Dannevirke Community Board gives $4000 to Tararua Riding for the Disabled for new pony

Volunteers with a client at Tararua Riding for the Disabled.

Tararua Riding for the Disabled is in dire need of a new pony, and the Dannevirke Community Board has stepped up to the mounting block to give the organisation the funding leg-up it needs.

Tararua Riding for the Disabled (RDA) is part of a nationwide organisation offering specialised therapeutic horse riding for people living with physical, intellectual, emotional and social challenges.

The local RDA caters for 30 riders, but some of the children riding the smallest pony are outgrowing it and need the next size up. Tararua RDA has found a pony that will be a good fit, but it will cost them $8849.

In a request to the Dannevirke Community Board for funding, the organisation wrote: “As you can understand the horses are our main asset and it is paramount they are healthy and fit to be ridden. This year we have had high costs and one horse needs to be replaced.

“We are on the lookout for a new pony. At the moment we find the kids that ride the smallest pony struggle to move on to our larger pony which is quite a bit taller. Our riders are vulnerable people who often really struggle with change and if the change is too much it will knock their confidence.”

Dannevirke Community Board member Terry Hynes visited RDA at Mangatainoka. “Riders come from Norsewood to Eketāhuna to use this facility. The society has 30 volunteers and a paid equine caretaker who maintains the horses,” he said at the meeting.

“As you can imagine the horses they use have to be extremely quiet and as a result they are hard to find and very expensive. The riders gain a great deal of confidence from their regular riding at the centre – one young rider is in training for a dressage test at pony cub level.”

The board voted unanimously to grant $4000 from the General Assistance Grants Scheme to Tararua RDA to keep their younger riders in the saddle.

Dave Murdoch is a part-time photo-journalist working for the Bush Telegraph and based at Dannevirke. He has covered any community story telling good news about the district for the last 10 years.