The small number of members at the meeting had to pleasure of having both the Manager of Equi Succeed NZ (Rachael) and Linda (a Senior Instructor) at our dinner meeting after Linda had presented about who Equi-succeed are, where they are based (Parawai Road). what they do, how they operate (during the Primary School term), to engage with us for over 30 minutes on some of the many issues and challenges that they face.
The vision of Equi-succeed is ‘Joy on horseback’ and their goal is to provide equine-assisted services to enhance the well-being of people in our community living with specific challenges. (They are clearly a very worthy recipient for the proceeds of our Melbourne Cup event).
While we heard about their work with STAND (see last week’s bulletin) and with special needs children and others in the community that are well into their sixties and beyond – taking a horse to The Gardens rest home and the pleasure and memories that this produced was mentioned - there was one special need that Equi-succeed seemed unable/reluctant to help with, namely PP Preston’s need to find a suitable home for his donkey! Horses yes, donkeys no.
Finding the right horses for this work is challenging (and potentially very expensive too) and Equi-succeed are always on the lookout for suitable horses. They currently have access to 8 but one is coming up for retirement. To sum up it was really interesting and educational evening