Pony visits sheltered residents
The Ramblers Riding Club and Pony Parties have been bringing Secret the Shetland pony into the communal gardens at schemes across the town over the past four weeks.
Neve Barr from our Support Services team said: "Research says that interaction with ponies can be very therapeutic - they have innate emotional understanding and increase health benefits such as adaptability, distress tolerance, emotional awareness, independence, self-esteem, social relationships and more. We were able to fund this from the resident involvement budget as a new and exciting way to get residents to come together.
"The feedback from residents has been very positive, with many saying how lovely it was to see some life back in the scheme. They particularly enjoyed the fact their friends and family could participate and the grandchildren adored the pony!"