RDA pony Strikey becomes a Breyer model
A Suffolk Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA) pony has been immortalised as a Breyer model horse to celebrate the charity’s 40th Anniversary.
The 13.2hh Haflinger “Strikey” has been at the Shelley Centre for Therapeutic Riding in Hadleigh for the past 15 years and has taken part in around 8,000 riding sessions for disabled adults and children.
He was chosen following a nationwide competition to find the RDA horse or pony that best represents the spirit of these dedicated equines.
Yard manager Lynne Bensoussan said: “He is our oldest pony — he must be 27 or 28 — and is perfect and very popular with all the riders.”
She said the centre had been given a bronze cast of the model and 24 or the toys by Treasure Trove, who distribute Breyer in the UK.
“The models will go into our shop and I expect they will sell very quickly.”
For each model sold at £24.75, the company will donate £4 to the RDA, an initiative that is set to raise around £10,000 for the charity.
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Strikey‚ will be available from I February and can be purchased online through the RDA shop www.rdashop.org.uk
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A self-confessed newshound, farmer’s daughter and journalist of many years' experience, Charlotte worked on regional papers before joining H&H in 2007. A regular rider, she visited Ireland in 2010 to investigate the fate of Irish horses through the recession, to much acclaim, and reported from the FEI General Assembly in Rio de Janeiro in 2011. She left Horse & Hound in March 2013.