Hi, Charlie here.

For those of you who don't already know me, I am a very handsome 24-year old skewbald gelding. I belong to Wenlo RDA and I live and work at Meadow School of Riding in Normanton-on-Soar where I also work with two other RDA Groups - Ashmount and Ruddington - as well as being part of the East Midlands Special Olympics team.

My main aim in life is to help teach people with special needs and disabilities to ride. It may be just a gentle walk across the fields, or trotting or even cantering around the arena in a dressage competition. I just love being able to help my friends.

Just recently, I've developed a few health problems - the vet says I have a condition called EMS and laminitis - I'll tell you more about that another time. Anyway, it means that at the moment I have to stay in my stable ALL THE TIME and that is VERY BORING! So I thought that as I have a lot of extra time on my (very achey) hooves I would start my own blog to keep you up to date with how I'm getting on and also to let you know about life at Bowleys Barn Farm.

One of the worst things about being poorly is that I have to have lots of yukky medicine. I have heard the humans say that it is also very expensive and they are setting up a campaign page in case any of my friends might like to help out. If you'd like to take a look, it's at virginmoneygiving.com/fund/charlie-the-rda-horse

Wow! That's my first ever blog post done!

See you soon,