The Elisabeth Svendsen Trust for Children and Donkeys (EST) is a UK based charity dedicated to providing riding therapy with donkeys to children with special needs and disabilities.

The aims of the EST are to bring enjoyment and pleasure into their lives and to give them the satisfaction that comes with the achievement of learning riding skills.

Riding skills are taught by qualified riding instructors using the donkey because of its placid nature. In addition, children are encouraged to groom and care for the donkeys.

The children who attend the centres have a wide range of disabilities; some may have learning difficulties, others are physically disabled or have behavioural problems, brain damage or sensory impairment.

Children are brought to the centres daily by their school or hospital, and once a month on a Saturday or during school holidays they can attend clubs with their families.

During the summer months mobile units operate, taking donkeys to those children in schools and hospitals who, because of their disabilities, cannot travel to the centres.

There is a fantastic variation within the content of each riding therapy session in order to enable it to meet the ever-changing demands and expectations that are being placed on the centres. To help with this responsibility, each indoor arena has an extensive array of equipment as its disposal.

The equipment is used in a variety of ways to perform tasks to aid development in areas such as fine motor skills, hand and eye co-ordination, body posture, colour, number, shape and symbol recognition, as well as speech and language improvement. All the children, even with the smallest achievement, grow more confident each session which helps to strengthen and improve their own self-esteem.

Working closely with school teachers, physiotherapists, speech and language departments, other professionals and parents, the centres' riding instructors, who each hold a British Horse Society Assistant Instructor qualification, are able to develop and deliver riding lessons.