Making Animal Friends…top podcasters take a walk in Coombe Park… 

Making Animal Friends…top podcasters take a walk in Coombe Park… 

A team that produces an international podcast about animal care is featuring The Mare and Foal Sanctuary in its latest series. 

The Animal Friends podcasters travelled to Devon to spend a day recording and filming at Coombe Park Education and Equestrian Centre near Totnes to find out more about the joys and realities of caring for a horse or pony. The team took part in an ‘Equine Assisted Learning’ (EAL) session and met some of the Sanctuary’s famous sponsorship ponies: spirited miniature Shetland ‘Sir Didymus’, ‘Geronimo’ the one-eyed ‘dancing’ pony, piebald cob ‘Ludo’ who was rescued from wasteland covered in engine oil, and the Sanctuary’s stunning grey mare ‘Vogue’. 

Animal Friends External Communications Manager and podcast manager Rachel Potts says: ‘“A Walk in the Park” podcast provides a relaxed space to share the incredibly important work done by specialist partners and charities in animal welfare and conservation. Through our conversations, we offer advice and guidance from trusted experts and talk about the challenges our pets and wildlife still face today. Animal Friends Insurance is deeply committed to fighting for change in animal welfare, protection and conservation, giving a voice to some of our most vulnerable animals across the UK and around the world. It is our vision that by talking with rescue, rehabilitation and rehoming organisations on the frontline, we can shine a light on extremely important issues, help make more people stop and think, and hopefully drive further change. This is exactly why we wanted to shine a spotlight on The Mare and Foal Sanctuary, to showcase the invaluable work that is put into helping save, care for and rehabilitate these wonderful animals. It was an honour to witness first-hand the unwavering care, dedication, and commitment shown to all equines, colleagues, and faithful supporters by The Mare and Foal Sanctuary.’ 

Tamika McCrory, Consumer and Corporate PR Specialist and host added: ‘We loved our time with The Mare and Foal Sanctuary. It was a truly eye opening to experience the hard work and devotion that colleagues and horses alike poured into the Equine Assisted Learning sessions, as well as the day-to-day running of the Sanctuary. We’re excited for our listeners to experience the passion that exudes from this episode and hear all about some of the lovely horses and ponies that call the Sanctuary home.’ 

The Mare and Foal Sanctuary’s Equine Support Lead, Amy Dearlove monitors the horses and ponies that take part in the Sanctuary’s EAL sessions. She shared insights into equine behaviour and care with the podcasters. 

Amy says: ‘Everything we do here is focused on equine care and welfare. They are equal partners in our team and part of my job is to monitor them closely and make sure they want to take part in each session. 

‘Because horses and ponies are herd animals, they generally enjoy social interaction, so we recognise the huge mental health benefits of encouraging humans and equines to spend time together. It’s inspirational to watch young people and adults who might find life challenging spending time with horses and growing in confidence. Many of our equines have had difficult experiences before being rescued and coming to us, so our participants often find a deep, instinctive connection with them. 

‘Education to improve the lives of equines and people is a cornerstone of our mission at The Mare and Foal Sanctuary so it was great to be able to show The Animal Friends Podcast team some of the work we do and give them, and their listeners, a sense of that incredible equine connection. Better still, the sun was shining so we were able to hold the session in our outdoor arena, closer to nature. 

‘It was lovely to see how relaxed our horses Vogue and Inula were with Rachel, Tamika and Ben. Inula came to us after being shot in the leg with an air rifle, so hasn’t had a positive experience with people, but she appeared to be extremely curious about Ben’s camera and spent a lot of time around him. Vogue was so comfortable in the session that at one point, she lay down and had roll in the sand!’ 

The Mare and Foal Sanctuary podcast episode features interviews with Amy Dearlove and Dawn Vincent, the Mare and Foal Sanctuary’s Director of Fundraising and Communications and an insight into equine assisted learning in a special session with Dawn Neil, the Sanctuary’s Head of Education & Equine Assisted Services. 

It’s expected to be available in August when all of the episodes in the third series are released on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, YouTube and on the website.

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