|
|
|
|
|
|
|
We are a charity and we can only carry out our life changing activities thanks to the generosity of our donors, the dedication of our volunteers and the good nature of our fantastic horses.
|
|
Our activities are recommended by Physiotherapists and Occupational therapists and several of our participants are referred to RDA by a medical professional. Many of our riders say that the RDA activity is their main way of accessing physical exercise, and we have positive long-term impact on confidence levels, relationship building, communication skills, enjoyment, and physical ability.
|
|
Thank you for all your help and support.
|
Keep warm, keep heathy, keep in touch and visit our Facebook page.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Have you considered sponsoring a horse?
|
|
It goes without saying that we wouldn't exist without our amazing equine friends. We currently have 13 horses in our care. As a non-for-profit organisation that does not receive any government funding we are always looking for ways to engage with people and obtain funds because lets face it - these animals are not cheap to care for.
|
|
Horse Sponsorship is a wonderful way to support us. Sponsorship per horse is $50 a year. You can read more about our horses and sponsor a fury friend here:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Kate Wallace our CRDA Physiotherapist
|
|
|
|
I am currently undertaking a postgraduate course in Sensory Integration (looking at all things sensory, the why, the what and how to influence). I thought it would be pertinent to chat through how this fits with RDA. We all know RDA works for so many reasons.
|
|
When talking about sensory I am referencing our 5 key senses: taste, touch, smell, sight and hearing; but our less well known but important senses of proprioception, vestibular and interoception. Fancy medical words I know.
|
|
Proprioception (pronounced: prop-pre-o-ception) is our sense of our body in space, body orientation, amount of pressure or force we use. It is how we can put our socks on without looking, bring a spoon to our mouth or brush the back of our head. The messages come from our muscles and joints and help in providing our knowledge of where our body parts are, how to move them in a smooth coordinate manner without needing to look at them. A person presenting with problems in proprioception may appear clumsy, have poor balance, poor posture, need to look at what their hands are doing to complete a task or keep moving constantly, can't seem to sit still. Can it be influenced and improved? Yes.
|
|
Vestibular sense is multi-purpose, it is
|
|
|
our postural control centre, our inner balance, it is also our eye movements in relation to head movements. Poor vestibular sense may present with balance issues, posture issues, a fear of movement or seeking lots of movement, and also the eye aspects of poor hand-eye coordination, travel sickness or issues with reading. Can it be influenced? Yes.
|
|
Interoception (pronounced: inter-o-ception) is about our inner self. Hunger, thirst, pain, emotions, hot, cold, needing to pee. How this presents when not working well can be very varied: may be issues with toileting, leaving it too late to go or persistent nighttime wetting, keeping a jacket on in summer, not wearing a jacket in winter. Can it be influenced? Yes.
|
|
RDA works on these aspects without doing anything different that the current programmes. Riding a horse offers a massive multi-sensory experience and for some this can be overwhelming. Being up high on horseback activates the vestibular sense for both posture, balance and eye tracking. It offers movement to increase proprioceptive input, touch input from the saddle or sheepskin. Interoceptive experience of new things. This is before we even start to move or do an activity. There are tricks and ways we can enhance the benefits of RDA-
|
|
|
|
- we can use a sheepskin vs a saddle to offer more movement, temperature from the horse, less security and therefore more activation of balance and posture
- we can turn backwards to increase the body's need to adjust posture without seeing where we are going, this increase the vestibular balance and posture aspects, there is also the fun or risk aspect
- trotting on a horse will boost vestibular input and for some we see the happy response very quickly the the rider wants to do it again, other will be less keen and this needs to be respected
- reaching and posting items in the letter box will work on posture, balance, hand-eye coordination, ability to cross over the body, ability to plan an action and perform it
- using the reins to guide the horse will boost our propriocation through movement our vestibular through looking to where we want to go and the coordination of it all to achieve a turn
- most importantly the opportunity for success and fun will support positive attitudes, improved self-esteem and an increased resilience.
Hardly surprising that we see successes across all aspects and have riders who want to return. Activity participation can be challenging for most riders but RDA offers a great format for addressing many physical, emotional and psychological aims.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sarah Ritchie, our Thursday Coach
|
|
|
|
I’m the new Thursday coach at CRDA. I’ve ridden all my life and soaked up much of my horse knowledge at the side of an arena while my mum was coaching. I achieved the Community Coach qualification in the late 90s and have helped people with their riding on and off ever since. Trained as a secondary school teacher, I spent most of my career teaching in Marlborough before moving to Christchurch in 2022. I am currently completing a Masters of Child and Family Psychology at the University of Canterbury.
|
|
|
|
My introduction to RDA was taking my nephew to ride at the Marlborough group. It made such a difference for him, and I loved the environment so much that I contacted the Christchurch Group when I relocated to ask if I could be part of the team.
|
|
We have a wonderful group of riders who attend on a Thursday. I get a real kick out of seeing them improve their skills and confidence. The volunteers make it so much fun and the horses constantly blow me away with their kindness and generosity. It’s a wonderful team to be involved in. I feel so privileged that I get to do this for a job.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Thank you to all our wonderful volunteers
|
|
|
I wish to THANK YOU for giving your time and your unique
|
|
individual life experience to assisting our Riding Therapy team and our non for profit group.
|
|
Your input is very valuable to our riders, other team members and meaningful to our community, you are enabling change for the better.
|
|
You positively affect the abilities of our riders; you are all very kind at heart to lend a hand and my appreciation for your participation is GIGANTIC!!
|
|
Volunteer Coordinator CRDA.
|
|
|
|
Socialising and learning are all part of our regular training workshops!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Volunteer Assistants
|
If you enjoy working with Horses and /or Special Needs persons, Christchurch Riding for the Disabled needs Volunteer Assistants!
|
|
We hold sessions 9:00am - 2:30pm each weekday during school terms.
|
Our Coaches depend on volunteers to lead horses and
work with riders. Training is given to enable volunteers to feel confident and safe.
|
|
We have had a wonderful response from radio adverts and our many leaflets being displayed on various Community Notice Boards. However, we still need your help - if you can spare one day a week to assist our wonderful Coaches in their efforts to give our Riders the benefit of a therapeutic riding session we would be most grateful.
|
|
|
If you are over 16 years old and can give a few hours, please contact us with your preferred day.
|
|
Please contact our Volunteer Coordinator Annette
|
|
To find out more about Volunteering with CRDA, just click the button...
|
|
|
|
|
|
Volunteer Assistants
|
If you enjoy working with Horses and /or Special Needs persons, Christchurch Riding for the Disabled needs Volunteer Assistants!
|
|
We hold sessions 9:00am - 2:30pm each weekday during school terms.
|
Our Coaches depend on volunteers to lead horses and
work with riders. Training is given to enable volunteers to feel confident and safe.
|
|
We have had a wonderful response from radio adverts and our many leaflets being displayed on various Community Notice Boards. However, we still need your help - if you can spare one day a week to assist our wonderful Coaches in their efforts to give our Riders the benefit of a therapeutic riding session we would be most grateful.
|
|
|
If you are over 16 years old and can give a few hours, please contact us with your preferred day.
|
|
Please contact our Volunteer Coordinator Annette
|
|
To find out more about Volunteering with CRDA, just click the button...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
In these crazy Covid-19 times when many of our funding avenues have completely collapsed, we need your help more than ever!
|
Are you able to help us?
Take a look at what it costs us to keep this enterprise flying...and if you are in a position to help...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Our horses love getting out for a early morning ride
|
|
|
|
|
|
Thank you for your donation
|
A special thank you to the following people for their generous donation...
|
|
|
|
Alan Pullar
Mary Moodie Family Trust
|
K Sitjes
Raewyn Richards Malcolm Gillies
|
A Bruhns
Rosemary Pringle Elizabeth Ball Charitable Trust
|
|
S Jarvis, Emma Rookes
Nicky Wright-Z Stations Perfect Packaging Ltd
|
Rawhiti School Seniors
P Mayes
Victoria Holland
|
|
Lions Club of Riccarton-Waimari
|
|
O’Rawe Family
Wyma Engineering(NZ)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Funders
|
We would like to thank the following Funders for their support...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CRDA SHOP - been there?
Have you been to the CRDA Online Shop yet on the CRDA website?
|
There are lots of items for sale which will not only make great gifts for friends and family, but which will also help us to keep providing our services.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Contact Us
Christchurch Riding for the Disabled
|
|
|
|
Physical address
Northcote Drive, Inside Canterbury Agricultural Park, Wigram,
Christchurch, 8025
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
