We would LOVE to be able to pack up our saddlebags and come home to Teddington immediately, but our return needs to be staged and gradual.

We need to offer unbroken services to our participants, and our temporary Petersham facilities mean that we can do this as we prepare the Teddington site for our return.

New licences need to be applied for now that the building is finished, and until we have these, and agreements with the Royal Parks and Richmond Council we can’t resume activities out of Teddington.

Our ponies will take time to adjust to their new surroundings. Although some, like Prodney and Trigger, have spent far more of their lives in Teddington than in Petersham, others have joined the team while we’ve been away. We’ll need to introduce them gradually. A residential street after a yard on the edge of Ham Commons will initially be intimidating.

Ponies and vulnerable participants will all need time to adjust

As herd animals, horses look to other ponies high in the herd pecking order for reassurance that all is OK. What this means is that the first horses you can expect to see will be old hooves like Prodney and Trigger, with others visiting to get the measure of their new surroundings and take their lead from their more experienced herd-mates.

Many of our regular participants will take time to adjust, too, and we don’t want to risk their progress slipping backwards because they find the changes too sudden and overwhelming.

Our future is focused on our RDA members and vulnerable participants

Park Lane Stables has grown so much since we hit the headlines back in February 2021! We’re now much higher profile as an RDA centre, which means we welcome many more participants than we did back then. And with new therapy rooms and more accessible facilities now in Teddington, we’ll be able to offer our participants and their carers a more comfortable environment than ever before.

While we’ve been away we suspended riding for anyone who doesn’t need our specialist activities, and this will continue after we move back to Teddington. We want to welcome as many RDA members and other vulnerable participants as we can, and know we won’t have the capacity to offer hacks in Bushy Park to anyone else. Luckily, our beautiful area is well-served by local stables offering riding in parks and countryside. Facilities for people with disabilities remain limited, so it’s important to us that we focus here.

Can you set a date for your full return to Teddington?

Well, no, not at this stage, as factors such as licence applications are outside our control. But as soon as the building is ready to welcome some ponies and participants, you’ll start to see us there regularly, and we’ll increase the numbers steadily as we can see that everyone is comfortable with the change.

We’ll continue to post updates here as we start the process of moving back, safe in the knowledge that in our long and determined journey to return, the toughest stretches are behind us.

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