Giving Horses New Wings
The School’s Equestrian Centre is home to eighteen riding ponies, but what many don’t know is that six of the Stables’ equine residents were rescued. Working with Redwings Horse Sanctuary, the School’s Equestrian Centre has given six ponies a new home in its double American barn.
The team from the Stables first started getting involved with rescuing neglected ponies when they took in two horses that had been abandoned in a local field. Then, in December 2017, they started to work with Redwings to give rescued horses a new home.
For the Redwing ponies, life before coming to the Equestrian Centre hadn’t been easy, with all having suffered some type of neglect. Now, Acer, Clyde, Zowie, Noah, Moto and Tom are happily trotting through life at the vibrant and busy Equestrian Centre.
The horses are helping children at the School learn to ride and are even taking part in jumping competitions, including Felbridge and Hickstead. This is an incredible progression for the horses, some of which had never even been sat on before arriving at the Equestrian Centre.
For some of the horses, their journey to rehabilitation hasn’t been easy. When Acer arrived, he couldn’t even walk into the yard as he was easily spooked. The Stables team had to dedicate a considerable amount of time getting him accustomed to his new environment and teaching him how to walk and interact with children.
For the young riders at the School, the experience of learning with rescue horses has also been very positive and rewarding. A member of the Stables team explained how, incredibly, the rescue horses seem to have much more patience with the children and are much kinder. And, for that, the children love them.
Moto is a firm favourite and has helped some of the less confident riders pick up new skills. The horses have developed lovely relationships with their enthusiastic young riders.
Stables Manager, Irini Economou, said, “The School has a long tradition of charitable work and I’m very happy that the Stables are able to continue this by giving these great ponies a new home. Working with Redwings has been a great experience, not only for my team, but also for our students who have truly loved looking after the ponies and learning to ride with them.”
09 July 2018
