'People have a gut emotional response to him...' Martin Clunes takes his pet horse to hospices to meet patients
Martin Clunes takes his pet horse Patrick into hospices to offer comfort to the patients, many of whom have a "gut emotional response to him".
Martin Clunes takes his pet horse into hospices to lift the mood of the patients.
The 63-year-old actor has taken his Clydesdale horse, named Patrick, to many facilities for the past few years to meet patients in the grounds of the facilities and the effect the animal has on them is remarkable.
Appearing on the Oh My Dog! podcast, he revealed: "I've been doing it for a few years. Every now and again, I take a horse down there.
"Patrick's a big horse. He's like 18 hands, a Clydesdale.
"They just like to touch him, really. People have a gut emotional response to him."
Although Patrick's visits are strictly outside, Clunes does take a dog around the wards to offer animal therapy treatment.
He said: "Afterwards, I'll take a dog around the wards. And that's just fabulous."
In 2021, the Men Behaving Badly actor took his then-12-year-old Clydesdale Bruce to Weldmar Hospicecare in Dorchester and said he was a "good ambassador" for the breed.
He is quoted by BBC News as saying: "People like seeing big horses. He's 18 hands-one. He's nicely behaved, unlike his brother who is a bit of a hooligan.
"He's had a massive wash - washing his feathers on his legs to make them look nice because they're not that clean most of the time."
Martin announced in May that his Doc Martin canine co-star Dodger - who played his alter ego Martin Ellingham's pet pooch Buddy - had sadly died.
During an appearance on The One Show, host Roman Kemp said to him: "Your character was always irritated by his dog but you had quite a good way of getting around that."
Clunes replied: "Oh Dodger, oh yeah!
"He was fantastic that boy. Sadly no longer with us.
"That was the joke I thought ... 'Who hates dogs ... that someone who hates dogs, but they all love him, and they just hang out with him."
Martin has recalled having "such fun" with Dodger on the set, and he enjoyed "pushing the limits" of what the pooch could achieve.
He added: "So I had to yell at him, throw him around, do all sorts of things but I never shouted really at him.
"I just waved my lips around and added in the shouting later.
"Me and Sonia Turner, his trainer, and Dodger, we just had such fun on that, y'know?
"Pushing the limits of what we could do with him and he was fabulous."
