My New Role As AB Whip

Down by the Manhattan hide. What price can you put on this scenery!!

Some of the wild ponies that graze freely on the heath and down to the reed beds on the edge of Lytchett Bay.

It is nearly two months since Denise and I passed the AB Whip test.
My confidence has grown and I am really enjoying my new role, but I find it is one thing to be a competent driver, quite another to teach disabled drivers and helping them to achieve whatever goals they are capable of. However, with regular driving 3 or 4 days each week I am finding that part much easier and very enjoyable.

Some of our disabled men and women are very competent drivers and enjoy the satisfaction of a skillful drive on the narrow tracks through the woods, negotiating the course of cones, or executing some of the disciplines of a dressage test in the dressage arena. For others less able to take the reins it is just sheer pleasure for them to be taken out for a drive over bumpy tracks in the open air.

The rewards of an AB Whip are many. Just to have the opportunity and privilege of driving round this beautiful piece of Dorset is fabulous!
As for me, I feel a great sense of personal achievement in learning a new skill and making so many new friends.
Sharing the obvious pleasure and delight of the people who come to drive is also an enormous reward, and just being part of a happy team of volunteers all doing something we enjoy, adds such quality to the days we spend at the Ash Tree Stables.

The life of a volunteer at the East Holton Driving Centre is pretty darned good!!