Henderson RDA

Henderson Riding for the Disabled Newsletter

Welcome to the new year and our first term of riding.  A special welcome to all our new riders and volunteers who have just joined us.  It’s great to see all the “old faces” as well.  We hope that you all enjoyed the holidays.  Great to be having such lovely weather but it’s been very hot out there in the paddock.

Thank you to all who worked to look after the horses and paddocks over the summer holidays.

Riding Dates

We started riding on 9 February and our last riding date will be Tuesday 7 April.

Donations & Thanks

We would like to extend a big thank you to the community of Sunderland College in Henderson.  They raised an amazing $1000 for us last term. Norma Hayward attended a school assembly just before Christmas to collect the cheque.  She spent some time talking to the children about the work we do and has also invited them to come for a visit if they can fit it in with all their school work.  We look forward to hearing from them.

Another big thank you goes out to Henkel Sellotape in New Lynn who also surprised us with a cheque of $500 just before Christmas.  Many thanks and we were delighted to receive it.

Also many thanks to Jane Valentine-Burt who kindly donated a great pile of very good horse gear, including a cover, halters and reins.  This is also very much appreciated as it helps to keep our costs down.  Thank you Jane.

Many thanks to the great team effort in getting the apples picked in the orchard.  An annual job that must be done so that the horses don’t gorge themselves on fruit and get sick.  Many of you got involved including parents.  Dad Terry did a particularly good job at climbing the trees and giving them a good shake.  We’ll be in touch again next year Terry….☺

A quick reminder to parents, caregivers and teachers.  Please ensure that children are wearing appropriate clothing for riding.  This is important for safety and comfort.  All children should ride in long pants and sturdy covered shoes, boots or trainers.  Shorts are not appropriate as skin can be pinched in stirrup leathers or rubbed excessively.

The First Ride of the Week

The first ride of the week on a Monday morning has some of our more experienced riders participating.  This term Jack, Zoe, Aimee, Audrey and Nikita are joining in the fun at 9.30am.   Instructors are Pia and Glynnis who plan the rides each week.

The aim is to teach the children independent riding and horse skills.  They all arrive a little bit early to help groom, tack up the horses and lead their horses around the paddock before starting the ride.  Most of the lessons take place in the arena where the children have no side-walkers, just a leader.

The children are now progressing with turning by themselves, trotting and doing various other exercises to help balance and control. The children are doing well at listening carefully to the instructions, taking turns and enjoying each others’ successes.  As the weeks are progressing we are also teaching them about points of the horse, horse equipment and horse behaviour.

It is great to see how this group has come so far in their confidence, riding ability and sheer enjoyment of the whole experience.  Well done to everyone!

Zoe Benson

Now for a wonderful article contributed by Lee Benson, Zoe Benson’s mother.  Zoe has been riding with us for a long time and we all love to see them both on a Monday. Lee often helps out in the arena as well and her help is gratefully accepted if we are down a volunteer.  I thought it would be interesting and helpful to get some further insight into autism and asked Lee to share with us the benefits of riding for Zoe.  Here is what she wrote.

Zoe has been lucky enough to attend Henderson RDA for many terms now and continues to reap enormous benefits from the experience.

As a largely invisible disability autism can simply look like bad behaviour or lack of effort.  However it causes very real issues and challenges with some of the basic requirements of everyday life.  Failures often outnumber successes for autistics with the result that self esteem is fragile at best.

Things like “multi-tasking” and following multi-step instructions are difficult for Zoe.  Although she is able to complete each component of riding with ease physically, putting them all together simultaneously takes much time and practice.

At the heart of autism is an inability to deal with dynamic situations where the outcome depends on interaction with others and therefore cannot be predicted or controlled.  Thus anything new, unknown or changed can be quite literally terrifying.

There is an ever present fear of failure and for Zoe, making any mistake is a personal disaster of catastrophic proportions which can quickly lead to immense frustration and anger.

When Zoe started at RDA her set attire was dresses and sandals.  It was a big effort to convince her she needed to wear trousers, boots AND a helmet and her first gallop down the driveway was fuelled by stress and fear of the new situation and people.  The kindness, support, patience and respect that she received from all at RDA (both human and equine) soon made this drama disappear.  These days her gallops down the driveway are fuelled entirely by enthusiasm and Monday is the highlight of her week.

She is now able to cope with changes of mount, gear, leader or instructor without undue upset or detriment to her riding skills (which are improving every week).  She has learned that horses have personalities, moods and minds of their own, and that “controlling your horse” means firmly but gently working WITH the horse.
The instigation of the Monday arena lessons has been particularly beneficial for Zoe.  Here she is expected to operate as part of the group (a very hard thing for her to do) – to take her turn and to consider the other horses and riders.  She has learned that she is not expected to do things right the first time, or every time, but she is expected to try.  And she has learned to keep trying over and over again without getting frustrated or angry, knowing that the whole group will share in her success whenever it comes.

These are all huge achievements for her, so to all the volunteers who give so generously of their time and expertise, a big thank you for giving Zoe this wonderful opportunity, and for giving me the invaluable gift of seeing not only her joy in participating, but also her obvious pride in each achievement.

Lee Benson

Annual Kakagowa Student Visit

It was one of the hottest days of the year on 9th February but our volunteers were happy to once again host the Kakagawa Students with disabilities from Japan.  Kakagawa is Waitakere City Council’s sister city and every year since 1995 eight students with disabilities have been visiting NZ for a week long trip to develop their self confidence and build independence.

Our volunteers stayed behind after the Monday rally to welcome the students and give them a ride.  All students were keen to get on and really enjoyed trekking around the paddocks. Language wasn’t really a barrier, the kids’ excitement and joy just showed on all their faces. Sharon Simiona the WCC representative said “the riding is always the highlight of the trip, most of them have never been on a horse before”.

The students presented us with a lovely thank you card after the ride which is up on our notice board in the Club House.  We look forward to welcoming them again next year.

Contact Details

Norma Hayward – Editor:  richnorm@slingshot.co.nz  or 813 3030
General Enquiries:  richnorm@slingshot.co.nz  or 813 3030
www.hendersonrda.org.nz