Henderson RDA

Edition 13: October 2008

Henderson Riding for the Disabled

Welcome everyone to Term 4. It’s great to be back after the long winter break and we are looking forward to the term ahead.

So far we have been lucky with the weather and all our horses are well. This term we are continuing with two rallies per week. Monday mornings are going well for our more independent riders and Tuesdays are as busy as ever.

Riding Dates

We would like to continue riding into the last week of school term with last rides on Monday 15 and Tuesday 16 of December. Please let us know as soon as you can if children won’t be able to attend due to school events.

New Notice Board

We have a new notice board for riders, parents and caregivers. Please check it each week so that we can update you on any specific issues or announcements. It will be placed on the bench near the helmets so you shouldn’t miss it!

Volunteers – A Date for your Diary

Chris Futter, our former president, is to be presented with her Life Membership Certificate. She has said she will be able to visit on Thursday 4 December so please try to keep this date free. Details will follow.

Volunteer Profile

Jenny Clifford first heard about the Henderson group while she was working for Waitakere City Council and joined us as a volunteer 18 months ago when she gave up full time work.

Jenny used to ride regularly and loves having contact with horses again. But the biggest reward for Jenny is working with the children and seeing how the targeted riding activities help them to make progress in so many ways, both physically and socially. Jenny is also now a very useful and welcome committee member.

Jenny lives in Titirangi with her husband Gary and loves the bush, the bird life and having more time to walk, garden and travel.

Pony Profile – Markie

We have had our new pony, Markie, for about six months and we are really pleased with him.

Sandra did the brilliant job of finding him on Trade Me. She and Phil Patterson had to drive the horse truck over 18km of gravel to reach the dairy farm in Maungaturoto to collect him. He had belonged to two families in the area.

Markie is 17 years old, dark bay in colour and 13hh. He is a Welsh purebred and was a show pony in his youth.

Markie is a real character who is very nosey and thinks he is the boss of the herd. He loves to swim, apparently, so kids, we might be asking you to bring your togs down!

Who’s Who

As you will be aware from our last newsletter Chris Futter, our long-time therapist and President resigned this year as she has moved to Wellington. The new and current positions in the committee are as follows:

Sue Bolam – Horse Manager
Shirley Boumeester – Secretary
Dave Brooks – Social Secretary
Shirley Furneaux – Treasurer
Norma Hayward - President
Sandra Lilo – Instructor & Horse Adviser
Lynn Radford – Vice President & Volunteer Co-ordinator
Pia Saxton – Head Instructor

Vodafone Volunteer

Welcome to a new volunteer who will be with us for eight weeks. She is Megan Sewell who currently works as a Business Account Manager for Vodafone. Vodafone is releasing Megan through the Vodafone for New Zealand Foundation. The Foundation is a charitable trust encouraging healthy outcomes for young New Zealanders who face serious obstacles in their lives.

Megan is originally from Wellington and has spent the last 3 years living in Auckland with her husband. Since growing up she has had an interest in horses but never had the time to have her own. Since being in Auckland she has been able to pursue her interest in horses further, which included a 5 day horse trek in the South Island. This experience made Megan want to broaden her horse experience further.

Megan says, “The Vodafone staff initiative allows us to work for a charitable organisation for up to 2 weeks during the year. The reason I chose RDA is being a horse fan myself I wanted to be able to help your riders enjoy the special bond between a horse and rider. The joy on the faces of the riders during their lessons is just wonderful. They are truly lovely and so trusting of your very patient and well trained horses. I am so pleased to have this opportunity to offer my time and help to such a great organization.”

Well Megan, it’s lovely having you with us and we appreciate the way you have got stuck in and got along so well with everyone. If Vodafone has any more interested volunteers we’d love to see them!

Oratia Farmers Market

Shirley F, Graham and Norma spent a fairly successful morning at the market one lovely sunny morning back in March. We had the community stall which is allocated free to charity groups. We spoke to quite a few people about our work and attracted a new volunteer, Bob. So if you were wondering where we found Bob now you know….more about Bob in a later issue.

We also raised approximately $30 in donations.

Kaipara RSA

Norma went along to speak to the ladies group in Helensville back in April. The talk went well and the group kindly gave us a donation of $100.

Rotary Club of Western Springs

Norma and Lynn were invited along to give a talk in early October. The talk went very well despite difficulties with the projector. This meant we could not show our slides but Lynn did a great job without them. Norma had to weave amongst the audience with the laptop to show the photographs and the audience was very interested in the unusual bits of tack that we demonstrated.

Documentary

At last Tuesday’s rally most of you will have noticed three very busy young women stalking us with cameras! They were Rebecca Rassie, Sarah Alison and Heike Middleton, students of AUT University.

All three are completing a Communications Degree. They approached us to make a short documentary for their television paper. The documentary will be four minutes long and had to focus on a topic that was of interest to them and the public. Rebecca said, “The RDA programme was our chosen topic because we think it is a significant and beneficial programme to a number of people who perhaps do not get the recognition they deserve. We felt that filming the children enjoying their time with the horses and trainers, as well as interviewing key people to do with the programme, would make for a wonderful documentary to lift the spirits of others, as well as create awareness. We hope that the documentary turns out as fabulously as we predict it will, and that we can offer it to RDA as a beneficial tool for exposure and support. The assistance and encouragement that has been offered by members and parents of the RDA programme has been greatly appreciated.”

Well girls, it was great to have you with us and we are really looking forward to seeing the film.

Contact Details

Norma Hayward – Editor: richnorm@slingshot.co.nz or 813 3030

General Enquiries: Pia Saxton: pia.saxton@xtra.co.nz