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If you use a wheelchair, too many areas are off limits.
If you use a wheelchair, too many areas are off limits.
Wheelchairs are brilliant on smooth, hard surfaces, tough to move on grass and gravel, impossible in soft sand and mud. The countryside has plenty of grass, gravel sand and mud, and is defined by the lack of smooth hard surfaces.
Obama, the pony, and I, make the countryside accessible to people using wheelchairs. We take anyone in any wheelchair. No weight limits, no exclusions. You want to go, we take you.
I can't imagine never going for a walk on the beach again.
Last year I took Gordon onto St Cyrus beach.
It was the first time he had been on a beach since 1974.
I don't need any other motivation.
I don't need to explain why I make the countryside accessible to everyone, including all the people who use wheelchairs.
Access Matters.
Pony Axe S is surprisingly simple.
Pony Axe S is surprisingly simple.
I use ponies because they are the best propulsion system going. Brilliant traction, amazing bottom end power, eco friendly, quiet, and economical.
The only problem is their habit of bolting.
So I designed and built a safe vehicle.
As a serious coward, I don't buy the idea you need bucket loads of courage, to work with horses. Like me, horses are cowards, which is why they bolt. They don't face enemies down, they run like hell. That is what bolting is, a very sensible, instinctive response to danger, from a prey species.
You can't stop them bolting, I can't, nobody can, but I can design a vehicle to comply with modern legislation with an Emergency Stop Control. The pony still bolts, the vehicle stays where it is. So do you. The next video shows what happens with a safe, modern vehicle.
For a full discussion on safety, go to SAFETY OVERVIEW
My original safety system was a manually operated, mechanical system.
My original safety system was a manually operated, mechanical system.
For 2019, the system is electronic, failsafe and automatic, but retains a manual override.
Automatic systems are necessary to expand Pony Axe S. With one man and one pony, I can take maybe 50 or 60 people on the beach in a week.
Gordon hadn't been on a beach since 1974, David since 2,000. There are hundreds, maybe thousands, blocked from going on the beach. The backlog is huge, and on a selfish note, I know that as I age and get less mobile, I definitely won't get on the beach if I am the only person who can take me.
Pony Axe S Scotland is looking for people who want to expand the service. Contact me on 07510 736518 or simon@ponyaxesscotland.com
Modern safety systems don't rely on people being sensible.
Modern safety systems don't rely on people being sensible.
People make mistakes, they forget, they fail to concentrate. The latest iBex is being built to be uncrashable. Ponies do silly things. We all know that. The iBex disconnects when the pony, or the person in charge of the pony, or the environment gets dangerous.
If the iBex runs into something, a child, a dog, a gate, a tree stump, whatever, it disconnects from the pony.
If it starts to tip beyond a safe level, it disconnects from the pony.
If the pony operator leaves the area, the iBex disconnects from the pony,
and I am working on the iBex disconnecting from the pony if the pony is scared.
Now try to work out a way to have an accident, if you can't run into things, or over things, you can't go on dangerous slopes, and the pony operator can't desert you. The "disconnect from fear" system is to keep me amused.
The iBex is like a car airbag system, it doesn't matter what you do, you are protected.
Why do all the pictures show beaches?
Why do all the pictures show beaches?
When I came to Scotland in 2017, PAMIS kept asking me to take their people to beaches. I pointed out that I could do woodland, mountain, moorland, grassy plains......... but PAMIS had asked the people they worked with where they wanted to go. And the answer, again and again, was beaches.
So we have taken people on Prestwick Beach, Ayr, Irvine, Ardrossan, Berwick-upon-Tweed, North Berwick, Portobello, Cramond, Ravenscraig, West Sands, St Andrews, East Sands St. Andrews, Tentsmuir, Broughty Ferry, Monifieth, Arbroath, Lunan Bay, St Cyrus, South Pier, Dee Estuary, Aberdeen, Promenade Aberdeen, Balmedie, Ythan estuary, North and South sides, Fraserburgh, Chanonry Point and Loch Morlich beach, the highest beach in Scotland.
I keep hearing about mats, and ramps on beaches, but Scotland has tides. The mats and ramps work brilliantly in the Mediterranean, not in Scotland. And mats make one tiny bit of the beach accessible. Pony Axe S make the whole beach accessible to everyone.
Beach wheelchairs are great, if the person can transfer from their wheelchair, and if the family or carers are insanely fit. For so many people, beach wheelchairs just don't work.
Pony Axe S Scotland takes everyone, in any wheelchair, over all the beach.
Pony Axe S Scotland takes everyone, in any wheelchair, over all the beach.
The next video shows Obama bringing a lady back from Cramond Island after her first visit for years. She is probably the first person using a wheelchair to reach Cramond Island. Imagine pushing a beach wheelchair this distance. Or rolling out matting?
If you use an electric wheelchair, and can't transfer, Obama will still take you on the beach.
We take anyone, anywhere.
We take anyone, anywhere.
We work with PAMIS, Sue Ryder, Leonard Cheshire, SensationAll, Charlie House etc and we have been making Scottish Natural Heritage NNR's accessible to all.
And to prove we do work off the beach, here's a video of Obama taking me up Bellever Tor on Dartmoor.
I never said it was easy, or comfortable, but I got up, in a wheelchair, first time, without checking out the route. If you want to go somewhere, or you know somebody using a wheelchair, who wants to get back into the country, get in touch. And a BBC video from my Devon days.
We cover Scotland, all of Scotland, Berwick upon Tweed to Dornoch so far, only because I haven't been invited further north, yet.
Simon Mulholland. Pony Axe S Scotland. simon@ponyaxes.com 07510 736518
98 Saucel Crescent, Paisley, PA1 1UB, Scotland.
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