A View from Here

For those of you who never met me, I’m the South African bloke who in spite of being terrified of flying, made it out twice to your beautiful islands to come learn from you, after I hit a dead-end here at home.

Of course the first visit would never have happened without the initial invite from Guy Ockenden (he of the dubious sense of humour), and the kind hospitality of Colleen Trappitt, her family, and Roslein Wilkes. For pretty much every moment I spent at the various yards during my first visit, I was in awe and must have looked somewhat like a tourist, taking photos over everything.

It was hard not to, though: for the most, everything seemed to run like clockwork, and the facilities were incredible – I’d never even heard of a sensory trail before, never mind had the opportunity to take a walk along one. Mention also has to be made of how fortunate you are with your volunteers, who always came across as completely professional and utterly devoted to the work they were carrying out, no matter whether it was as a leader, side-walker, or even mucking out a stable.

But possibly what impressed the most, and what ultimately brought me out on such a long journey, was the willingness the NZRDA showed in helping out a complete stranger from another country. The help was there initially in email form, and when I arrived in New Zealand I was pretty much flooded with various instructional manuals and books, and was fortunate to be able to work with various coaches, to put this theory I had learned into practice.

And this information wasn’t just in printed form: more often than not I would be working, get into a conversation with one of the coaches, and then discover their own personal tips they used to overcome certain difficulties – whether with tack, the horses or the pupils. There is a wealth of experience and knowledge sitting with many of your coaches, and I believe it would be a pretty phenomenal manual if recorded.

Do I think it’s all roses at NZRDA? No, not at all. I’m certain that individual egos come into play from time-to-time, and people forget the real reason they are there. This seems to pretty much happen everywhere. And you clearly have the correct procedures to deal with it, else the NZRDA would have long since fragmented and lost its direction. What I see is an organisation that by all means should continue to go from strength to strength, to continue doing such awesome good work for so many people who need it. And with my own personal project finally looking as if it is coming to fruition, I’m going to be proud going forward myself, being able to say that it all started with the NZRDA and an invitation to share a flat white and a cheese scone.

I know that we have said it before, but there is nothing like volunteers and the outcomes that they can achieve.

There is another breed of volunteer that sometimes doesn’t get the recognition that they deserve. I am not sure that they have a name for this Group, but you could possibly identify them as “indirect-volunteers” or as might be more appropriate, Reluctant Volunteers.

So who are the Reluctant ones? For us, these are the people that are married to, related to, friends with or would otherwise like to be involved with our actual volunteers. These are the people that suddenly find they are doing those jobs that they had no intention of doing by volunteering for us, but through fate they often end up doing more than they had ever expected, intended or even wanted.

We call them the reluctant volunteers as they had no intention of volunteering with us and “whamo” suddenly find themselves up to their ears in horse poo, on the committee and doing those other thankless jobs that need doing. They are the extra bit of muscle, the trailer owners, the electricians, plumbers, lawyers and accountants all press ganged into service and all because someone they know volunteered their services and believed that because they were not doing something at that moment, they should assist. We appreciate that some of our volunteers also subscribe to the view that “idle hands make work for the devil”.

So to you our reluctant volunteers for whom a peaceful Saturday and free evenings is now a thing of the past, thank you. Your significant others may not say it but we do – cheers! We couldn’t do it without you.

And for the reluctant ones who catch the RDA bug and love being there and feel it is their duty to involve still more in our work – thank you too. We understand the passion and appreciate you.

At present RDA counts on the services of over 1500 direct volunteers. We have never been able to count the indirect (reluctant) volunteers, but we know there are hundreds of you. Cheers

BLOG WEDNESDAY 28^th 2010

Brilliant coverage of RDA on the GOOD MORNING show this morning. Big thanks to TVNZ for covering our work and promoting us to the wider community. It is great to be able to really let people know what we are doing.

Yesterday Michael Walker, top NZ Jockey, attended the Open Day at the Te Awamutu Group RDA and describes it as a humbling experience. You can see some of the picture of his time there by clicking on the link below:

http://www.michaelwalker.co.nz/tawamutu-riding-for-the-disabled-photos.html

We are always interested in your views and what you really think about our work – comments thoughts and suggestions through the website or on Facebook (Nz Rda) and Twitter (@nzrda) are appreciated.

Riding for the Disabled means so much to so many people. Every year over 3000 riders come to RDA and with 1500 volunteers, not to mention the horses, we deliver over 1.5 million rides per year.

So what happens when you got to an RDA for your first time? What you might discover first is that there is a bit of “paper work” that has to be done to make sure we have your details and how we might assist. Then the Coach will work alongside of you to help establish some goals for you and what you want to achieve during your time at RDA. RDA in New Zealand has a goal centred approach – we want the Riders to get the best out of their time. So each time you come we will be helping you work on your goals – getting to where you want to be.

So each day you come the lessons, rides and rallies will be about you.

As you will appreciate this means that a lot of time is spent outside of “rides” making sure that our volunteers and staff are well qualified in the latest methodologies.

Training for all RDA Groups in New Zealand is provided by the National Organisation by the NZRDA National Training Coordinator and the NZRDA Training Team. All highly qualified they work with our volunteers and staff to ensure that their skill level is of the highest calibre.

This takes time but our training, our skills and our methods are gaining an international reputation. We want to be the best and we want to be able to provide the best service we can for our Riders. The individual approach we take with all our Riders is proving to be invaluable and best of all it works.

If you have the time tomorrow (Wednesday 28^th April) then make sure you watch “Good Morning” on TVONE, just after 9:00 am and you will see what we do.

Monday April 26^th 2010

Being out in the community and doing our work is what we do best. There are 54 RDA Groups across NZ just quietly looking to do the best that they can for the riders that come to them.

Riding for the Disabled provides therapeutic interaction with horse in order to develop increased ability and self esteem for children and adults with physical intellectual disabilities.

This week is Riding for the Disabled Awareness Week. Officially we started yesterday – ANZAC DAY. But in absolute deference to those men and women who have gone before us and performed so courageously in the various theatres of war, we start today. Nothing should cut across our respect for these people, ever.

There is a lot that will be happening across the country and a variety of activities – and there are those Groups that got out and about earlier to raise their profile in their communities.

The Hastings and Hawera Groups have already been out and about promoting themselves to their community and we know that there will not be a person in those districts who wasn’t made aware of the wonderful work that they are doing in their communities

Michael Walker (www.michaelwalker.co.nz), top New Zealand jockey is also promoting us across his website and through his actions visiting RDA Groups as well. You can read about why he has become involved and why he thinks we do so well.

Throughout the week there will be advertisements playing on the ZM network and Coast FM, these great people have got in behind us and are making sure that you get to hear about us.

Did you see the great Article about Melanie Kerr in a recent New Idea – she spoke of how important she thought RDA was and what it means for her to be involved. Thanks Melanie we have heard that you are a terrific and hard working volunteer as well.

Stay in touch through the blog and we look forward to raising the profile of RDA even more

PS thanks for your help, it is always appreciated.

RDA Awareness Week is nearly here 25 April – 01 May 2010.  Watch out for activities in your local area.