Harwich Horse Rangers Association hosts annual pony Easter egg hunt

Children from Home-Start Harwich families joined Harwich Horse Ranger Associations’ annual Easter egg hunt on Monday.

Sioux Thorpe, managing director of Harwich Horse Rangers, was delighted that they could attend.

Great Time - The children enjoyed their time with the ponies (Image: Home-Start Harwich)

She said: “We were given a grant from the Essex Youth Sport and Crime Prevention project by Active Essex.

“The project is aimed at youth in the area to keep them out of trouble and get them involved in enriching activities.

Slippery - The children had fun despite the gloomy weather (Image: Home-Start Harwich)

“We used the money to help children who wouldn’t normally come to events like this, so I contacted Wendy Taylor at Home Start Harwich for some help.”

Wendy found 16 children for several sessions with the Horse Ranger’s Association including the Easter egg hunt on Monday.

Teacher - The children were helped out by experienced instructors (Image: Home-Start Harwich)

The Easter egg hunt was organised by the Horse Rangers with instructor Charlotte Race leading the charge.

It has been an annual event for the rangers for the past 33 years.

Variety - Different coloured ponies were available to ride (Image: Home-Start Harwich)

Sioux added: “It’s been an amazing experience for the Home-Start children, we’ve also kicked off some new programmes in the past year.

“As well as having the Home-Start children, we have provided six mentors from our Horse Rangers to have one-to-one tutoring with a child while they are here.

Victory - The rangers following a successful egg hunt (Image: Home-Start Harwich)

“We are monitoring how well our young horse ranger monitors a younger inexperienced child, and we will report back to Active Essex.”

With further funding from schools around the county, the Horse Rangers Association has expanded its services.

Helping Hand - The children were also helped out by their ranger mentors (Image: Home-Start Harwich)

The charity now looks after and educates children who are not able to attend traditional schooling for whatever reason.

Children come in one to three times a week and are given tuition in horse riding, maths and English.

Spotted - A young rider points out a possible egg location (Image: Home-Start Harwich)

Sioux said: “We are paid to do this which means we aren’t as reliant on our weekend money.

“We haven’t put prices up for the past seven to eight years and want to keep it that way.”