Greatwood was a beautiful old Devon farm from which we derived the name for the charity. It was on one particular occasion in Devon that the idea for Horse Power began to take shape. We had been asked if we could help a little girl who had become so withdrawn that she had stopped speaking. When she visited us, we had just rescued a horse that was in a poor way.
Over the following few weeks we witnessed the most extraordinary transformation in this child.
There was an interaction between the vulnerable child and the rescued racehorse that built both of their confidences up to such an extent that before too long a bubbly little girl would arrive chattering gaily, and a recovering horse would whicker at the sound of her voice.
As our work was needed more and more, we decided to move, and found a dairy farm near Marlborough in Wiltshire. That, in itself, was a huge upheaval, the removal of dozens of horses, geese, hens, sheep and goats made the actual house move a piece of cake.
Once we had settled in Wiltshire we were determined to provide an opportunity for children with special educational needs to learn life skills and emotional literacy through interaction with rescued former racehorses.
In 2010, 20 years since we began and 11 years after the charity was founded, we have successfully re-homed hundreds of rescued racehorses and Horse Power has gone from strength to strength. We are lucky that a gifted qualified special needs teacher, Laura Jones, joined us and developed the programme content, which has now achieved an accreditation from the Open College Network. Wiltshire County Council and Swindon Borough Council have accredited the Health and Safety, Risk Management and Child Protection procedures.
We are now working with pupils from Wiltshire and the surrounding counties and the feedback from parents and teachers is extremely positive. Our work has also been featured on Children In Need, who are one of our main supporters.
