World Horse Welfare Rescue Ponies Show off Their Speed at Olympia

World Horse Welfare Rescue Ponies Show off Their Speed at Olympia

World Horse Welfare Yogi and Saphire demonstrated their true talents on Friday evening when they took to the Grand Hall at Olympia, The London International Horse Show as part of the World Horse Welfare Santa vs Scrooge Celebrity Scurry Stakes.

Each pony was accompanied by an experienced driver, plus an equestrian celebrity including Olympic gold medallist and World Horse Welfare Patron, Pippa Funnell and Founding Editor of In-Harness magazine, Fiona Powell who acted as backsteppers to keep the carriages balanced as they twisted and turned around the arena at speed.

World Horse Welfare Yogi stood victorious, driven by his rehomer Liz Harcombe and backstepper, Fiona Powell. The winning contestants were then invited to celebrate by throwing a bucket of iced water at World Horse Welfare Chief Executive, Roly Owers who said:

“It’s been a fantastic evening and wonderful opportunity to showcase the amazing talents of our ponies in front of such a huge audience. I’m immensely proud of what our team has achieved in putting this display together and very grateful to both Pippa and Fiona for taking part – it certainly made the ice bucket worthwhile!

“We are deeply honoured to have been chosen as Charity of the Year for the Olympia London International Horse Show 2015 and hope that the display will encourage more people to think about rehoming when they see the quality of horses and ponies that we have on our rehoming scheme.”

Pippa Funnell, MBE said:

“If you’re thinking about getting a horse or pony, then why not go to World Horse Welfare? There are all sorts of things these ponies are capable of and that’s what is so exciting. World Horse Welfare have a fantastic range of horses and ponies available for rehoming and a great team of people who are happy to advise you. I’d love to take both Yogi and Saphire home tonight but I’m not too sure William would be very pleased!”

Yogi came into World Horse Welfare’s Hall Farm Rescue and Rehoming Centre in 2006 as a completely untouched two year-old. He was very nervous of human contact but thanks to the experienced handling and care of the World Horse Welfare team he matured into a well-mannered pony with lots of potential. He was broken to drive more than five years ago and since then has had fantastic success competing at national level with his rehomer, Liz Harcombe – recently starting tandem work. Yogi will be taking the role of Scrooge on Friday, driven by Liz with Fiona Powell riding pillion.

Saphire came into World Horse Welfare’s Hall Farm Rescue and Rehoming Centre three years ago and required intensive physiotherapy to build up her strength. Following the dedication of the team, she is now progressing well in her training and loves showing off her driving skills and stunning good looks. Saphire will be taking the role of Santa on Friday, driven by Amy Last with Pippa Funnell riding pillion.

Suzanne Ashton

Suzanne Ashton, Founder of Everything Horse (Est, 2012), has a BA Hons in Marketing Management and a Diploma in Equine Science. Suzanne has ridden and owned horses all her life and has twelve years of experience in marketing, writing, design, SEO, and website creation.