Hairy Henry

Hairy Henry Hairy Henry offers Therapeutic Riding, Care Farming and Animal-assisted Therapy to children and adul All have been trained specifically for this job.

We offer Therapeutic Riding sessions and Care Farm activities on our small farm in West Cork. Our team consists of Sandra, a fully qualified Therapeutic Riding Coach with 28 years experience of working with horses and 24 years of working in the health and social sector, and our extremely friendly and experienced therapy horses, Henry, Winnie, Flora, Daisy and Dolly, and lots of other farm animals - our two dogs Trudi and Turnip, the flock of sheep - Sean, Otto, Tilda, Harriet and Mr. Lammy, the donkeys Nell, Eeyore, Gordon and Gulliver the geese and ducks and chicken and the rabbits Alex and Oreo and their families. We also offer animal-assisted therapeutic outreach visitis with our team of dogs, rabbits, sheep and donkey to nursing homes and hospitals - please get in touch for more information! Animal-assisted Therapy, Therapeutic Riding and Care Farming promote well-being, social confidence, sense of purpose and achievement - and offer long-lasting physical, psychological, social and educational benefits. Please, see our website www.hairyhenry.com for more details!

More puppy spam 😍Had to share this though. Tired Airedale family heaped up and snoring, on the way home, after bringing ...
14/11/2025

More puppy spam 😍
Had to share this though. Tired Airedale family heaped up and snoring, on the way home, after bringing a little chaos and lot of love to Bandon Community Hospital today.

Crate training for these two pups, will come in handy for travel and so on, and easily done when surrounded by supportiv...
13/11/2025

Crate training for these two pups, will come in handy for travel and so on, and easily done when surrounded by supportive horses 🤣 best puppies ever 😍

We also run training courses on a 1:1 basis, over 6 or 12 weeks. This young participant is half way through her training...
13/11/2025

We also run training courses on a 1:1 basis, over 6 or 12 weeks. This young participant is half way through her training and has learned so much already. Handling big and small horses, yard and stable management, farm animal care, animal health, you name it, she puts her hands to it. Pretty impressive how quickly she bonded with Skye, giving her firm and fair guidance and handling, just what a young horse yearns for. Well done, you two!
If you are interested in one of our training opportunities, please get in touch - we are open to tailor-make the programme to fit your requirements!

Exciting news! We are now open for applications for 'Giddy Up & Go', a 12 week programme which will be running from Febr...
12/11/2025

Exciting news! We are now open for applications for 'Giddy Up & Go', a 12 week programme which will be running from February to May 2026 here on the Hairy Henry Care Farm. The programme aims at 12-15 year old adolescents who, for whatever reason, experience challenges in school. The programme will run during the school week on Wednesday and Thursday mornings. During the programme, teens will be supported with personal development, social competence, life skills, self confidence, emotional resilience, in order to address their difficulties and empower them to achieve their educational goals.
There is no charge for the programme, it will be funded from donations made to the Hairy Henry Educational Trust, however, for successful applicants, there is a once-off small registration fee.
For further information and application forms, please contact programme coordinator, Sandra Schmid, on 087 938 9867
Application deadline is 19th December 2025, interviews will be held in January 2026.

Daisy made another new friend recently! She is so good at her job of introducing young horse enthusiasts to riding and l...
12/11/2025

Daisy made another new friend recently! She is so good at her job of introducing young horse enthusiasts to riding and letting them have first positive experiences in caring for, handling and leading horses.
Spending quality time with our horses is all part of our therapeutic sessions and riding lessons, the horse plays such an important role in the therapeutic process as well as learning journey.

11/11/2025

Puppy therapy works every time, for the puppy and the recipient 💞
A relaxed happy afternoon today in Perrot House West Cork Mental Health Services.
Thanks Georgie and Wen, our little pups, spreading such calm.

Thanks to Gemma Dale at Bantry Pet and Equine Ltd for taking the time to find just the perfect collar for Wen the puppy ...
11/11/2025

Thanks to Gemma Dale at Bantry Pet and Equine Ltd for taking the time to find just the perfect collar for Wen the puppy who'll be heading to Spain for Christmas to his living forever home, lucky him! Until then, we'll enjoy the company of this adorable fella 💯 taking him for walkies and all 😍

A pleased smile, not just on Skye's face, but also mine 😊 after yesterday's training with Mike and Trish Ryan.Excellent ...
10/11/2025

A pleased smile, not just on Skye's face, but also mine 😊 after yesterday's training with Mike and Trish Ryan.
Excellent coaching from both - jumping with Mike in the morning and dressage with Trish in the afternoon - which will help us hugely in our efforts to progress. But mostly, I will feel nourished for a long time from their feedback - just what I needed, having gone round our little arena at home umpteen times, wondering what we are achieving....now I have the knowledge that at least one significant highly skilled and experienced equestrian thinks Skye has nothing wrong with her leg anymore whatsoever AND is a good jumper (needing lots more work as still young), but that she has not learned any bad habits (from me😅) and if we continue as we do, we will get there just fine. We also learned that she has been trained well so far in flatwork (by me, proud mammy 😃) and is clever enough to pick up anything new from here on in no time to bring her further, and that the only thing holding us back is that she needs to build more strength. That sort of feedback would make anybody feel proud, wouldn't it.
And Skye didn't only prove that she can jump a 90cm oxer with not much warning and just put in front of her, but also that she can give a perfect outline, straightness and rhythm in walk and trot and a glimpse of it in canter already, just by tweaking a few of my aids.
Yes, we seem to be getting there.
This just reminds me how very, very important constructive honest feedback is, as it can make such an impact on motivation, self belief, self worth and hope.
I will take this into my new working week, and that way, even my riders here will benefit from my outing 😉

Thumbs up to all our young farmers who came to our rainy grey November Farm Fun Morning yesterday 👍 A great morning cari...
09/11/2025

Thumbs up to all our young farmers who came to our rainy grey November Farm Fun Morning yesterday 👍 A great morning caring for the animals, cuddling the puppies, games and riding.
The last one of these children's social groups for this year will be on the first Saturday in December, and guess what our theme will be 🌲🌟
Suitable for children aged 3 to 8 who like animals and the outdoors.
Prior booking required via www.itsplainsailing.com/org/hairyhenry

Winnie enjoys being back to work after her baby break, she knows she plays an important role in our sessions and it is a...
09/11/2025

Winnie enjoys being back to work after her baby break, she knows she plays an important role in our sessions and it is as if she never stopped. And this girl is delighted to finally have her back, she's been asking for weeks 😊

08/11/2025

Very pleased with Skye's progress lately. She's come on so well over the last two months, building strength and fitness and balance. I am glad I caught her jumping loose on camera, because it shows me so well how she's really developing her technique. Not at great jumping height yet, but the key now is to repeat, repeat, repeat over easy fences until she doesn't have to think about the 'how' anymore, because it becomes automatic and her muscle memory and brain-body connection for these movements are well established. Then, finally, we can think of going beyond and above....

The time of year for the last meal together as mammy and baby horse, then Winnie's off home to her lifelong partner Henr...
08/11/2025

The time of year for the last meal together as mammy and baby horse, then Winnie's off home to her lifelong partner Henry, relaxing back into the yard routine and waiting for her first rider, and Wayne is fully fledged part of the little herd of three youngsters.
Minimal upset on either side because the time was right and they both have their emotional support crew to comfort and distract.

Address

Ballylickey
Bantry
P75AV82

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 6pm
Tuesday 9am - 6pm
Wednesday 9am - 6pm
Thursday 9am - 6pm
Friday 9am - 6pm
Saturday 9am - 6pm
Sunday 9am - 6pm

Telephone

+353879389867

Website

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Hugging a Hairy Henry helps!

We offer Therapeutic Riding sessions and Care Farm activities on our small farm in West Cork. Our team consists of a fully qualified Therapeutic Riding Coach with 30 years experience of working with horses and 20 years of working in the health and social sector, and our extremely friendly and experienced therapy horses, Henry, Winnie, Flora and Daisy, and lots of other farm animals - our two dogs Trudi and Annie, the flock of sheep, the donkeys Gordon, Nell and Ee-ore, the geese and chicken, and the rabbits and pigs. All have been trained specifically for this job.

Therapeutic Riding and Care Farming promotes confidence, communication, independence, coordination and balance, muscle tone and flexibility, cognitive functioning and emotional well-being - and offers long-lasting physical, psychological and educational benefits.

All animals, but especially the horses - and more particularly Hairy Henry - offer big hugs for comfort and support, which can help hugely in times of challenge.

Hairy Henry’s is holistic, inclusive and non judgemental and offers a quality professional service to people from 2 years of age onwards. More particularly, our services may be beneficial to those who deal with ASD, anxiety, dyspraxia, ADHD, learning difficulties, communication and emotional difficulties.