Twinstead Riding School

⚠️ GROWN MAN VERBALLY ABUSES 15-YEAR-OLD GIRL RIDING ALONE ⚠️

At approximately 4.15pm this afternoon, one of our riders a 15-year-old girl was out hacking alone when she encountered a man driving a very loud, dark green-style truck.

The vehicle had passed Twinstead Riding School and was travelling towards Sudbury, approaching our rider head-on. The driver therefore had plenty of opportunity to see a horse and a child on the road ahead of him and to slow down.

He did not.

The driver, who was wearing bright orange ear defenders, continued towards her at speed. Her horse was becoming increasingly anxious at the noise of the vehicle, so our rider gave the appropriate hand signal asking him to slow down.

Rather than simply slowing down and passing her safely, this grown man stopped his vehicle alongside a 15-year-old girl who was alone on horseback and screamed at her:

“Get off the fing road, you stupid ct.”*

Let that sink in.

A grown man apparently considered it acceptable to stop beside a 15-year-old child, alone, and verbally abuse and intimidate her because she asked him to slow his vehicle down for a frightened horse.

She had done absolutely nothing wrong.

She had every right to be riding on the road and was trying to keep herself, her horse and other road users safe.

If the gentleman concerned sees this post or somebody recognises him from the description we would like to invite him to come to Twinstead Riding School and speak directly to the management team.

We would be very interested to hear, face-to-face, what he believes a 15-year-old girl did to warrant being spoken to in that manner.

We won’t hold our breath.

It is very easy to be intimidating when your chosen target is a child riding alone. We suspect considerably less courage would be on display when asked to explain that behaviour to the adults responsible for her welfare.

If anyone was travelling in the area at approximately 4.15pm today and saw this vehicle, or has dashcam footage which may have captured it, please contact Twinstead Riding School privately.

And to the overwhelming majority of considerate drivers who slow down, give our horses room and respond to riders’ signals which many of you all do…thank you. You help keep our young riders safe every single day.

A few seconds of patience can prevent a serious accident.

Twinstead Riding School

Clear round horses tomorrow that still have space. Feel free to book online or message us for more information

Everyone enjoyed another lovely Pony 🐴 morning, complete with a picnic 🧺 in the woods 🌳 and some blackberry picking. 🍇😊

Book your spot for next week now so you don't miss out before the summer holidays wrap up!

Midi Hack £50 🐴
Enjoy up to two hours in the saddle, exploring the lovely countryside both on and off the road. 🌿

This ride is normally a walk, trot and canter hack, but due to the current hard ground conditions, we will be walking and trotting only for the time being.

Ability: Novice riders and upwards.
Please book your place through our online booking system. We look forward to seeing you in the saddle! 🐎

We are aware that the news has already been posted on social media, but we have spent the last few days processing this extremely sad news, it has come as a shock to us all.

For those of you that aren’t aware we are deeply saddened to announce that Verity passed away on Friday 💔😢

She meant so much to so many.
Her dedication to horses and the riding school has given so many people such happy memories that will be cherished forever.

A truly unique lady who will be really missed and always remembered.

Details of funeral arrangements will be released once finalised

A lovely pony morning had by all today!
It was a very hot one but we managed to keep cool with a shady hack to the woods, followed by chalking and bathing the ponies ❤️🐴

Well, where do we even start with today?!

On what was already one of our busiest pony mornings, our lovely Willow decided to get herself stuck in the pond! Safe to say, we were all a little bit shocked. 😳

It’s moments like this that really make you stop, reflect and feel incredibly grateful for the amazing people you have around you. Our staff and liveries instantly sprang into action and were absolutely incredible. We genuinely couldn’t do what we do without you guys, but today you went above and beyond. You kept your cool, helped in every way possible and, most importantly, kept the yard running while we dealt with the situation. We really can’t thank you enough. ❤️

To all of our lovely clients, we’re so sorry if things were a little hectic at the start of your pony day today! I appreciate that you probably don’t expect to arrive and see a horse, staff members and the vet absolutely covered in mud! 😂 Thank you so much for your patience, understanding and for bearing with us while we dealt with everything.

And last but certainly not least, a HUGE thank you to our amazing vets at Linkswood Equine Vets. You guys always have our backs and somehow manage to help us out of the stickiest situations… no pun intended! 😂

Ben, although I really don’t want to add to your ego, I feel like I have no choice this time…

You were a real-life superhero today. You jumped straight in, putting Willow’s welfare first without a second thought. You remained calm, knew exactly what needed to be done and handled an incredibly stressful situation brilliantly. Without you, I’m honestly not sure we would have had the outcome we did.

We will be forever grateful to you. ❤️

Thankfully, Willow is now doing well and has had her hundredth bath of the day thanks to her lovely owner, Sally, who has watched her like a hawk throughout the whole ordeal. 😂❤️

The pond has now been fenced off and has enough electric running through it to make sure no horse goes anywhere near it again!

After a day like today, we’re definitely praying for some much less dramatic days ahead! 🙏🏼😂

Thank you again to everyone who helped, stayed calm, mucked in and supported us today. We are incredibly lucky to have such an amazing team around us. ❤️

Thank you everyone who has contacted we will try our best to get back to you. It’s lovely to see how many horsey lovers are out there

🐴 HORSEY HELPERS WANTED! 🐴

Do you love horses and have some horsey knowledge?Would you like to get more involved, learn new skills and become part of our friendly community at Twinstead?

✨ We’re looking for helpers aged 13+! ✨

You’ll need to be confident and comfortable around horses and happy to get stuck in with:

🐎 Leading horses for lessons🧹 Tacking up and getting horses ready🌿 Yard jobs and keeping things tidy🐴 Plenty of hands-on pony time!

💚 What we can offer:

🎓 Training and support🐎 Free rides💚 A friendly, welcoming community✨ Plenty of pony time!

🐴 What we need from you:

You must be able to commit to one weekend morning each week and be reliable, enthusiastic and ready to get stuck in.

If you love horses, want to learn and would like to become part of the Twinstead community, we’d love to hear from you!

📩 Please message us to apply or find out more.

🐴💚 Come and join the Twinstead team!