Dunedin man Trevor Sutherland is heading back to Ukraine. PHOTO: GERARD O’BRIEN

A Dunedin man is heading back to a place he calls ‘‘surreal insanity’’.

Trevor Sutherland could be putting his feet up, having just retired as a farrier after a career all over the world.

But the 72-year-old is heading to a place a long way away, in all ways, from his home in the outskirts of Dunedin.

Mr Sutherland is returning to war-torn eastern Ukraine, to help out for a second straight year at a children’s horse riding school.

‘‘I’m interested politically in, you know, the situation. So I sort of thought, at times like this, animals become very, very important to people. And that was proven to be so — beyond even my wildest dreams,’’ he said.

‘‘It enables people to retain their humanity. That is literally so true.’’

Children put their horses through their paces. PHOTOS: SUPPLIED

Mr Sutherland went to the war-torn country last year to help out — taking about a year to organise it — and he never considered not going again this year.

He said the riding school was for children aged 10-15 and it was great to hear all the laughter and see the fun the children had riding horses.

‘‘It brings a little bit of a joy and a little bit of a smile to the face of these children, in an otherwise surreal insanity.

‘‘It just sort of says to them you know, ‘you’re not forgotten and you are supported’. That is the payback for me, why I am there. To hear that laughter.’’

The riding school had been hit by four missiles before he got there and it was forced to move to another town.

He said Ukraine was an amazing place with amazing people.

‘‘It exceeded every and any expectation I could ever have had. In ways like how bad it was. And then how good it was at the same time.’’

A Ukrainian child gets close up to her friend.

He travelled to the capital Kyiv on many occasions, lying awake most nights as the missiles rained down and the Ukrainian air defence batted them away.

He also went out and gave lessons to budding farriers, helping spread the word about animals, and how good they were for people.

‘‘You’re providing something that they really haven’t got access to now because the country, it’s a country at war. No male between 16 and 60 can leave the country. There’s a no-fly zone that’s been in operation since the full-scale invasion.’’

Visits were arranged to some riding schools where war veterans had come to try to recover from post-traumatic stress after some harrowing experiences on the front line.

‘‘You look into the depths of their eyes and, yeah, they have seen some things that no-one should see.’’

Trevor Sutherland helps work a horse shoe.

But the people were just so amazing, he said.

‘‘This town that I’m staying in, it’s about 15,000, 18,000 people.

‘‘The air raid siren goes off, an announcement comes over in English, air raid warning: ‘Please move to your nearest bomb shelter’,’’ he said.

‘‘This is 11 o’clock in the morning on a Monday. I’m thinking, ‘well, I don’t even know where this air raid shelter is’, so I think, what do you do? You just watch the locals.

‘‘They don’t do anything. They just get on with their life.

‘‘Everywhere in the country is at risk, there’s no doubt about that, but people say, you know, ‘are you afraid?’

‘‘In all honesty, I feel no more unsafe there than driving down State Highway 1 in New Zealand, or getting in the helicopter in Wānaka.

‘‘I’m not silly, but if you don’t want to accept the risks that you identify, then sit on the couch, and stay at home, and one day you’ll go have a heart attack. It is inspiring to see how resolved they are as a nation.’’

Last year, he never once questioned his decision to go to Ukraine and he was keen to return this time, he said.

He had organised for friends in Europe to ship equipment and resources to the riding school. He had shipped in an anvil and forge and trained a father of two girls who rode to be a farrier.

He declined to talk about the political situation but said there was some insane stuff going on.

‘‘But you’re still hearing laughter every day. There’s a lot of hugging that goes on, a lot of animals. I’ve never seen so many people with dogs.’’

The riding school is for children aged 10-15.

He said with what had been thrown at Ukraine, they were incredibly resilient people.

They were still maintaining the moral high ground, he said.

Horses were highly valued in the country, so his work was held in high esteem.

An added mission this time was to help the riding school get better facilities and enough feed for its 30 horses.

He said he had set up a Givealittle page — givealittle.co.nz/cause/help-this-ukraine-riding-school — to help the school.