Meet the Team
Meet Pickles
Pickles was a founder of the Therapy Team. She is an extremely kind and friendly pony who makes it her mission to ensure all new ponies feel welcome when they join our team. Pickles is a fluffy fur ball in the winter months (doubling her size in all directions) and loves to ‘help’ with the field duties each day. When we say ‘help’ we mean standing directly in front of the wheelbarrow and hindering our workload! She just loves interacting with people and enjoys scratches and cuddles whether you are busy or not. She is an affectionate pony with heaps of personality. When she is doing Therapy visits, she walks into a room and everybody wants to meet and hug her. She was born to do therapy work and she expects to go on every visit.
Meet Romeo
Romeo joined our Therapy Team having no experience of Therapy visits or what they entailed. His name comes from a big white ‘heart’ shape that he has on his side. He has joined Pickles on visits and is becoming an excellent Therapy pony. He is the smallest of the group but has such a big personality. He is very ‘chatty’ when he greets you and is a perfect gentleman. He has the advantage of having the ‘cute’ factor as he is so tiny. Romeo also ‘helps’ with field chores but has an annoying habit of tipping the wheelbarrow over when it is full if you don’t keep an eye on him – not helpful but a fun game for him!
Meet Bluebell
Bluebell came to us in a terrible state, both physically and mentally. She’d had a tough few years, was rescued and came to us to learn to be a pony again and to trust human beings. She needed Therapy herself. We could not handle her in the beginning as she was so terrified of humans so we sat for many hours in her field eating apples and reading books until she learnt to accept us being near her and allowing herself to get near to us. Once she realised that we were not going to hurt her she accepted being stroked and eventually caught. She immediately teamed up with Pickles and learnt so much from her about trust and relaxing around everyone. Although Bluebell has a long way to go before she will feel confident about accompanying us on Therapy visits, she is a very quick learner and now loves to be involved in everything we are doing. She is a brave girl with lots of determination.
Meet Oliver
Oliver is the largest of our shetlands and is very loving. He craves attention and will happily push all the other shetlands out of the way to get to the front to have a cuddle from us in the field. He is a calm pony when doing therapy work, but very playful with the herd when in the field initiating races with the other shetlands.
Meet Arthur & Charlie
These two half brothers are the latest additions to our therapy pony family. Arthur and Charlie are very ‘matchy matchy’ and have stunning markings on them. They definitely have the ‘cute’ factor. Everyone that meets them cannot believe how small they are. They are miniature Shetland ponies but what they lack in size, they make up for in characters and personality. Charlie is very slightly taller than his brother which you can only tell when they stand together. Arthur and Charlie are 4 years old and are experienced therapy ponies having done this type of work before they arrived with us. Both boys have settled very easily with the other therapy ponies and enjoy runs around the fields especially on windy days.
Meet Barney
Here is the baby of the group. Barney has joined our therapy team as a 2 year old blank canvas. He is learning not to be afraid of ‘scary’ things and is building great trust in our handlers so that he can work closely with them when he goes out to visit people to give some therapy. We are so lucky to be able to introduce Barney to his therapy work at a steady pace which is essential to ensuring that he excels in his future career. When he isn’t learning, he is a very playful pony in the field with his best field mate, Arthur. His life at the moment is 10% work and 90% playtime!!
