Practice Time for Hendrix

Something very exciting for Calvert Trust Exmoor and particularly the stables is happening very soon.

 Calvert Trust Exmoor has been chosen as the charity of the Devon County Show.  This means that there will be a stand at the show where people can come along and find out all about what we do here, and how we help people with disabilities. Also the stables are sending along their very own representatives to the show to do two demonstrations every day in the Lady Clinton ring.  The team have been practising hard for these demonstrations.

Practising for the big day

They took banners up to the top field one day last week and had a practice run with Hendrix. He is going to the show along with Nicky to stay for the whole three days. I am sure that will mean he gets to wear one of the new rugs!!  He even gets his own stable at the show to sleep in overnight! 

Our lovely new banners

Each day Hendrix, Nicky and different members of the stables and activity team will be showing how carriage driving is accessible for people in wheelchairs. The four wheeler carriage will be at the show for the demonstrations. This carriage and our two wheeled one are both fitted with removable seats and ramps for access with a wheelchair.

I am sure those of you who have been here and had a carriage drive will agree it is a great fun experience.  Hendrix is really looking forward to going away to the show and I am sure he will do the team proud. Next time I blog I will update you on all the last minute preparations before they head off.

Special New Shoes

Today Clive and Jordan the farriers came to visit us in the stables.  I had a feeling it was my turn to have my feet trimmed and a new set of shoes and sure enough I was brought out of my stable and tied up in the yard.  Jordan had a good look at my feet and gave me a quick trim.

Until now I have been wearing light weight plastic shoes but today something very different happened. Last time the farriers’ came they had a long chat about my feet and what I should wear on them. The farriers decided to make me some very special shoes.  They are metal but they are much lighter than normal horse shoes. 

I heard Clive say he had made them out of racing plate metal! This was quite intriguing so I asked Teddy if he knew what that meant but he said Rooster was the best one to talk to about racing as that used to be his job.  Rooster said racing plates are very light shoes which help a horse to be as fast as it can. He also said I would never be as fast as he was even if they put wings on me! 

My little shoes were soon nailed on and although they feel a bit different to the plastic ones they are very comfy on my feet. I even sound like the rest of the horses now clip clopping around on the concrete.

The farriers said I would be the smallest horse they had ever put metal shoes on.  Of course this made me feel very important!

To give you an idea of how small my shoes are here is a picture of one of them next to a two pound coin…

….told you they were tiny!!

New gear for the equine team!

Some of you who have visited us here at Calvert Trust Exmoor will know that the centre has a logo.

 Recently we horses and ponies were very excited when a big parcel arrived; it contained some lovely new kit for us horses.  The riding horses are now proud owners of saddle cloths which have the logo on them.  There are also two fancy fleece rugs with the logo on them as well.  The lovely rugs are for any horses that go out and about to events. 

Duchess, Alice and Milo app shoeing off their logos

They will wear them when they are travelling or at a competition. The logo will help to let people know where the horses are from, and hopefully people will then want to find out all about Calvert Trust Exmoor and what we do here. All the horses now match the stables staff too as they have the logo on their jackets!

Activity Instructors have a go!

On Thursday evening after we had said goodbye to our guests for the day some of the activity instructors came to the stables to try their hand at horse riding. Alice was their instructor for the evening.

Brin and Teddy were called into action for this task as they are both really good at helping people who haven’t ridden much before.

Now as you all probably know the activity instructors do all kinds of things like climbing, abseiling, archery, canoeing and biking.  Teddy said that they all did really well riding, but a couple of them looked slightly out of their comfort zone! 

Teddy and Brin soon put them right on how to get the best out of a horse; he said the main and most important difference between horses and all the other activities is that horses have a brain and can think for themselves!

By the end of the evening all the instructors had tried out steering and stopping and had a little go at trotting.  Not as easy as it looks hey guys?!

Now all us horses and ponies have been chatting about this and we think we need to speak to one of the instructors and ask them to get the stables staff to try something they haven’t done before; we would like to see them have a go at something new to keep them on their toes!

Sometimes humans can be very strange creatures!

Dressed up for Dressage

Last week Henry and Hendrix were chosen to go out to represent Calvert Trust Exmoor Stables at Mullacott Event Centre. 

They were plaited up and groomed to look really shiny on Wednesday evening so we knew something was going on. 

Kerri and Richard suddenly appeared looking very smart indeed with show jackets and jodhpurs on. Nicky loaded Henry and Hendrix into the trailer and Kerri and Richard put their tack in the minibus.Off they went and we waited to hear all about it when they got back.

Several hours later they all arrived with smiling faces and two red rosettes!!  Henry and Hendrix had managed to be placed joint first in their class!  

Nicky said she was really proud of both of them and Kerri and Richard because it was the first show away from Calvert that Henry and Hendrix had ever done.

Richard on Henry and Kerri on Hendrix at the show

Henry was his usual chilled out self about the whole thing. 

Hendrix of course let everyone know how fantastic he had been at the show and that he was now to be considered the best pony on earth.  Rooster soon put him straight by telling him how many races he had won!

Tidy up time for Teddy

My buddy Teddy has been looking rather hairy lately.  He is quite an old chap, (don’t tell him I said that!), this means that he hangs onto his really woolly winter coat for ages and ages.

We are all losing hair at the moment but Teddy had obviously decided that it might still snow and was not really shedding any hair.  it has been so warm the last couple of weeks he has been suffering a little bit in the heat, so Nicky decided it was time to take action and get the clippers out. 

Teddy post-clipping, looking rather dapper!

Teddy has had an all over clip, with one little exception.  Teddy now is sporting a love heart on his bottom!  I am sure he feels much better since his haircut but I am not sure how he feels about the heart.  All the staff love him though so I guess it is quite a fitting tribute for him. 

Teddy's heart...

On the Horse Weekend things went one step further when Kerri got the paint out – Teddy soon had a blue heart! As you can see this made it stand out even more!

...and now its Blue!

Fun and Games with Midland Heart

This week we have had a large group of people here from an organisation called Midland Heart.  They have all been to visit us in the stables and have had a great time.

 They all had to work together in teams to learn about us equines, they had a go at tacking up their horses for riding with help from our volunteers.  They also helped to lead the horses while other members of their team were riding them. 

Some of them were really scared of horses at the beginning of their session but soon got used to being around us with help from yours truly and all the other lovely horses here.  It was great to see those who were a bit worried at the start get on a horse and have a brilliant time.

Brin in particular was very popular, he seemed to gain a lot of new fans this week; he's a big handsome fellow, but I'm always going to come tops as I will always be cuter!

Brin in action in the outdoor arena