Horse lovers urged to sign up and support UK relay event's visit to county
Horse riders and lovers across the county are being urged to sign up and support a UK wide relay coming to Shropshire later this month.
The Great Horses for Health Relay has been travelling around the UK since May 2.
The baton, passed by participants across the country, has travelled through Yorkshire, Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, and is currently making its way through Wales.
The idea behind the event is to celebrate horses and how they have helped people throughout the last year of the pandemic.
It is intended to raise awareness of road safety for horse riders and other vulnerable road users, to highlight the impact horses can have on mental health, and to raise money for a number of equine welfare and mental health charities.
People in the county are now being urged to sign up for relay events, and to organise their own fundraising challenges to take part.
Jane Barker, a trustee of the Cavalier Centre in Much Wenlock, will be collecting the baton for Shropshire from Brandy House Farm in Felindre, Mid Wales, on July 23.
The Cavalier Centre is a purpose built charity site with an indoor 70m x 30m arena, an outdoor arena and an all-weather track.
It provides facilities for disabled people of all ages to take part in therapeutic riding, vaulting, hippotherapy – physiotherapy on horseback – and carriage driving.
Mrs Barker, who initially set up the centre at her home near Baschurch, will be riding her horse with the baton along a section of the Jack Mytton Way in Shropshire, with others also helping to finish the 71 mile stretch.
The leg will take in Church Stretton, Rushbury, and Much Wenlock, before the baton is passed for its next stretch in Worcestershire.
Mrs Barker has encouraged people to sign up to take part in the relay or support the initiative by organising their own events.
People can sign up or find out more information by visiting https://www.horses4health.co.uk/
