Wyre Forest Riders RDA is a registered Charity and is one of over 500 volunteer groups that make up the UK’s Riding for Disabled Association network. Through RDA, horses and ponies provide therapy, achievement and enjoyment for people with disabilities. The simple pleasure of working with horses is the cornerstone of all RDA’s activities. From that starting point everything else flows – be that freedom of movement, gaining confidence, building relationships, receiving life-enhancing therapy or achieving individual goals. Here at Wyre Forest Riders RDA we support up to 16 local youngsters, aged 5 – 16 years of age, each term to experience the joy of pony riding at Stourport Riding Centre. All our riders are pupils at Wyre Forest School in Kidderminster and are selected for riding based on careful needs analysis by school staff.
Everyone in Wyre Forest Riders RDA is a volunteer, including trustees, riding instructors, those who help at the sessions by leading ponies and side-walking the riders and those who work behind the scenes on fund-raising and administration. We are always keen to recruit people who can help with the riding and those who can help us to raise the much needed funds required to pay for the pony hire each year. Click here to find out more about volunteering.
Everyone in Wyre Forest Riders RDA is a volunteer, including trustees, riding instructors, those who help at the sessions by leading ponies and side-walking the riders and those who work behind the scenes on fund-raising and administration. We are always keen to recruit people who can help with the riding and those who can help us to raise the much needed funds required to pay for the pony hire each year. Click here to find out more about volunteering.
Medical professionals recognise that there are significant therapeutic benefits for our riders. The warmth and three dimensional movement of the horse is transmitted through the rider’s body, gradually making it more relaxed and supple, strengthening core stability, reducing spasms and improving balance, posture and co-ordination.
A volunteer and physiotherapist commented “I believe Wyre Forest Riders provides a good all round improvement in the children. By that I mean socially, physically and psychologically. I think it helps largely that they shine at something others in their peer group may not. I can remember there was a child who we took to Wyre Forest Group. He had Downs syndrome and could not sit up very well. However I can say that after the experience he left having accomplished sitting on a horse and riding brilliantly. This is just one example of many as I have worked with many children with cerebral palsy who went through similar experiences.”
Riding offers an element of risk, often denied to many people, especially those who have been affected by an accident or serious illness and offers them the chance to regain mobility and a sense of achievement. People with congenital disabilities discover a new freedom in movement. Those with progressive diseases can retain mobility and remain active for longer.
Nationally the RDA groups help over 28,000 people each year to discover the joy and freedom of horse riding. The RDA has been active for more than 40 years. Our riding instructors and volunteers are all fully trained by RDA.
If you would like to find out more about volunteering, please contact volunteercoordinator.wfr.rda@gmail.com
A volunteer and physiotherapist commented “I believe Wyre Forest Riders provides a good all round improvement in the children. By that I mean socially, physically and psychologically. I think it helps largely that they shine at something others in their peer group may not. I can remember there was a child who we took to Wyre Forest Group. He had Downs syndrome and could not sit up very well. However I can say that after the experience he left having accomplished sitting on a horse and riding brilliantly. This is just one example of many as I have worked with many children with cerebral palsy who went through similar experiences.”
Riding offers an element of risk, often denied to many people, especially those who have been affected by an accident or serious illness and offers them the chance to regain mobility and a sense of achievement. People with congenital disabilities discover a new freedom in movement. Those with progressive diseases can retain mobility and remain active for longer.
Nationally the RDA groups help over 28,000 people each year to discover the joy and freedom of horse riding. The RDA has been active for more than 40 years. Our riding instructors and volunteers are all fully trained by RDA.
If you would like to find out more about volunteering, please contact volunteercoordinator.wfr.rda@gmail.com
