Take part in educational “horse body painting” at The Horse Trust this summer!

The Horse Trust is running a variety of activities during the Summer holidays at its sanctuary in Speen, Buckinghamshire, including educational horse “body painting”, demonstrations and competitions.

From April until the end of October half-term (30 October), the Home of Rest for Horses will be open to visitors Thursday to Monday, between 2 and 4 pm. During the summer holidays (23 July – 7 September), the charity will be running “horse body painting” sessions, an interactive activity for people to learn more about a horse’s anatomy.

“Horse body painting” is a training technique used by animal welfare charity Gambia Horse and Donkey Trust. Liane Crowther, Training Manager at The Horse Trust, learnt about this technique on a recent visit to the Gambia Horse and Donkey Trust.

In a horse body painting demonstration, the body of a horse is painted on one side to show where major organs, muscles and bones are located. People are then asked to remember the location of these anatomical structures and paint them onto the other side of the horse’s body.

“This is a great interactive activity for people of all ages to learn more about a horse’s anatomy,” said Liane. “We’re very excited to be offering this new activity during the summer holidays and hope lots of people will visit us to take part. It’s also a nice activity for the horses as they enjoy the physical contact and like being bathed afterwards.”

As well as horse body painting, the charity will be running various other activities over the summer holidays including demonstrations, “have a go at grooming” sessions and competitions for children. Staff will be demonstrating various aspects of horse care, such as bathing and clipping. Demonstrations from local farrier Jonathan Smith are also planned.

Please contact The Horse Trust office on 01494 488 464 nearer the time for more information on daily activities.

Visitors to the sanctuary will also have the opportunity to enjoy the summer weather by having a picnic at the sanctuary, using the charity’s new picnic tables. You can also support the work of the charity by purchasing refreshments at the visitor centre. Ice creams from local firm Beechdean Dairies will be on sale, as well as a variety of hot and cold drinks.