(written on 16th March)

There are ten horses at The Brae and they all serve a different purpose or have a different priority. There are horses of all different heights and weights so that they can take different heights and weights of children and adults. A horse can not carry more than its own weight. This is very important as it means that each rider has to be weighed so that the correct horse can be selected for them. This is most important for children as they might be on the small Shetland pony but as they grow they may become too big for him. The horses range from a small Shetland pony right up to the biggest horse Prince. Through the summer months the Brae also do carriage driving lessons so that children and adults that are confined to a wheelchair can still experience the feeling of riding a horse.

Paddy

Paddy is the newest horse to the Brae as he only arrived in September last year. It can take a horse 9 months to fully settle in to
somewhere new so he has not fully settled into the riding school yet. Paddy is 10 years old and his main job is to pull the carriage as he has recently passed his carriage driving test. He also has to take
part in lessons which he had not had much experience of but is getting more and more comfortable. Paddy is a lovely horse with a very calm personalty (as all of the horses need to have). My experience with Paddy was that he was a cheeky chap who had a great personality. Paddy would always help by lowering his head when putting his head collar on as well as check your pockets to see if you had any treats for him.

Boris

Boris is the smallest horse at the Brae as well as one of the oldest horses. Even though he is the smallest horse he is still a very strong pony. Boris gives rides to several smaller children. Boris has a great temperment and would often have his head over
the door of his stable so that he could be petted by people walking by. He was a very easy horse to work alongside and groom. Boris can often be seen relaxing in the small side field at the Brae when he is not working

Duey

Duey is one of the bigger horses at the Brae. He has been at the Brae since October 2014 which means he is well settled into his life there. Duey enjoys taking part in many lessons with some of the older children and adults. He is a very big and strong horse but is actually a gentle giant and can be a little bit of a wimp sometimes.

Prince

Prince is the tallest and one of the oldest horses at the Brae. Even though Prince is very tall he is  a ‘gentle giant’ who can give lessons different ages and abilities. Prince can also adapt from lead rein lessons to jumping lessons without a problem. Prince is very easy to work alongside and gives riders and volunteers confidence in the work that they are doing. As Prince is older he will probably be retiring soon. However, as Prince is such a hard working horse who does several different types of lessons, he cannot retire until the Brae find a replacement for him.

Gismo

Gismo has been at the Brae for five years and is one of the smaller horses. Gismo works well with children of all abilities even those who need to be hoisted on to his back. Gismo is happy for new volunteers to learn their new skills of tacking up and grooming with him.

Dusty

Dusty is an 11 year old Dapple Grey who has been at the Brae for three years and he enjoys taking part in lessons with smaller riders. Dusty is a very cheeky horse who can be a pain on lessons if he does not feel like doing certain tasks. He is an ideal height for many children but my own experience with Dusty is that he can be a bit of a pain at times. Dusty can occasionally take a nibble at volunteers when being groomed or on a lead rope during lessons. This means that he can be difficult to keep on track during lessons and will sometimes refuse to go from walking to trotting.

Mickey

Mickey is a very calm black Gypsy Cob horse. He has several jobs so he is a very busy horse. Just like all of the other Brae horses Mickey takes part in several lessons a week. Mickey is also one of the Brae’s carriage driving horses. Mickey is a very laid back, quiet horse which means that he is ideal for new volunteers to learn how to tack up, groom and clean his feet. In my experience of working with Mickey, he would lower his head into his head collar to help me as he was quite tall and I am not! I was amazed when he did this as he realised that I was struggling and helped me. I was told when I was at the Brae that horses can sense human feelings a lot more than we can which means that you need to show the horses that you are confident even if underneath you are not.

As well as this Mickey can also step in for Romany in back riding lessons and he has also had training in vaulting lessons which are a new kind of lesson to the Brae.

Misty

Misty is a 13 year old grey Fell pony. Misty takes part in a lot of lessons as he is an ideal height for a variety of children and adults. He has been at the Brae for three years and in that time has doubled the amount of lessons that he does.

Rolley

Rolley is an 18 year old grey mare and she is the only female horse at the Brae. Rolley takes part in several lessons and is slowly building her confidence for doing more. Rolley enjoys giving several children lessons. Rolley also has a very calm personality so she is good for new volunteers to practice tacking up and grooming. Helping new volunteers gain new skills is Rolley’s main role at the Brae at the moment but she is building up how many lessons that she does.

Romany

Romany has been at the Brae for four years. Romany helps to deliver a unique type of lesson, alongside the Brae physio, called Hippo therapy which is physiotherapy on horseback. Romany has been taking part in these lessons for a while now and they have managed to double the amount of lessons that they do. All of the children that have these lessons gain physically and mentally in strength and confidence.

 

Even though I was only at The Brae a week I had already started to see the different personalities that each horse had and I was enjoying getting to know each one. I felt like i had already started to develop a bond with some of the horses, however, I did not get to work closely with all of the horses in this short time. This meant that I got to know some better than others.

References

The Brae Riding for the Disabled. (no date). The Brae Riding for the Disabled. [online] Available at: http://www.brae.org.uk [Accessed 16 Mar. 2017].