THE Society for the Welfare of Horses and Ponies will benefit from a charity horse ride in the Brecon Beacons by a fan of Welsh cobs.

Robert Leese will be taking four unbroken horses across the hills from July 28 to August 4.

“Four young Welsh cobs are going to experience being handled, backed and ridden for the first time in the most formative week of their young lives and the challenging Brecon Beacons will be their training ground,” he explained.

“I have been working with horses all of my life.

“At the age of 18yrs I began to travel extensively to learn different methods of breaking and handling horses and the particular skills I use today were learnt in New Zealand.

“I am very keen to expose this careful and sensitive method of handling horses to the widest possible audience and to do this I am recreating a story that was told to me some years ago.

“I heard the story of a horseman back in the 1930's who would ride his lead or boss horse through villages buying unbroken horses as he went. He would break them in along the journey and sell them at the next village. By the time he reached home he had successfully broken and sold the horses except for his lead horse.

“I am recreating this story with four unbroken horses taking them on a trail ride on the Brecon Beacons “ I will handle, saddle and back the horses with the aim that at the end of the ride they will have been socialised, and able to be ridden and be ready for a future working life.

“The route will cover between five and 10 miles a day with the horses travelling in convoy. I will be working each young horse as appropriate along the ride and will be accompanied by my colleague Ben Millichap who will be riding a second horse at the back of the ride.

“We shall be camping out and living with the horses 24 hours a day observing how they interact and develop throughout the ride.

“This ride is something I have wanted to do for some time and I am now at that stage in my professional career where I can put into practice everything I have learnt about horse behavior in a concentrated week,”

said Robert.

To donate to the fund, go to http://uk.

virginmoneygiving.com /rlswhpcharityride or donate directly to the SWHP.

Visit swhp.co.uk for more details.