Fossilfield Training Centre: Open day for Auchinleck ex racehorses

Mercy McEwan, who set up the centre located at Berryhill Bing with her husband as a social enterprise said the day was a perfect culmination of all the hard work, ideas and stressful days from over the past few years.

A fun day in the sun

The centre caring for rehabilitated racehorses has been set up to provide training to anyone aged 12 and above who hopes to work professionally with horses – or who simply wants to gain experience working in an outdoor environment.

The opening day was full of people right from the start at 11am, with horse enthusiasts keen to get involved and learn all about what the centre had to offer.

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Already, Mercy is excited to see what the future holds now that her dream centre has officially been opened.

She said: “It was great to see people coming along who had some interest in learning about the horses and about what we have to offer.

Fossilfield Training Centre

“There were businesses there as well that were keen to get involved and hopefully some good stuff can come from that as well.

“As I’ve said before, there has been so much hard work put into this from myself, my husband and so many other people, so to actually see the day end up the way it was made it all seem worth it”.

Plenty to keep you entertained

Mercy had mentioned before about how it would be an emotional day for her, due to how much time she has given to the project, and there were even times when she felt like giving up.

She added: “When we did one of the award ceremonies and one of the girls won a special achievement award, there was a tear in my eye for that and just for the day as a whole really.

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“Although we’ve been open for a few months already, we’ve had people tell us how much the centre has helped their kids or someone they know so much already. That’s genuinely what it’s all about.

“The horses we’ve got here have helped me through so much and they kept me going, so I want people to experience that and everything else we have to offer here.

A great bunch

“There were no negative aspects of the day at all and everybody seemed to pick up on the feeling of what we’re trying to achieve at this place.

“People commented on the therapeutic aspect of what we’re trying to do, which is great because that’s what it’s all centred around.

“One of my concerns was about how the horses would react, due to them being ex racehorses, but they were amazing and I really can’t wait to see what the next few weeks and months hold for the centre after the successful opening.”