This campaign has now closed
We are raising money in order to purchase a mechanical horse walker. This will allow us to keep our Riding for the Disabled horses and ponies fit and in good temperament in the wet, winter months when they are stabled. A fit and happy horse is a safe horse for our disabled participants.
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Beneficiaries
Situation
It is important for both the safety of our disabled participants and volunteers that our 12 horses remain healthy, calm and placid. We must keep them fit. The soil in our paddocks is clay and prone to water logging. To prevent lameness of our horses which can be caused by wet conditions our horses are stabled during winter months. It is essential to our horse welfare that despite being stabled they have fresh air and exercise over and above that which they gain from being used in daily lessons.
Solution
We intend to purchase a Claydon Stonleigh 5 Horse mechanical Exerciser to keep our horses physically fit and in good temperament when stabled. A horse that is not exercised enough may become bad tempered or "frisky" which are characteristics not suitable for our participants. For volunteers to ride or lead all our ponies and horses to keep them fit and happy would use a huge amount of volunteer manpower which we just don't have. The horse walker will exercise 5 horses at a time, twice a day.
