An elderly rescue pony named Obama took a 103-year-old care home resident for a ride as her final wish.
Pearl Todd loved horses but had to give up her own before she went into a care home.
The OAP lives at Ranfurly Care Home in Johnstone, Renfrewshire, and longed for one last pony ride.
It took a year for care home staff for come up for a solution.
Pearl, a former midwife, from Kilmacolm, Inverclyde, had not been out for three years.
Care home worker Karen Dove spotted a pony pulling a trailer when she was out and about.
She approached owner Simon Mulholland, 67, and learnt the piebald pony was named Obama.
They all went for a walk in Thomas Shank Park, Johnstone, Renfrewshire, with 19-year-old Obama pulling a specially designed vehicle.
Pearl said: “I had to sell it. It takes a lot of money to stay here.”
Her two sons travel up from England each month to see her.
Pearl said: “It was lovely.
“I enjoyed it.”
Karen said: “Her last wish was to ride a horse again and we knew that couldn’t happen, so we tried everything else.
“We tried carriages but because she uses a hoist, they said the hoist might spook the horse.
“We thought we had lost it, but then this pony came through Barrhead and I thought there it is – there’s the answer to my prayers.
“It was like a dream come true.”
Mr Mulholland designed a three-wheel pony vehicle with space for a wheelchair to help disabled people enjoy the outdoors.
He said: “I cannot imagine not going out to a place like this.
“For me, it’s about being away from the roads.
“I don’t want to be on a tarmac path or on a blocked-off bit that is for the disabled.
“I want to be in the countryside.
“It’s about making places like this accessible, making the countryside accessible.
“It looks like I am the only person in Scotland doing it.”
He has provided trips for people who travelled from Australia and Canada just to be able to visit a beach with their wheelchair.
Mr Mulholland said: “There is a huge demand for it.
“The tourist potential is enormous.”
Moving to Paisley, Renfrewshire, from England has been key to the success of what he does.
He said: “In England, everyone is finding excuses why it won’t happen; in Scotland, everyone is finding reasons why it will happen.
“We’re not being told to go away. We’re not being told we can’t do it.
“That’s what matters. I just want to expand it with more ponies taking more people because it shouldn’t just be one pony.”
He has managed to create an automated system which releases the vehicle from the pony.
“I can’t stop the pony from doing something stupid, nobody can.
“He can be as stupid as he likes but Pearl would be OK.”
Obama was rescued by Mr Mulholland in 2009.
Isabelle Mulholland, 18, explained: “We have got two other ponies that we tried to replace him with.
“We wanted to let him retire.
“He wasn’t having any of that.
“Ponies don’t need tweed jackets and things, they just need love and attention.
“If he walks around, he will always get that love and attention.
“I nearly start crying every time. It’s amazing.
“Even when it is a long day walking, which it is, you get to hear things and you get to see things that you wouldn’t see on a normal day.
“It’s amazing to see everything Obama does.”
