Barred riders back in the saddle

Kate Wrightson, 24, takes a ride on Winnie at Armour Bay, on the Manukau Harbour. Picture / Dean Purcell

Nicholas Hardingham almost jumped up and down in the saddle with excitement as he rode in from the beach at Armour Bay on the Manukau Harbour yesterday.

It was his first ride on a horse for years. Although he is only about 30, he was one of the first of a group of intellectually disabled people to be barred by North Shore Riding for the Disabled to make room for new, younger riders.

The day after their plight was reported in the Herald in November, a Laingholm club called Muddy Creek Riders contacted the disabled group's New Dawn Partnership in Milford and offered to fill the gap.

It has taken five months to organise everything, including a specially built platform to help some of the group from their wheelchairs on to the horses, but Mr Hardingham's joyous laughter on the group's first visit to Armour Bay yesterday showed it was worth the wait.

Kate Wrightson, 24, one of the last to be barred by Riding for the Disabled in November, said she was not scared as she rode down the beach and back with Muddy Creek volunteers walking alongside her.

"I want to come back. It's fun," she said.

Donna McDonald, 51, who rode the same horse for 10 years at Riding for the Disabled, beamed with pride and shook everyone's hands after her ride.

Riding for the Disabled, a volunteer group, barred the adult riders because it said it had to give priority to younger disabled people who could improve their hand-eye co-ordination and walking abilities through riding horses.

But Muddy Creek Riders president Andreas Bodenstein said his club simply wanted to give people a good time.

"We have been with another club in the area which is more like a pony club. But pony clubs can be restrictive with their rules and regulations. Being in an organisation that is nationwide, you have to write reports to Wellington and do this and that," he said.

The Muddy Creek club is also working with Henderson-based Further Education And Training, which brought two disabled riders along yesterday. They, too, have been barred from Riding for the Disabled because they are now adults.

Mr Bodenstein said the club was committed to hosting the North Shore group regularly for at least a year and was seeking sponsors for a $15,000 arena in Laingholm which would be safer for the Henderson group.