Rebecca Hubbard
Posted: Wednesday, September 1, 2010 10:31 am

Horse lovers from Herefordshire helped create a mountain of carrots for their equine friends on Saturday. 

Visitors to Wyevale Hereford Garden Centre donated their spare carrots to Herefordshire Riding for the Disabled when the charity visited the garden centre on Saturday, August 28.

Richard Debbage, Manager of the garden centre, which is located on King’s Acre Road in Hereford, said: “To coincide with Herefordshire Riding for the Disabled’s visit, we asked our customers to each bring along a carrot for the charity’s horses and ponies. 

“We managed to create a giant stack of the root vegetable for the charity. The garden centre donated 25kg of carrots and customers donated more than five bags full of the vegetable. We’d like to say a big ‘thank you’ to everyone who donated their veggies for this very worthy cause.

“All of the charity’s horses are used for riding therapy. This provides valuable therapy for children with learning difficulties and disabilities as they get up close and engage with animals. As carrots are a tasty treat for horses we thought a giant carrot mound would be a fantastic way to reward them.” 

Herefordshire Riding for the Disabled from Holme Lacy, which was established in 1992, is one of 20 purpose-built centres in the UK operating under the Riding for the Disabled Association.

The charity currently looks after 12 horses and ponies and is run by 75 voluntary helpers, two instructors and a specially trained physiotherapist.

Richard added: “Herefordshire Riding for the Disabled brought along Splash, one of their riding horses, for people to see. Youngsters were able to take a ride on Splash for £1 per go.  

“Representatives from the charity were also available to chat to visitors about their work and how they can get involved with the charity.”