ŌTOROHANGA RDA has had several top horses and riders in its 40 years of operations, including Briana Taylor, who in July was named New Zealand RDA’s runner up rider of the year. FILE PHOTO
ŌTOROHANGA Riding for the Disabled (RDA) is gearing up to celebrate four decades of operations this month. Started in 1982 by Anne Smith, the RDA has helped grow the physical abilities and confidence of countless children, sparking a lifelong love of horses in many who had never been around the animals prior. An evening of mixing and mingling has been planned on November 18 at the Ōtorohanga Club for supporters of the club including sponsors, volunteers and riders past and present. The RDA branch now known as Ōtorohanga RDA was actually started in Te Kūiti, after Anne Smith read a Waitomo News article about physiotherapists wanting to form the Central King Country Riding for the Disabled Association (Waitomo News, May 21, 2015). She went along to the first meeting and is credited for founding the association. BASE MOVED Eventually, the base was shifted to Ōtorohanga, owing to that being where most of the attendees were travelling from. Numerous newspaper articles in the years which followed detailed how Anne continued to be heavily involved in the RDA right up until two weeks before her death in 2015 at 97-years-old. At the time then-president Sheila Pulham shared her observations of Anne’s service to the association (Waitomo News, March 26, 2015). “RDA [here] was born from Anne’s love of horses. “Four people now do what Anne usually did all by herself.” Volunteer Penny Sanson was taught to ride a horse when she was a teenager by Anne and some 20 years ago took her daughter with cerebral palsy along to the RDA. EARLY BENEFITS She said she saw benefits in horse riding for her daughter Emily because it used many of the same muscles as walking. In the early days, riders did not use saddles. “Back when I started it was just a sheepskin, which is really good for you as a rider because you can feel the movement and you’ve got that connection.” Since being introduced to the RDA, Penny has been a volunteer. She said the horses were real “plodders” previously which were walked around with children doing activities from their backs. “It was amazing but RDA has changed so much in recent years in that they want riders to get an active walk. So they need much better horses, but still safe horses. “The riders are actually learning to ride.” Penny said a highlight of her time at the RDA has been seeing leaps in confidence for riders. “It’s just huge for somebody who has a disability to be in control of a big animal like that. “It’s a pretty amazing thing when you see these children who start off crying because they don’t want to get on the horse and then by the time they finish they’re in control, they’re running to RDA because they just love it.” FUTURE ASPIRATIONS Looking forward, Ōtorohanga RDA has aspirations of helping more riders, more days of the week and getting more volunteers and a covered arena to make it possible. “Our RDA is really trying to build up our volunteer numbers because that’s what’s holding us back in a big way. We could help so many more people if we had some more volunteers,” Penny said. Funding coordinator Sarah Snookes said a covered arena would make it possible to operate year-round, rather than the three school terms they work in currently. “There are hopes for a covered-over arena so we can operate year-round. It would be really exciting for the future.’
