Equine guests helped 'stirrup' some excitement when they visited a Chatham care home last week.

As with most care homes amidst the coronavirus outbreak, residents at Victory Care Home have been unable to see human visitors during lockdown – so healthcare assistant Demi Bainbridge brought her horses Bee and Curragh Hall down to the home last Friday, to give lockdown blues the hoof.

"The residents have had no visitors since a week before lock down and they were all becoming quite down and unhappy with not seeing loved ones," said Demi. "A few of the residents all knew that I had horses and one of them asked if I could bring them to work. So I went and spoke to the home manager and she agreed for me to bring them in the following day, so the residents could feed them some carrots and apples.

"It really brightened up their faces with smiles," she added. "It was lovely to see. It gave them the opportunity to think and ask all different questions about the horses' shoes, diets, exercise etc.

"The care home is generally doing very well. All working hard as a team and looking after each and every one off the residents."

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