Latest

We are thrilled to announce that on Wednesday 1st May, 7pm – 9.30pm, American Master Classical Guitarist, Alex Komodore, will be performing an Evening Concert at historic Dirleton Kirk, in aid of Muirfield Riding Therapy.

Alex is an internationally known Classical Guitarist, teacher and performer, and is Professor of Music at the Metropolitan State University of Denver, Colorado, U.S.A. Visiting Scotland this year, we are delighted that he will be performing in East Lothian, and grateful that proceeds will be in aid of Muirfield Riding Therapy.

C O N C E R T   P R O G R A M
Alex has prepared a special program for his evening concert with us;

. The early segment to include Johann Sebastian Bach and Luis Narvaez.
. A Spanish segment to include Francisco Tarrega and Isaac Albéniz.
. Some Scottish and Irish folk tunes.
. A little jazz segment.
. A short adventurous piece by Alberto Ginastera, paying tribute to the ‘Gaucho’ horsemen of Argentina.
. And an assortment of beautiful Waltzes including South American composers and Russian composer Nikita Koshkin’s incredible Usher waltz (based on Edgar Allan Poe‘s fall of the House of Usher).

T I C K E T S
Join us for a wonderful musical evening. Intermission refreshments served. Free parking. Wheelchair accessible venue. Accessible toilet.

Tickets, £10 per person, are limited, sold on a first come first served basis, and MUST be pre-booked:

Email [email protected]
Or ring (during office hours mon-fri 9am-5pm): 07870 639840

C E L E B R A T I N G  30  Y E A R S
Muirfield Riding Therapy is celebrating 30 years years of providing life-changing therapeutic riding, free of charge, to children and adults in East and Mid Lothian. We are volunteer-led and fully self-funded. Fundraising events like this one are a wonderful contribution to our work.

SATURDAY 13TH APRIL, 10AM – 12 NOON, bring your friends and family to our annual Coffee Morning in the lovely Hope Rooms, North Berwick.

🐣 Lots of Easter-themed fun, crafts and things for sale this year, including these little knitted chicks sitting on top of chocolate eggs!

☕️ Come along for a cuppa, *£2.50 entry fee includes tea/coffee and a hot cross bun*, bring your family and friends, and enjoy our legendary home baking!

🍰 Stalls with limited edition 30th Anniversary merchandise and some of our favourite baking recipes in our recipe book, ‘Muirfield’s Scrumptious Treats’ – pick one up at our coffee morning for just £2.

💚 3 0 Y E A R S
By coming to our event you are supporting the work of Muirfield Riding Therapy. We are celebrating 30 years of providing life-changing riding therapy, free, to children and adults with various disabilities, in East and Mid Lothian.

A wonderful video shared by BBC Breakfast, shows how horses at Cotswold RDA group are helping bring back precious memories for people living with dementia, through their Tea with a Pony initiative

Recently, Muirfield Riding Therapy has been working with Dementia Friendly East Lothian with a view to setting up a dementia-friendly ‘cafe’ at our Arena.

MRT Chair Michelle Sutton explains;

We are working with Dementia Friendly East Lothian to explore setting up a space that local people living with dementia and their carers can use to meet together and share experiences.  This may develop in future to include contact with our ponies but we are in the really early stages at the moment. It’s started with us looking at, for example, how the space is decorated to make it easier and more comfortable for our new visitors.

This year we are celebrating 30 years of providing therapeutic riding to people with disabilities in East and Mid Lothian.  If you would like to get involved with Muirfield Riding Therapy, we’d love to hear from you.

We are absolutely delighted to be one of the beneficiary charities chosen by Rotary Club of North Berwick for their annual, Classic Car Tour 2019, and this year’s event has already sold out!

On Sunday 28th April 2019, the Rotary Club of North Berwick will be running its third Classic Car Tour, following a scenic route through East Lothian, Northumberland, and the Borders, with stops in Berwick upon Tweed for coffee and lunch and finishing at The Walled Garden in Archerfield Estate. The event is already sold out, but a waiting list is in operation if you still want to register your interest.

MRT Chair, Michelle Sutton says,

We are celebrating 30 years of providing riding therapy this year, and are thrilled to have been chosen by the Rotary Club of North Berwick to be one of their beneficiary charities for this fantastic event, during our anniversary year.

Waiting List and information for this year’s Tour 2019

We have been chosen as the official charity for 2019 and 2020 of East Lothian’s Strictly Dance Fever, a long-running fun evening of entertainment which pairs local ‘celebrities’ with professional dancers in an exciting dance-off.

Held at the Corn Exchange, Haddington on Saturday 23rd November 2019, the event originally started over ten years ago as a fundraiser for Yester Church Restoration. By popular demand, it has gone on to raise funds for lots of other worthy causes thanks to the tireless efforts of Director Bett Morrison of Kidlaw, Gifford. The winning couple on the night receive the Niall Fairgrieve trophy, which was given in memory of the local rugby player who tragically lost his life too early.

MRT Chair Michelle Sutton says,

Twelve couples will be putting their best sparkly dance shoe-clad feet forward in a bid to win the trophy and raise vital funds for Muirfield Riding Therapy at the same time.  We are over the moon to have been chosen as the official charity for this fantastic fundraiser, in our 30th anniversary year, and next year.

The event officially launches in June, once the couples have been paired up at a special Dance Workshop held in Haddington.  More to follow…

(Photo of 2018 winners Jackie Gentil and Jane Libberton, who’s Irish Dancing routine won them the trophy. Courtesy of Leuchie House – official Strictly Dance Fever charity 2018).

Another fantastic fundraising Bridge Lunch was held on Wednesday 20th February 2019, raising £1,200!

MRT has been running its Bridge Lunch for a number of years now, and we would like to offer our very grateful thanks to all our Bridge guests, for coming along and supporting our event so well once again, in this our 30th anniversary year.

Thank you to our organisers Elayne and Brenda and all their volunteers who helped out with food, waitressing and raffle donations.

And thanks to Di and the team at the Mallard Hotel, Gullane for hosting us superbly this year!

Do you play Bridge?  If you would like to join our events mailing list, please get in touch –

Contact: [email protected]

Be part of our Team in 2019 as we celebrate 30 years of providing therapeutic riding sessions, free of charge, for children and adults with disabilities in East and Midlothian.  

2 – 3 hours per week of your time can make a big difference to the lives of others.  

There are lots of ways you can help: in riding sessions, with horse care, with admin or offering fundraising support.

MRT is run almost exclusively by volunteers and team work is essential in all areas of the operation.  We can offer you a worthwhile, rewarding volunteering opportunity.  Some volunteers come to us with equine experience while other might come to us with experience of disability but neither is essential.  Full training is given in all aspects of the running of our sessions. Volunteering can include, working in sessions; handling ponies or working with our riders. Administrative; assisting in the office, data handling.  Fundraising; assisting the Fundraising Team with a range of events of all sizes.

MRT will take whatever time you can spare, but most sessions last for 2-3 hours each week.

Apply now. Download and complete our Volunteer Application Forms, bring your forms along to the Centre at any of our 7 weekly sessions when you will meet the Session Teams and your Training Mentor. You will be sure of a warm welcome.

Queries? Call 01620 842502 or email our Service Coordinator

Riders, horses and ponies of all ages, join us on Sunday 20th January for the fourth event in our Annual Winter Series Show Jumping 2018/19!

07 October | 18 November | 09 December | 20 January | 24 February | 17 March – The Final

We’re now on our fourth event of this season’s Winter Series already.  You don’t need to have attended previous events in the Series to take part, just come along and join in!  This Sunday 20th January 2019 – we welcome everyone, and especially less experienced riders and ponies & horses, of ALL ages.

Our Class Schedule offers something for everyone to try, and we always include an adult-only class (age 21 years +). Our Winter Series events are fundraisers, with all proceeds to Muirfield Riding Therapy.  Please share our event.

LOW COST ENTRY FEE

Entry is on the day only and Classes are £6 per rider, per Class (Indoor Arena) and £4 per rider for our Clear Round in the Outdoor Arena.  Buy one Clear Round and get one free – two attempts to win a rosette!

SPECTATORS AND FACILITIES

Spectator entry is FREE, so come along and support your rider from our cozy Spectator Viewing Gallery.  Our Cafe will be open all day with very reasonably priced bacon rolls, soup, home baking, hot & cold drinks

QUERIES?
You can ring the Show Secretary throughout event day to check Class Start Times and weather on 01620 842502.  Each Class has a guide start time, to help you plan your day. As our event is entries-on-the-day only, registration numbers will dictate our Class timings.

Our Winter Series Finale culminates in the presentation of trophies;

Wobblies Trophey
Presented to the rider/pony/horse combination which has accrued the most points from classes 1-5.

The Fiona Mossan Trophy
Presented to the rider/pony/horse combination which has accrued the most points from classes 4-9.

The Niven Family Trophy
Presented to the most improved rider of the Series.

—

One of our wonderful volunteer physiotherapists, Lizzie Barke, has successfully passed her postgraduate training to become a Hippotherapist!

Lizzie, an NHS physiotherapist specialising in paediatrics and currently working in the Community, has been volunteering at MRT since 2014.  After shadowing our lead physiotherapist Heather Falconer at a number of hippotherapy sessions and witnessing the fantastic results they produced, Lizzie was keen to join the team. She has intermittently been working as a Trainee hippotherapist within our Tuesday sessions since 2014.

Lizzie says,

“l’m delighted to have completed my training. The children who are referred to our Service present with a huge array of challenges, including issues with mobility, balance, muscle tone, strength, coordination, body awareness and symmetry. Hippotherapy has provided a means to address all of these issues and more in sessions.”

Our Service Coordinator Susan Law added,

“The Tuesday afternoon team are thrilled to hear of Lizzie’s wonderful achievement. It has been a real pleasure to watch Lizzie develop under Heather’s tutelage.  As Service Coordinator I am particularly pleased; having Lizzie as a fully qualified hippotherapist will help to ensure the continuation and further development of the service we can offer in this our 30^th year. Exciting times ahead!”

Our Group physiotherapist Heather Falconer pioneered what has become the Therapeutic Riding Service, part of NHS Lothian’s Children’s Physiotherapy Service, in 2009

Back in the summer we had a team from the BBC with us filming for Ferne and Rory’s Vet Tales.  Our episode, MacGregor The Pony, will be transmitted on Friday 30th November 2018!

The team from CBeebies programme Ferne and Rory’s Vet Tales were with us for several days in July, filming in and around our Arena at West Fenton.  We are delighted to announce that our episode, MacGregor The Pony, will broadcast on Friday 30th November at 4.35pm on CBeebies, and it looks fantastic (please check listings for up to date information as schedules can change).  We hope you, your friends and family can tune in for what is sure to be a great show and please remember to set your recorders.

Find out more about our Therapy Pony MacGregor featured in this episode.