Nimbus our gentle giant
Any visitor to the MC Equestrian stables will have met the social and inquisitive Nimbus. Welcoming riders as they pass reception and poking his head out for a sneaky pat. Nimbus is an Irish sport horse, 16.2 hh, ‘fleabitten’ grey coloured, 19-year old gentle giant.
Prior to Nimbus joining the riding school he was owned by Sally Lancaster, who has been actively involved with forest hills pony club for the last few years and an instrumental part of its revival.
Sally was Dee’s first adult client when Dee first opened MC Equestrian Riding School. Sally remarks that “Dee was a fantastic, encouraging coach who really understood the challenges of learning to ride/ coming back to ride as an adult. At various stages Dee has taught the entire Lancaster family to ride on Nimbus!”
Sally fondly remembers Nimbus’s “big friendly personality – he is like a big friendly Labrador! Nimbus loves kids and is very tolerant, and more times than one was ridden bareback by my daughter and two of her friends simultaneously!” She comments that “Nimbus was a fantastic horse to learn to ride on because of his willing nature and sweet temperament. He was a dressage horse before we owned him”.
Sally describes Nimbus as “a very social, friendly, willing and forgiving horse. He is always happy to do whatever – jump around a bit, a beach ride or a trail ride. He was very nibbley and couldn’t be left unsupervised. Once he took a big bite out of my dressage saddle!” she laughs.
The time came for Sally and her husband to learn to jump and Nimbus wasn’t the ideal horse for jumping. Knowing that Nimbus would be well-cared for by Dee, and that his sociable nature would thrive in the MCEQ environment they decided to ask Dee if she would be interested in buying Nimbus for the riding school - and the rest is history!
A bit about Forest Hills Pony Club
As previously mentioned, Sally played a huge part in the current success of Forest Hills Pony Club, The club now averages around 20 riders each rally day which are held fortnightly in Terrey Hills. Sally comments that “We are very grateful to MCEQ for supporting pony club by allowing lessees and lease horses to attend pony club. Pony club is a fantastic place for kids to learn basic horsemanship skills, gain confidence and meet other horse-crazed kids.”
If you’d like to know more about Forest Hills Pony Club jump onto their website or follow them on Facebook or Instagram.