Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA)
A UK charity dedicated to improving the lives of thousands of people through education, therapy and fun.
Riding for the Disabled Association are delighted to announce that Elizabeth Bennett has been selected as their new National Vaulting Lead.
Lizzie has been involved in RDA for many years, and she is a strong advocate for vaulting both inside and outside of RDA. She has had her own competition success at RDA National Championships as well as British Equestrian Vaulting (BEV). In addition to her own competition success, Lizzie has supported others through her coaching, enabling them to also have competition success. Lizzie is a BEV Level 2 Coach as well as an RDA Vaulting coach.
Lizzie has told us a bit more about herself and her ambitions in this new role:
“In September 2014 I started riding with the RDA, thinking that I would never be able to get back to the sport I had loved as a child. I’d had ten long years since breaking my back and just sitting on a horse was really difficult, but the team at Cambridgeshire College RDA built me back up very gradually until I was able to canter and jump again. When I had the opportunity to try vaulting, I was a full-time wheelchair user and had no idea what I’d be able to manage. Again, the patience and enthusiasm of coaches at RDA and Cambridge Vaulting Club meant that I was fully involved in competing and doing displays from my earliest days in the sport.
“Fast forward a few years and my entire life has been transformed thanks to vaulting within RDA and British Equestrian Vaulting (BEV). Its taken a long time and a lot of hard work, but I have become so much happier and healthier (despite various injuries!) as a result. I have even been able to start work as a groom at an English Heritage property: caring for the horses, riding in displays (including side saddle), sharing the history of the stables with visitors, learning carriage driving, and doing a fair bit of dressing up!
“Earlier this year I was given the opportunity to own Puro, a Dutch Warmblood who I’ve worked with for years as coach, lunger and vaulter. He’s not perfect by any means (just like his owner!) but I trust him in a way I have never trusted any other horse. It’s been a delight to share him with other RDA and Para-vaulters, and to see vaulters from across the country competing on him at Hartpury was a very proud moment. He’s a very good boy!
“Coaching within RDA and BEV has allowed me to see in others what I myself have experienced over and over again: not dreams coming true, but rather things that you would never have even thought or known to have dreamed of or wished for. I have stopped limiting myself by what I think I can do, and instead I just keep taking little steps to see where they end up.
“I hope to do much the same thing in the role as RDA Vaulting Lead. Vaulting is such an exciting and inspiring activity, and it is accessible to disabled people in a way that riding isn’t. In vaulting, you can have another person on the horse with you for support. You don’t have to sit astride if that’s uncomfortable, and you don’t have to control the horse either. Vaulting is also a great way to learn about horses and to learn to appreciate them: every single thing we do as vaulters is analysed first and foremost in terms of the harmony with the horse. The relationship you can build with a vaulting horse is quite incredible too – in the absence of being able to ‘give’ aids, you switch purely into ‘receive’ mode, and become far more receptive to the horse as a result.
“The priorities for RDA Vaulting as we head into 2023 and beyond lie primarily within expanding it. We want more participants, which will mean more coaches, more barrel horses and, in time, more real horses too! Barrel vaulting is a highly competitive activity within RDA, and one which can bring many benefits to participants despite the lack of a ‘real’ horse. It’s also a no-brainer for RDA Groups – barrels don’t tend to eat much or need the farrier, after all. Vaulting in general is cost-effective even when there is a horse involved, as a group of vaulters will all work with just one horse.
“In order to create these opportunities for vaulters, we obviously need to train up more coaches. There are lots of misconceptions about vaulting – that it isn’t appropriate for those with physical disabilities, that it’s too specialist for coaches to learn, or that it’s cruel to the horse, for example. We need frank discussion of these things so that people can see vaulting for what it really is and what it can offer.
“In the short term, we would like to encourage groups to invest in a barrel (or two!) and to put coaches forwards to train in the basics of barrel vaulting, so it can be offered to participants and start to cut down those waiting lists. I am also hoping to introduce more regulations for horse welfare, many of which are already implicitly in place but could be more overtly stated. Longer term, we need to train more horses and develop coaches further. Although training has to be done by an experienced team, an RDA Vaulting horse needn’t be a special or expensive purchase for a group: all kinds of horses can take to it.
“My hope is that we can increase participation in vaulting and also educate people about how it all works and how it can benefit participants, groups and our horses. I have many more plans for beyond that but I think that would be a good start!“
Lizzie on Puro at the RDA National Championships 2022
We have vacancies for 2 regional Volunteer Recruitment Coordinators within the Yorkshire region.
To view the job description, click here
Deadline for applications 5th October 2022
A vacancy has arisen within the Yorkshire Region to pilot an approach over a 6 month period to stimulate growth in numbers of participants in RDA activities in the North East and South Yorkshire Region.
To view the job description, click here
Deadline for applications 5th October 2022
On Thursday 8th September, the sad news that Her Majesty, The Queen, had passed away was announced. Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA), released the following statement:
The volunteers, participants and staff of Riding for the Disabled Association would like to extend their heartfelt sadness and condolences to the Royal Family, particularly to our President, Her Royal Highness, The Princess Royal.
Tributes in the coming days will doubtless mention The Queen’s enduring love of and affinity with horses. Her instinctive understanding of the power of horses to do good was a source of inspiration to so many people within our organisation.
We extend our thoughts and sympathy to all our members who may be affected by this news, and hope they will feel able to mark this sad occasion in whichever way they wish.
Condolences and tributes to the Royal Family and Our President have been pouring in from our member groups, which will be passed on to Buckingham Palace.
The funeral is to take place on Monday 19th September. Many RDA groups across the UK will be paying their respects to Her Majesty on Monday.
Congratulations to the following Coaches on their successful selection for the inaugural Princess Royal
Coach Academy – Coach Programme 2022:
The Princess Royal Coach Academy aims to develop coaches with expertise who can support peers
and influence coaching programmes that improve participant experiences.
Coaches selected for this programme have shown that they are ambitious in improving their own
performance and already have success in coaching riders with disabilities; effectively encouraging and
challenging participants whilst creating enjoyable, person centred coaching environments.
Additionally coaches have demonstrated their commitment to the cascading of knowledge and
experience to peers across the RDA coaching pathway.
Successfully selected coaches are set to benefit from unique learning and development opportunities
including established communities of practice which offers exposure to new, innovative and relevant
ideas as well as reinforcing successful current practices.
Huge congratulations to all selected!
The Chief Executives of Sport England and UK Sport have issued a joint letter regarding racism in sport, a copy of which you can find here. RDA is committed to greater equality, diversity and inclusion within our organisation, with a volunteer working party already in place to address this vital issue. For more information about this group and our commitment to ED&I please contact Lucy Wake lwake@rda.org.uk
UK Sport and Sport England – Joint Letter to Governing Bodies
On Friday 5 November The Princess Royal launched a new national Coaching Academy for RDA and announced the first Coach Mentors who are integral to the programme’s success. The Academy, which will include training for newly appointed ‘Coach Mentors’, who have been selected from RDA’s existing Advanced Coach workforce, was officially launched by Her Royal Highness on a visit to RDA’s National Training Centre in Warwickshire.
The Princess Royal Coaching Academy recognises the importance of high performing coaches working with disabled riders. The initiative will increase the number of coaches moving to advanced training, which in turn will increase the number of disabled people RDA can support, helping to tackle waiting lists and unmet demand for its services at groups all over the UK.
Speaking to RDA UK volunteers, Coaches and staff, The Princess Royal referenced the early pioneers of RDA Coaching:
“It was that early understanding and example of standards that has made the organisation what it is. And for those of you who have followed in those footsteps and developed in your own ways in your own groups and in your own areas, there is a huge amount we have learned. I hope you will agree that the Coaching Academy is an appropriate use of that experience – and will make all of that experience go a little bit further, to encourage more people to take their places in the RDA, and to make that change for each of those individuals that they come across.”
The Academy is named after The Princess Royal, on the 50th anniversary of her becoming the RDA’s Patron in 1971 (she became President in 1985).
Ed Bracher, CEO of Riding for the Disabled Association, said:
“We are enormously excited to launch our new Coaching Academy. Our coaches lie at the heart of the RDA’s work and through the Academy, we aim to nurture talent, innovation and excellence. This is a core part of our plan to dramatically increase the number of disabled people we can support by our 60th anniversary in 2029. We are delighted that The Princess Royal has agreed to lend her name to the Academy, fifty years after she first became involved with RDA.”
John Studzinski CBE, the philanthropist who is supporting the first two years of the Academy, said:
“I am delighted to support this excellent new initiative from the RDA. The Coaching Academy will strengthen the RDA’s provision of training and support for its volunteers, coaches and mentors. Ultimately this will provide an even better experience for all the disabled children and adults the charity helps. I first got to know about the RDA over 10 years ago and was immediately struck by the value of its work. For me, above all else, RDA brings human dignity to people, which is a recurring theme across my philanthropic interests.”
Karen Thompson, RDA UK National Coaching Lead and newly appointed Mentor for The Princess Royal Coaching Academy says:
“I am honoured and privileged to be in the first cohort of Mentors for The Princess Royal Coaching Academy, and look forward to supporting RDA coaches through their Advanced training. I hope they will find it useful to have a sounding board – someone they can discuss ideas and concerns with – and who they can learn from. It’s great that RDA is recognising the experience and value of its senior Coaches, who have learned so much over many years, and providing a way for that expertise to be shared and passed on – not just for the benefit of other coaches, but ultimately so that more disabled people can take part.”
The first Mentors are:
I am writing in my capacity as Chair of the Steering Group to establish a Human Equine Interaction Register (HEIR) for which the need was discussed at a meeting of Horses in Education and Therapy International (HETI) back in 2019. I am delighted to say that now things are returning to some recognition of normal, we have been able to make some progress towards making the register a reality.
The aim of the register is to bring together all people involved in the field of human equine interaction to ensure high quality service provision and create a greater awareness of their work. It was agreed that this was needed to offer a greater level of protection and safety for all those involved in the sector whether that be the providers, commissioners, service users or horses.
Greater transparency of attainment of minimum standards in such areas as safeguarding, first aid, equine welfare and insurance will be the first base for self-registration and there will follow an opportunity to demonstrate skills, experience and knowledge as applicable. This is so that funders and service users will be able to make informed choices about the service being offered at all levels of practice. It is not intended that the register will be an accrediting body as that is already in place with the different professions involved.
Over the coming weeks we will be engaging with the sector to seek your views about the proposals. The register will be created with and not to commissioners, practitioners and service users for mutual benefit. If all goes to plan, we hope to open an online survey on Monday 27th September for 5 weeks for people to respond to the proposals and give feedback about how the register will work in practice.
However, we want to make sure that everyone has sufficient information to make an informed response so we have arranged a series of virtual and physical briefing session to explain the plans in more detail and offer an opportunity for questions.
If you would like to attend, please register for any of the following so that we can plan accordingly and in particular, make sure that the face to face event is Covid safe.
Wednesday 6th October 2.30-4pm Online Webinar
Register to attend here https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/human-equine-interaction-register-webinar-1-tickets-170493755412
Tuesday 12th October at 6.30pm – 8pm Online webinar
Register to attend here https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/human-equine-interaction-register-webinar-2-evening-option-tickets-170497117468
Friday 15th October 11am – 3pm at RDA HQ, Warwickshire
If you wish to email us with a question at any time we can be contacted at heiruk@hetifoundation.org and there is more information on the website at UK National Register – HEIR | HETI Federation
We will be providing regular updates on the HEIR Facebook page so please like, follow and share to stay in touch Human Equine Interaction Register UK – Home | Facebook
Best wishes,
Ed Bracher
It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Lady Rosamund Gladstone who died peacefully at home on 1st September. Very many of her years were devoted to RDA and she is remembered in latter years as a loyal, committed Trustee of Clwyd Special Riding Centre (CSRC) where she was Chairman for twenty years.
She formed the Deeside RDA Group in the early 70’s at a friend’s yard, went on to become County Chair of Clwyd and then Regional Chair for North Wales.
After being instrumental in the establishment of CSRC, she remained heavily involved, throwing herself into running the centre with great commitment. She became its President after her retirement and remained so until her death.
Her lasting legacy will be her introduction of RDA holidays. At first these were run at home at Hawarden Castle and then at CSRC in mobile homes and caravans. Later on the holiday accommodation was built and national and international holidays took place including some riders from Russia and China. She continued to meet and greet every RDA holiday group with a cake and a chat up until the time that she retired.
She served on the National Holidays Committee for many years and several times took parties of riders with additional needs to Portugal.
She was the recipient of the Birt Spooner trophy and The President’s Award in recognition of her outstanding contribution to RDA.
Rosamund has given so much to RDA and the Clwyd Special Riding Centre over the years that it would take too long to record it all but she has brought happiness to many with her dedication, enthusiasm and vision.
Ann Lambert, CSRC
