It’s 30 years since Karen inaugurated Kesteven RiDeAbility and the question was “How do we celebrate this?” Lots of ideas were thrown around but in the end it was agreed that it should be first and foremost a fun event. So, rather than anything formal we decided on a Ceilidh; lots of potential for fun and laughter and indeed it was a wonderful evening with everyone enthusiastically taking part in the dances; leaping, swooping and swaying to the music of the Higgledy Piggledy band who called them out and generally helped everyone have a good time. We all brought food and drink and The Sizzling Sausage van provided sustenance for those who wanted more than a bag of crisps! Bringing together volunteers, pupils, and friends both in and out of the equine world, was a lovely way to celebrate such a milestone. 30 years as a successful RDA group is an achievement that Karen can be rightly proud of and we were all very happy to be there to celebrate it with her. With a raffle the evening raised over £500 for the group which was fantastic.
Although a celebration, the Ceilidh was also our last fundraising event of the year. However, we were very excited to be invited to be part of the South Kesteven Lottery for Good Causes. This is a new venture set up by our local council to raise money for local good causes. It aims to help charities establish a funding stream by giving them a significant proportion of the money raised from each raffle ticket. Tickets are a£1 each and 50p of this will come to us which is wonderful. There is a 1 in 50 chance of winning a prize with the top prize being £25,000. If anyone is interested have a look at our page. Who knows you might be lucky! www.lotterysk.co.uk/support/kesteven-rideability. As with all RDA groups whilst we do a lot of our own fundraising we still have to rely on support from other agencies so opportunities like this are very welcome. We hope it will be successful and give us another source of income.
Away from all of this excitement our RDA work continues despite that the weather is now a little more unpredictable. The last of the Silver Hours were held and it was a real “hurrah” for the summer with temperatures of 22 degrees and a beautiful blue sky. The programme has been a real success with many positive benefits and we have to thank local charities and the Big Lottery Fund for helping to fund it. Rio, Fudge, Sox and Murphy have been stalwarts of the programme and have become real favourites of our visitors. As might be expected with the elderly some of our participants passed away over the summer but we know from their families that the time they spent with our ponies was some of the best times they had had in a long time. As the indomitable Babette might say, “the value of being with equines is sometimes immeasurable but always positive.”
My riding journey is still progressing and I continue to work on more complex things like turning on the forehand. This month we are doing it with poles. Hmm, not as easy I soon found out. No doubt for many of you this would be a doddle but when you have a wonky spine, a useless left leg and a pony who prefers going left because that’s the way he naturally bends then it can be a struggle!
“Don’t let him go left……” “I’m not!” I said struggling to turn Rio’s head to the right. “No, no….don’t go left….”……As we went left….!!!
What can you do when your pony puts all his weight into preventing you from doing what you want him to do and won’t shift his bum in the direction you want. Yes he looks like butter wouldn’t melt and to be fair he is in the main a biddable and very willing partner but sometimes he shows his mischievous side and behaves a bit like the horse equivalent of a teenager. However I’m a bit quicker at picking up on this behaviour now and he didn’t get away with it this time. By the end of the lesson he was doing what I wanted not what he wanted – result! As Karen told me. “Once you begin to progress forward he will test you more and you need him to know that you are in charge”. Oh Joy – lots to look forward to then!
Gosh this riding lark is so much more than I expected. In fact when I began I wasn’t really sure what I expected it was just that I was desperate to ride a horse. I think I forgot that they are real flesh and blood animals with minds of their own! Three years on and things are so different. I appreciate what is possible. My wonky spine has not made it easy but being on a horse has improved my core muscles and so helped to support me more. It’s so clichéd to say it but being on a horse when you find walking difficult is like suddenly finding out you have legs that really work
Now we are into October the summer weather seems to have passed. The stables are positioned on the top of a hill which give us amazing views but the negative is that it can sometimes be quite breezy. This time of year we have lots of young pheasants popping out of the hedges and along with the leaves swirling away from the trees the potential for a few upsets is firmly in the frame. But aside from not really liking the wind getting up under his tail (we’ve had a couple of “oops!” moments), Rio is remarkably sanguine about all of these things (as you would expect from an RDA pony). The arena is beautifully positioned and on a crisp cold blue sky day there is no better place to have a riding lesson, even if it turns out to be the most frustrating one ever!
Kesteven RiDeAbility. Sue’s Blog. Oct. 2018. www.kestevenrda.co.uk
