Volunteering with the Riding for the Disabled Association of Singapore

 About six months after arriving in Singapore I signed up as a volunteer at their RDA centre. I felt sure that I would enjoy doing this as not only would I be able to work with children who have special needs but I would also have contact again with horses. Having left my horse behind in the UK and finding the weather, expense and type of riding available in Singapore not conducive to me riding here, I have temporarily (I hope) given up riding

 The RDA centre is situated right in the middle of Singapore and the horses are very lucky in that they have 2 fields that they can be turned out in to when they are not working. This seems to be quite unusual as green spaces are few and far between, most horses in Singapore are kept stabled all the time. Right next door is the Polo Club and the National Equestrian Centre

 After  recent renovation works the RDA now has a new lunge arena, even at 8.30am it's a hot place to be

 Before joining the volunteer team I attended two training sessions; first the Sidewalker Training and secondly Leader training, some people choose only to sidewalk or lead but I wanted to be able to do both.
Sidewalkers; as the name suggests walk alongside the rider to give support, reinforce what the instructor says and encourage the rider to develop his/her skills. Many of the riders require two side walkers-one on each side.
Leaders; are in charge of getting the horse ready for the session, grooming and tacking up (which may include some specialist equipment depending on the riders needs), leading the horse throughout the session and then untacking and cleaning the horse after the session.
  The riders in the morning sessions are all children and come weekly for 10 weeks. At the start of the 10 week term the volunteers are allocated their role, either Leader or Sidewalker so the child should have the same team of Horse, Leader and Sidewalker(s). This ideally lasts for the whole term thereby building relationship and trust which is of particular importance for children with special needs.

 At the first session the children have their helmets properly fitted and this helmet will be marked with their name for future sessions

The horse are beautifully looked after and have their own stables with a deep bed of shavings. They are showered regularly and have fans in their stables to keep them cool.The hay is imported all the way from Australia. This horse is Lucas, he's a real sweetie but cheeky too.

The horses range from 12hh to 17hh high, some are retired riding school ponies, some ex-race horses. All go through extensive training before becoming a 'therapy-horse' so that they become used to a wide variety of objects, noises, activities and different situations and are as close to 'bomb proof' as you can get.

The tack room is very organised with everything labelled, it's so easy to find each horses tack and grooming box

The majority of riders need assistance with mounting and dismounting, some riders mount from this ramp and some require the aid of a hoist. 

 Fortunately the arena is covered and has fans so keeps relatively cool inside. Prior to the session games and activities are set out, all carefully planned to stimulate and stretch the particular riders due for that session. 

 At the end of the double session in the morning, i.e. we have a second group of riders straight after the first, we wave the riders off, fill in their progress reports, sort out the horses, give them their carrot or apple and sit down with the instructors for coffee and cake to debrief. This is when the child's progress or challenges are discussed and suggestions may be made as to how to help them more next time 

             After their working day the horses get a well deserved break in the field where they can graze and relax, whilst I head off for the hot walk back to the MRT station and a shower when I get home