Tag: ponies

Strachan House welcomes a pair of unusual vistors!

Strachan House care home in Blackhall was full of animal mischief when a group of Miniature ponies came to visit the home recently.

Residents at Strachan House were pleasantly surprised to see their new furry friends roaming around their home as the beautiful Willow and Sparkles from Happy Hoofbeats theraponies Ltd paid a visit.

General Manager Fran Fisher said: “Our residents have really enjoyed their unusual visitors today.

“We knew that having the farm here would be a bit of fun for all our residents, especially as some find it difficult to go on many outings in our minibus. 

“We are always looking for new activities for the residents and today we have seen the seen the enjoyment and the therapeutic influence animals can have on people.”

Resident Bernard Lennon was very excited to see Willow and Sparkles: “As a child I used to love all the animals on the nearby farm. Today was very enjoyable and it was wonderful that the animals were free to roam amongst us.”

It was also great to see the home taking onboard our feedback from our recent meeting where we all requested more animal visits.

Strachan House care home is run by Barchester Healthcare, one of the UK’s largest care providers, which is committed to delivering personalised care across its care homes and hospitals. Strachan House provides residential care, nursing care and dementia care for 83 residents from respite care to long term stays.

MSPs urged to support an improved equine ID system

International equine charity, World Horse Welfare, together with The British Horse Society and Horsescotland, exhibited at the Scottish Parliament to highlight the importance of equine identification to the health and welfare of Scottish horses. 

The trio of organisations used the opportunity to urge MSPs to support an improved digitalised and enforceable equine ID system to ensure all horses are identifiable and traceable. 

The move from the current paper-based system, which is open to fraud, to a digital service will ensure frictionless trade and movement of equines across borders for those moving their equines compliantly and disrupt the trade in smuggled horses. 

These improvements will mean that real-time updates can be made to individual records, enabling horses, ponies and donkeys to be traced quickly and effectively – crucial in the event of a disease outbreak, when they stray or in instances of theft and ownership disputes. 

The team spoke to 56 MSPs over three days and were sponsored by Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland. 

Kim Ayling, Senior Public Affairs Officer at World Horse Welfare said: “The exhibition in the Scottish Parliament gave us a fantastic opportunity to engage with MSPs from all political parties and representing constituencies from the borders to Orkney.

“We were delighted that almost 50 percent of the current members of the Scottish Parliament spoke to us about the importance of equine identification to the health and welfare of Scotland’s horses, ponies and donkeys.  

“The challenges that current horse owners face with a paper-based process that is too complex, costly and takes too long were highlighted, and it was encouraging that many supported the move to a digitalised system. 

“This is key to protecting Scottish equines from disease threats and disrupting the trade in vulnerable horses being smuggled out of the country in horrific conditions to an unknown fate. As a sector we will continue to work together and now need to build on this increased awareness among MSPs to help drive forward an improved equine ID system.”  

With a consultation on the digitalisation of cattle identification and traceability currently being undertaken in Scotland, the Scottish equine sector is calling on the Scottish Government to follow suit for horses, ponies and donkeys.