Term 1, 2024

From the President

Kia ora Friends of Christchurch Riding for the Disabled,

Few things in life bring more joy than the arrival of autumn colours. With the heat of summer retreating and the leaves turning it can make for some beautiful rides out in the park. A few sessions outside in the autumn sun behind the arena with a course set up to challenge the horses and riders have been a big favourite.

Unfortunately, autumn also signals the return of rugging up our equine team in the evenings and extra feed to keep them warm.

We saw 40 new riders in this term and already the coaches have witnessed achievements in riders’ individual goals and much enjoyment all in the CRDA team spirit.

New ponies and horses have joined us and some of our stoic and much-loved members of the equine team will be getting ready for their retirement in the near future and they all have happy homes to go to.

Thank you to our community for some wonderful acts of kindness and support to mention but a few - the easter hamper raffle raising over $800, 80 bales of hay, knitted mittens for young riders to wear in the arena this winter – such beautiful colours, the opportunity for a Winterslow fundraising event and the loan of a wonderful horse Sonny, when he isn’t in work with his owner. Support like this keeps us strong and moving forward.

I wish everyone of you a strong and healthy winter!

Pippa Parker

President

Christchurch Riding for the Disabled

Introducing .... Helen Rouse

Hi, I’m Helen (on the left) and I have been a volunteer at Christchurch RDA since July 2022. I used to be a pony-mad teenager, and I wanted the opportunity to reconnect with horses to help balance out my busy day-job. So, I enquired about volunteering, and as our riding sessions are on weekdays I re-arranged my working life to get a day free to volunteer each week.

The benefits of that have been amazing for me. Not only do I get my much-needed horse-fix each week, but I have a new circle of great friends in my fellow volunteers. On top of that, the opportunity to work alongside and connect with our riders is immensely personally satisfying. I really recommend you reach out to Annette, our Volunteer Coordinator (on the right in photo above) and talk to her about volunteering with us if that is something you have ever thought about!

As well as my time ‘on the sand’, I am a member of the Christchurch RDA Committee.

There is a lot to learn about how Christchurch RDA works as an organisation, so that has been a big learning curve. As part of my committee role, I have responsibility for our Christchurch RDA Facebook pages.

Our aim is to provide some entertaining and informative posts so that the wider community can see the kind of important work that Christchurch RDA is doing. One of the things I have helped with is developing a list of dates throughout the year that we can reference to help celebrate the awesome work of the team. For example, we try and post for public holidays like Christmas and Easter, but also to celebrate international days for recognising certain groups or issues such as World Down Syndrome Day, or recognition of our fantastic volunteers during Te Wiki Tūao ā-Motu - National Volunteers Week in June.

I am also helping the Committee to have a good look at our fundraising activities. The costs of looking after 12-14 horses and ponies quickly add up, so at Christchurch RDA we need to supplement any official grants we receive from funding organisations, or money we earn from hiring out our indoor arena, with all kinds of other funding such as sponsorships and donations. Every dollar earned is a step towards more lives that we can enrich through horses. We are super keen to receive ideas for fundraising events we could hold, but also of course to have volunteers to help us run these events. Or if anyone is looking for a way that they can help, and volunteering with us isn’t possible for you, please think about anyways you can help us financially. Whether it is sponsoring a horse or running your own bake-sale or other event to raise money for us, anything and everything is welcome. Just head to our website https://chchrda.org.nz/donate/ to see how you can help us. Thanks!

Helen Rouse

Volunteer, Committee Member

Sport and Recreation

Here at RDA we provide a range of programmes to suit our riders’ various needs.

My name is Becky Hadfield, and I am the lucky coach that takes our two weekly Sport Recreation sessions on a Tuesday morning. This lovely photo above is of one of my groups, the A Team with Abigail on Rocco, Aliah on Zeus, and April on Tiger.

The Sport Rec sessions provide capable riders with an opportunity to develop their riding skills and learn about horsemanship and how to care for their mounts. I work with an awesome team of loyal volunteers that really get to know their riders. We take time to allow our riders to groom, and tack up their horses, to understand the names of the things they use and why we do what we do. We also extend their knowledge into nutrition horse body language, health, and markings etc. These riders can progress their understanding during the year to gain a series of certificates in horse care as well.

The goal for our Sport Rec riders is to become capable and confident enough to ride their horse off the lead rein, to control and refine their skills, to understand the how and why of riding, and hopefully develop a lifelong passion for horses. Some of our riders do go on to join a non-RDA riding school and have weekly lessons as well. It is a complete pleasure to coach these sessions, and to observe the growth in skills and confidence thanks to our amazing team of human and horse facilitators.

Becky Hadfield

Coach Sport and Recreation

Horse Care

Kia ora,

We have had a busy start to the year with lots of new horses. It is so great to see them settling in, bonding with their herd, getting used to the routines at CRDA, enjoying being pampered by our dedicated volunteers, and taking care of our amazing riders.

CRDA is a great place to live, and these horses excel at their job.

Blokey has been submitted for this year's NZRDA Horse of the Year Award. Blokey was nominated in 2015 and came 3rd, hopefully this year is his year!

Did you know that Blokey has been at CRDA for 15 years now? That means that many of our riders have ridden him at some point and a lot have grown alongside him - how special is that!

Blokey, we love you! Best of luck for the competition.

Ngā mihi,

Laura and Ali, Horse Care

Photo of our new additions to the stable - Snickers, Georgie, and Sonny.

Maia and Jazz

Hello. I am the mum of a beautiful little girl named Maia. Maia is medically fragile complex, high dependent, special needs as well as Autism. Maia absolutely loves animals and since she started with riding for the disabled this year, has just fallen in love with Jazz.

Maia gets so excited when we arrive for her session, looking for Jazz as well as calling her, her face lights up with pure love and joy when she sees Jazz coming into the arena as well as jumping up and down with excitement. Maia loves walking Jazz around the arena, brushing her, and playing with Jazz's mane. They also love standing in front of the mirror together admiring their beauty as well as playing games.

Christchurch Riding for the Disabled is a fabulous programme for these children, the smiles, squeals of excitement, the pure love and joy on their faces is just breathtaking. It’s fantastic not only for them physically, but also for mental and emotional wellbeing. The sense of inclusion, confidence and independence is just amazing. The staff are also fabulous, the care they take with each child and their individual needs is just wonderful, nothing is a problem, you can see on their faces the joy they get seeing these children succeed. I have so much respect for everyone, what they do for these kids is nothing short of astonishing. Every child is treated with dignity, respect, and equality. I cannot speak any more highly of the wonderful program, the staff and of course the beautiful horses.

Thank you for everything you do for my Maia, and her new friend Jazz. I look forward to seeing their beautiful friendship grow.

Upcoming Dates

April

12 School Term 1 ends

13 Special Olympics Ribbon Day

25 ANZAC Day

29 School Term 2 starts

May

8 New Volunteer Induction

12 Mother’s Day

24-26 NZRDA National Conference

June

3 King’s Birthday CLOSED

28 Matariki CLOSED

July

5 School Term 2 ends

6-7 NZRDA Coach and Horse Care Training

22 School Term 3 starts

Wanted! Volunteer Assistants for Horses and Riders

If you enjoy working within a dedicated and enthusiastic team, alongside horses, and people with diverse abilities, Christchurch Riding for the Disabled is the place to be. Our coaches depend on volunteers to lead horses and work with riders. Training is given for volunteers to feel confident and safe.

We hold riding sessions 9:00am - 2:30pm Monday to Friday during school terms.

Next induction workshop for new volunteers is 8 May, 1-3pm

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.

Please contact our Volunteer Coordinator Annette

phone 021 174 4096 or email: volunteers@chchrda.org.nz

To find out more about Volunteering with CRDA, click the button below. Thanks!

Volunteer