THE TINY PONY THAT NEVER WANTS TO SAY GOODBYE

IMAGINE lying in your hospice bed and hearing a little snuffle, then opening your eyes to see a tiny horse staring at you, wanting a cuddle.

That’s what happens for the children at Christopher’s, the Shooting Star Chase children’s hospice, who are regularly visited by Teddy the Shetland pony.

‘They absolutely love him,’ says Anne Bridgman, head of care. ‘We’ve a lot of children in wheelchairs or with poor sight or profound disabilities and it’s wonderful for them to be able to see, touch and smell him.’

Activity co-ordinator Barbara Hibberd agrees. ‘We have children who go from never having seen a horse to brushing him and walking him around the garden. You can see their confidence grow.’

Before a visit from Teddy (right) there is huge excitement with children such as Miles, 11, and Summer, ten, desperate to see their small pal.

‘One young lady idolises him completely,’ says Barbara. ‘She’ll arrive here hours before he’s due, and sit at the window waiting. Before, she wasn’t confident with animals at all but now she even has a dog.’

If a child can’t get to Teddy, he’ll go to them: ‘We take him into the bedroom and he puts his head on the bed while the child touches his face.’

Teddy is owned by event rider Alice Goring, 26, and visits Christopher’s, old people’s homes and schools.

She said: ‘I had to desensitise him to noise and train him to walk next to a wheelchair but he gets as much out of it as everyone. He never wants to leave!’