Today we had the pleasure of meeting the Party Ponies. When we were told yesterday that we would be receiving a visit from the ponies we envisaged donning out hats and coats and venturing outside to greet them, imagine our delight when to our surprise they came walking into the lounge. This seemed to us a little risky for the carpets, but it turns out that these ponies are house trained, imagine that.

They were the perfect house guests; they were incredibly happy being petted and were so calm. It was such a hoot to have them sitting with us. The handlers who brought them along knew everything there was to know about ponies and they shared their knowledge with us. Did you know that there are over 200 breeds of pony? The oldest recorded pony was named Teddy E Bear, he lived to be 55 years old. Ponies are highly intelligent with brilliant memories.

After our visit the ponies went off to meet some other residents in their rooms, they were delighted to see them. It was such a fascinating morning, we were sorry to see them go but as with all visits of this nature they sparked some wonderful conversations, we were still talking about them after lunch. One of the ladies here was once a horse trainer and for her their visit brought back so many wonderful memories, she told us a few of her stories and it was lovely to see how animated she became when remembering her beloved horses.

We heard from one gentleman about his days on the farm looking after the horses and we reminisced about our trips to the seaside and our donkey rides along the sand.

The power of animals to calm the soul and bring joy never ceases to amaze me. We were all so grateful to the ponies for coming along to visit and to the team here for arranging it. I wonder who will visit us next?