A MAN who rescues horses and trains them for his traditional logging business has been given an award by the Prince of Wales.

Sid Smallman set up Phoenix Horse Logging near Presteigne with support from PRIME Cymru, the Prince’s charity which supports people over the age of 50 to start their own business or find employment.

The inaugural awards ceremony was held in Aberystwyth and hosted by Sarah Dickins from BBC Wales.

Prince Charles, founder and president of PRIME Cymru, presented the Green Business award to Mr Smallman.

The 55-year-old was inspired to begin his venture by his grandfather and father who were both horse loggers.

All of his horses were rescued by the RSPCA and trained by Mr Smallman with patience and skill, giving them a second chance and a new lease of life.

He said: “I want to get to the stage of taking on apprentices and rescuing more horses.

"It is a very environmental way of working in woodlands and does far less damage than machinery. All I’m looking for now is my own horse transport so I can do horse logging further afield."

PRIME Cymru runs the largest mentoring programme in Wales with more than 360 volunteer mentors.

The project supports clients to find employment, start their own businesses and enter appropriate volunteering to gain required skills and confidence.

HRH the Prince of Wales, presenting the awards said: “This sort of gathering provides us with an opportunity just to remember that a person over the age of 50 is five times more likely to be made redundant and is eight times less likely to find alternative employment than a person in the 18 to 30 age group, and that’s not generally, I think, understood or recognised.

"I’m increasingly proud of what PRIME Cymru is managing to achieve…and what I wanted to do today as well, is to recognise those marvellous mentors who have done such fantastic work over all the years, many of who have and still been with us really quite a long time now, and without whom nothing would actually be achieved.”