Coach's Brief

I’m sure everyone is relieved that winter is finally over. We have certainly had more than our fair share of rain, which has led to some rides being cancelled, but have also had stunning days, as well. To mark the change of season, we held a “Spring Fling” week, when we celebrated all things yellow with lots of bunnies, lambs, flowers and butterflies. Some very creative outfits were seen, and lots and lots of sunny smiles. 

We are so lucky to be located in such a beautiful setting, so grateful to our wonderful volunteers who tirelessly maintain the gardens and surroundings. The bird life is plentiful, and we are treated to Tui song most days. 

Our wonderful Sensory Trail continues to be such an asset, and I am loving using this environment in different ways to enhance our rider’s experience. We have recently added some “high wires” between the trees. These enable me to hang items for our riders to look up to, reach up to, and even touch, (with some brave riders being able to stand on our wonderful ponies backs and really being up amongst the trees! This is a successful and fun way to encourage upright posture, it’s much more fun to pat the monkey, or swing the bee, than to be told to sit up straight 😉. 

Another tool that is being very popular with our riders is the addition of music, with many of our riders having favourite tunes. It’s very interesting to observe how an upbeat song can change the energy of rider, horse, and volunteers! The music can also be calming, in one session on a particularly beautiful day, we played classical music and blew bubbles while riding through the trees. Truly a delight for all the senses! 

I strongly believe that it is vital to keep the rides interesting, so many skills can be taught while we are playing. Our riders have varied abilities, and we adapt activities to help them meet their individual goals, all the while keeping it fun!    A good example was our Spring Fling  
Our riders had a great time when we surprised them by welcoming Spring with colour and bubbles.  Take a look at this gallery of Spring Fling photos