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 

Hong Kong 7s weekend

   Last weekend was exhausting but huge fun. NT, HT and myself ( and half of our Singapore it would seem) flew to Hong Kong to experience the famous Hong Kong Rugby Sevens tournament. I'm not as big a fan of rugby as the rest of my family but even I knew that this 3 day festival is reputed to be the best and wildest of all so I was keen to come too and hoped to fit in a little light shopping and maybe a hike on one of the surrounding hills.  

 

HT had not visited HK before so we spend the afternoon of our arrival doing a little sightseeing along the harbour

 and came across The Queen Elizabeth cruise ship which HT had seen only a short while previously in Sydney

On the first day the rugby doesn't start until the afternoon so we had time to visit the Jade Market and haggle (probably not very well) for a few treasures. 

NT went back to join HT and get to the stadium early whilst my friend AL and I took the bus to Stanley. This delightful seaside town reminds me of Cornwall with it's pretty beach, market stalls and trendy cafe's 

We headed back to the city and to the stadium to join the boys, the rugby was now in full swing and you could hear the roar of the crowd from several streets away.

The stadium is really impressive and beautifully tucked in between tall buildings and hills

 I found NT and HT in the South Stand. This is the stand that has a reputation for being the 'party stand', only over 18's are allowed and an interest in fancy dress, beer drinking and singing is encouraged, we felt rather under dressed.

There were people dressed as Super heroes, fairies, Minions, nuns, Mario, pirates, bishops and a whole lot of other characters and animals

Over the 3 days of rugby NT and HT saw every single game I think. I wasn't quite so dedicated and took the opportunity to do a bit more sightseeing and to meet up with friends from the UK who recently moved to HK.

Last year on my first visit to HK I was thrilled to see hills surrounding it and heard that there is good hiking trails so this time I packed a little rucksack and my walking shoes and spent a morning hiking a route.

I took the tram up to the top of The Peak, the old tram felt a delightfully old fashioned way to ascend and the views on the way up and then at the top were amazing.

There was a huge crowd of people and the sound of drumming and then lion dancers coming towards me. A poster explained that there was a charity walk taking place that morning.

I started off down my path which was initially very quiet and then hundreds of the charity walkers appeared

Soon they were gone and I had the path pretty much to myself and again the fabulous views, first looking back on The Peak.. 

....then more views of HK harbour and it's outlying islands

 The path became more rural and it really felt like 'proper countryside'

The leaflet that I had showed an extra detour to ascend Mt. High West (494m). The 100 metre rise to the summit was described as 'quite challenging' but promised views of Lantau Island and Kowloon Peak. It certainly was a challenge, and involved scrambling up a narrow path using hands and feet in places

 I was a little disconcerted when I came across a 'Path Closed' sign but didn't want to turn back, I was having too much fun. Just then 3 men came down the path, I tried talking to them about the route but they didn't speak English nor I Cantonese so I decided that if they were happy to ignore the sign so was I. 

It was a very steep climb up but well worth the effort and as promised the views were extensive

I took the easier path down off the other side and after a while returned to my original route and walked on down to the Pok Fu Lam Reservoir and then took a bus back to the city

Later that afternoon I re joined my family at the rugby in time to see the last few games and the final between Fiji and New Zealand. The party atmosphere was reaching fever pitch, the players came out to fanfares and jets of smoke and fire

 Fiji won convincingly and as they took their trophy and mounted the stage a firework display exploded from the stands

It had been quite a weekend, rugby, shopping, sight seeing, catching up with friends and hikeing. I am getting to love visiting Hong Kong and look forward to a return trip asap-my walking leaflet has details of a route called The Dragons Back-with a name like that it has to be done!