Horse Life Stories - Hendrix

Hello again, here is another post in my 'horse life stories' series, this time its my stable mate Hendrix.  

love Pilgrim

Just like Rooster and Brin, Hendrix also had a different name before he joined us here at Calvert Trust Exmoor.

Poor old Hendrix is actually called ‘One too many’, but he says he prefers his Calvert Trust name and I think I agree!

Hendrix is 9 years old (he was born in 2006) and is a traditional gypsy Vanner pony, standing at 13.2 hands high. 

He's black in colour and has a big white blaze down his face. The other distinguishing thing about Hendrix is he has different coloured eyes, one is blue and the other is dark brown. The name for a blue eye in a horse is a wall eye and it certainly makes him stand out.

Hendrix grew up in Worcestershire on a working farm so from a young age he has always had lots going on around him.  He was broken to ride and drive at the age of 3, doing lots of hacking around the farm and pulling a small cart up to the village. This was all good earl experience for Hendrix, ready to carry on with the rest of his training when he got a little older.

At 4 years old Hendrix came to live at Calvert Trust Exmoor, after a month’s trial he officially joined the team in March 2011.  Although Hendrix could already be ridden and pull a carriage he had to start lots of new training to get him used to life here at the stables.

The job Hendrix needed to do the most was to be a driving pony so the stables staff started off by long reining and lunging with Hendrix to get him used to his surroundings and a bit fitter; its quite hilly round here compared to farm he grew up on!  

Hendrix then progressed on to carriages, starting with the 2 wheel carriage, and showed that he could work well with guests.  He also started to do lots of ridding, bringing a bit of variety to his life.  Now Hendrix is the main carriage horse here; he can pull either of the carriages and does lots of riding too.

This year Hendrix has also done a bit of extra work away from the stables. For his first outing he went to try his hoof at dressage at a local show, we were all very impressed as Hendrix and Kerri came away with a first rosette!

Hendrix also went on holiday for a few nights to Devon County Show where we were 2015 charity of the year, each day Hendrix and a team of instructors put on demonstrations to the public in a big arena, showing everyone what we do here in our centre group sessions. They took the four wheeled carriage and demonstrated wheelchair accessible carriage driving.

Hendrix in action at Devon County Show 2015

Hendrix is quite a character and loves to play with the other horses in the field, he can also be a little cheeky in the stable and bang the door with his hoof if he wants some attention or thinks he needs feeding again! Hendrix is a huge favourite here and a very special member of our team.

Pilgrim's horseshoe icon was created by stolkramaker from Noun Project