Do you have an equine who loves to play?
Do you have a horse, pony, donkey or mule who just loves to make up the rules when he’s turned loose?
Do you and your equine friend put more emphasis on partnership rather than prizes?
Then this award may be coming your way!
The first horse ever to be registered with The Horse Agility Club in February 2009 was a mare called Highland Park.
But Highland wasn’t just an ordinary horse, she just loved to be free. When her partner Brenda Kent started doing liberty work, the mare took Brenda at her word and let herself go!
When Highland Park passed away in May 2019, Brenda wanted to honour her memory:
‘I would like to remember Highland on her birthday each year for the next 10 years by donating £20 to an environmental charity, chosen from a list, by an HA club member and their equine who work at liberty in a very special way.
I would like the emphasis to be on joy, enthusiasm and safety, not accuracy…so open to those pairs where the horse might do things in their own sweet individual way and, perhaps as Highland used to do, go off and do an obstacle again without being asked!’
Of course the Club not only agreed to help with this Award but will match the £20 so generously donated by Brenda in memory of her beautiful horse. The winner will receive the title Highland Park Liberty Memorial Award plus a certificate. There will be no rosette, only a virtual one, which coincides with Brenda’s wishes on ecological grounds.
This award will be announced on 23rd March this year and every year, Highland Park’s birthday.
Because liberty isn’t about winning it’s about being free!
What a lovely thought! All my horses and ponies over the years have been special to me, but sometimes a bitofa pain to anyone not recognising their foibles. There was Scooby who liked you to wait six feet away when you wanted to bring her in, then she would walk up and put her nose out for her head collar, April aways canters A couple of circles round you before coming in, Carlo rushes up to say “Please” which is two bobs of the head and a couple of steps backwards. Then there was Gemma who made me think I was a wonderful rider because if I thought of something she did it, that didn’t work with other horses. I am just waiting to Read about everyone else’s horses. Thank you Brenda for suggesting the award and Vanessa for carrying it through.
Terrific idea! Fun for both 2 and 4 legged partners!
Thank you to Vanessa for carrying this through!
How do people enter their horse ? Brenda and Vanessa you are awesome for coming up with this award!!! Wish they would do things like this at horse shows!
There’s no entry system, we will look back over the last year and, with Brenda’s input and mine, we will see someone who just fits that brief.
I’m weeping on reading this, imagining the JOY that it will stimulate.
Very excited! xxx
That’s a beautiful thing to do!
Such a fabulous idea! Highland was very lucky to have an owner who understood her 🙂 x
Looking forward to seeing this year’s announcement! Best wishes to you all and your equine partners.