One of the busiest work horses on the Cornish tourism scene received a special birthday present recently with the arrival of a new pony to share the workload.

Thousands of people have enjoyed rides on a carriage pulled by Maestro, an Austrian Hafflinger pony who has worked at the Springfields Fun Park and Pony Centre at St Columb Major near Newquay, since it opened 14years ago.

Now the 18 year old has been joined by Tasha, a six year old gypsy pony, who will gradually take on more and more of the carriage pulling duties as Maestro gets older.

Maestro is a beautiful pony with a gorgeous flaxen mane, and he has put in nearly two decades of sterling service. But time catches up with all of us, working ponies included, and we have reached the stage now where he deserves and needs a less taxing way of life. We look forward to Tasha gradually taking over the entire job and following in Maestro's footsteps by clocking up many years of service here"

Maestro has seen Springfields become busier every year and his carriage route has steadily grown as the park has expanded to embrace a constantly increasing number of attractions.

A former plant nursery with just a few ponies, Springfields now has more than 30 of the amimals, plus indoor and outdoor activity areas, which attract more than 40,000 people a year.

This year, as well as Tasha, other new attractions for visitors include a state of the art incubator fro close-quarters viewing of chicks and ducklings coming into the world plus nearly introduced piglets and a woodland pony trek.

Story by Cornish Guardian

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