Hoist helps happy horse riders!

Today in the stables we have a group in from Leonard Cheshire who have come all the way from Guernsey. I’m sure they have really only come to see me as everyone knows I’m the star attraction at the Calvert Trust.

Teddy tells me that most of the guests in this group have to be hoisted on to a horse. He says that the horse needs to stand really still to be a hoist horse. I think this is why they rode Brin as standing still is one of his favourite things to do; well that and eating!  

Lovely Dil being hoisted onto Brin

Teddy knows all this because he's also a hoist horse, but he was being ridden by one of the other riders today. Apparently training to become a hoist horse takes quite a long time. I don’t know whether I would want to do it if I was big enough, but the good thing about it for Teddy and Brin is they get to do lots of slow and gentle work while they are looking after their riders.

Dil on Brin and ready to go!

It’s great that we are able to give people the opportunity to still ride even though they are in a wheelchair. Teddy says people have to sit in a special sling which gets attached to the electric hoist in the arena. Nicky or Abi then have a thing with buttons on that controls the height and the movement of the hoist so the person can be lifted on to the saddle, and then they are ready to go riding.

Dil and Brin enjoying their ride