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!
09/04/2026
And that's this year's Easter camps done 🐰
A great pleasure to have all these cheerful enthusiastic children with big smiles! Riding, horse care, egg and spoon race, taking the goats for a walk, finding Easter eggs...and suddenly, the morning was already over.
And it was Skye's first camp day today, after doing a session here and there recently, she dived in with our group, and she did fabulously, delighted with her kind and friendly attitude, patience and calmness, she is made for this work!
08/04/2026
Day 2 of our week 2 of camps, and we had so much fun again!
Horseriding, building an obstacle course in the field, hobby horse jumping competition, picnic at the tree swing, arts...and then we ran out of time! But all done with lots of chat, laughter, helping each other and team work - well done everyone!
Last day tomorrow 🥲
08/04/2026
Double shift for Daisy yesterday, after camp in the morning she did the rounds through all the wards in Clonakilty Community Hospital, together with Cottontail and Turnip.
07/04/2026
Happy 8th Gottcha day, wonderful Trudi!
Those puppy days with you were precious, and so were all the years inbetween, and aren't we so extremely lucky that we can still return to those dandelion fields year after year together! Here's to many more.
07/04/2026
Such an enjoyable morning with this new bunch of enthusiastic farm campers!
Here's to another two fun-filled camp days 😁
06/04/2026
Our fundraiser for the Hairy Henry Educational Trust was a happy peaceful afternoon on our farm enjoyed by all, thanks to all who came and supported a very good cause! The entire amount of €1600 raised from the entry fees goes towards our teen programme Giddy Up & Go
06/04/2026
Our jumping yesterday may not have won us any prizes but Skye surely won the attention of the photographers! What a sociable horse, she just loves all the buzz, and looks and having her photo taken is her favourite passtime at those events!
05/04/2026
Skye's best performance in a long time. We've been through such a mental struggle lately at jumping events...her moving from 'can't' to the shady area of 'maybe I can or can't but actually I won't', and me increasingly nervous that one day she'll put in such a full stop in front of a jump that sees me sailing on without her ..
But then today, after much talking to each other about it at home, she had such a different mindset of 'yeah, sure, why not, after all it's not that hard, of course I can' and we jumped without refusals and with her being much more confident a d willing. It was such a relief to see that she actually wants to, and can, and we felt so much more connected!
And then there was Flora, tagging along for company and to keep fit - her enthusiasm was bubbling over, she must have jumped the fastest round of them all!!!
We did 70s and 80s with both of them jumping all jumps, so that was 68 jumps for me and 34 for each of them, plus warm up jumps!!! We'll put our feet up now and I'll definitely enjoy that Easter egg prize!
Thanks to all at South West Riding Club for organising such a friendly encouraging event, a lot of work on a Sunday, very much appreciated. And the little cups filled with carrots were just too cute, what a lovely gesture!
04/04/2026
Only 1 very last space left for our Easter fundraiser event!!!
We are very excited to welcome everyone who's booked in for Easter Monday, it's bound to be a wonderful fun-filled afternoon for young and old, and the weather looks promising, too.
Please be reminded that our farm is a non-smoking area, and no dogs are allowed as they might upset some of our farm animals.
When you arrive you will receive your Easter Egg Hunt ticket, and the Egg Hunt Manager will guide you in the right direction 😉🥚
There might be a queue for the pony rides - please make sure you are put on the list at the pony rides gate to avoid waiting time!
There will be complementary coffee and tea, and there will be cake, buns and biscuits for sale - so please bring small change if you think you might get hungry!
Please let us know if you have any questions, you can reach Sandra on 087 938 9867
Two more sleeps 😆 Happy Easter and see you all on Monday!!!
03/04/2026
Today's crew at Kinsale Community Hospital. Peanut the guinea pig is settling well into his job, under close supervision from Gordon and Turnip, and Christine of course!
03/04/2026
Happy 5th birthday, Gulliver!!! Look at how teeny tiny you were, and so sick...you've come such a long way, little guy, and we all love you, cheeky, funny, affectionate fluffy donkey boy!
02/04/2026
This week's camp finished on a high with goat walking, helping tidy the horse yard, a ride across the field, egg hunt, rosettes and Easter goodies.....Always much appreciated when we receive a thank you card and our own treats, thank you so much! All animals have been fantastic as always, and without my dedicated wonderful staff Kate, Nicky and Isobel it would simply not have been the same, thanks.
Already looking forward to next week's camp 😃😃😃
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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.
In 2018, Hairy Henry was short-listed with two other finalists for the West Cork Business and Tourism Awards in the category ‘Best Customer Service’.
