Greatwood Charity Film
"Greatwood's corporate video was instrumental in enabling us to educate and explain the work of Horsepower, leading to funding from Children in Need and Government accreditation for the programme which helps children with special needs."
Helen Yeadon - Founder, Greatwood Horse Charity
This film's aim was to give the charity a promotional DVD, using their patron Jodie Kidd, that could be used to increase their profile and fund raising. The showing of the film to the BBC resulted in a £33,340.00 grant via The Children in Need campaign.
About Greatwood - www.racehorsesgreatwood.org.
Greatwood is a charity that rehabilitates, retrains and re-homes ex-racehorses at Rainscombe Hill Farm in Marlborough, Wiltshire.
One day a young girl with autism – an elective mute, threatened with exclusion from school – was taken by her parents to Greatwood. Quite unexpectedly, the girl developed a close bond with a horse in a vulnerable state and within weeks she was talking again.
The founders of Greatwood were amazed by this response and decided to pilot a project where children with autistic spectrum disorders, emotional and behavioural disorders and related conditions such as Asperger's syndrome had the opportunity to develop life skills through interaction with horses.
One child with Asperger's Syndrome who became calmer and focused at school as result of taking part in the Horse Power pilot, has now secured a place at the local agricultural college.
Over the course of six weekly sessions, or one-to-one sessions tailored to an individual's needs, participants will explore topics such as relationship-building, body language and non-verbal communication.
A typical game involves pretending to be horses and directing others in the herd to carry out a task through non-verbal communication.
These stimulating and interactive sessions will provide a very special experience for children and if they take away new life skills, these could impact upon relationships at school and home.