural communities, equestrian settings or survivor recovery, contact The Bridle Path.
Whether you are organising a conference, podcast, panel, professional learning event or feature, Kirsty can contribute a perspective that connects lived experience, frontline practice and rural/equestrian realities.
Invite Kirsty