rdasouthscotland | National Office Update

09 February 2022

National Office Update

Dear RDA UK volunteers and staff,

For those of you who may not have seen and wish to extend your congratulations, previous RDA UK Chair Sam Orde has received her OBE.

Welcome to Jude Palmer, Head of Operations for RDA.

We are delighted to welcome Jude Palmer as Head of Operations, who has taken over from Anna Hall. Jude has enjoyed several senior operational roles in the charity and social enterprise sectors, including most recently running residential holidays for children and young people.

You can contact Jude at jpalmer@rda.org.uk or 01926 405969.

Weekly Webinars

This week: Tess Fordham talks Groundwork (Thursday 10th February, 7pm)

Tess Fordham is the RDA Regional Vet for Edinburgh and Borders and is on a current working group that are exploring Groundwork Certification for volunteers who don’t want to commit to the Coaching Qualification Pathway. Tess has delivered several training Zooms for coaches over the past year to demonstrate ‘parking’ a horse, ensuring they don’t move a muscle when it comes to mounting and dismounting. Tess will be demonstrating some of these training techniques as well as providing some advice on helping volunteers lead horses and ponies efficiently whilst warming them up for and during a session.

Next week: Paul Ticher discusses Data Protection (Thursday 17th February)

Paul Ticher will be talking to us for this weekly webinar about data protection covering the following:
• Why do we have data protection legislation?
• Whose responsibility is it?
• What are we allowed to do with people's data?
• What do we have to watch out for when we handle people's data?
• What rights do individuals have?

Horses for Sale in Northampton

Plum Park Riding School in Northampton is closing down and has a small selection of horses for sale. Doug Smith and Emma Bayliss have had a preliminary inspection of the horses and identified the following as having potential for RDA use. They will come with some tack which is included in the price. The horses available are:

Barney - grey 15.2hh 9 year old weight carrier. Described as “sane and sensible”. £8000

Wally - 14.2/14.3hh 11 years chestnut with flaxen mane and tail. “Very easy”. £7000

Tinks - grey 13.2hh 12 years. Has done a bit of everything. “Fabulous allrounder”. £5000

Oxo - coloured 13.2hh 14 years. Has done a bit of everything. “Fabulous allrounder”. £4000

If you are interested in any of the horses, you will need to speak to Jamie Temple who is the owner of Plum Park: plumparkfarm@hotmail.com. Please do not call the National Office for enquiries regarding this.

Dressage Judge Training & Rider Needed

We are hosting our RDA Dressage Judge training on Sunday 13 February at Abingdon RDA. If you would like to book, please complete the form using the password: dressage. There are three other alternative dates and venues available. Book information can be found here:

www.myrda.org.uk/dressage-judge-training-booking-form/

We are also looking for a rider to talk at this event. They need to be available between 10-12am on the 13th and be prepared to chat for 10-15 minutes about their classification experience. We are happy to cover travel costs to Abingdon and they are welcome to stay for lunch.

2022 Flu Vaccination Requirements

A reminder for groups travelling to competitions: All equines travelling to competitions must have a valid passport from which the equines identification can be verified. The passport must contain all vaccination details. Passports with missing, altered, unclear or incomplete vaccine records will not be accepted and entry to events may be refused. For more information on this, see: www.myrda.org.uk/runningyourgroup/horses-and-rda/vaccinations/

Tea with a Pony Online Workshop -Monday 28th February 2022 at 6.30pm

Talk about Risk Assessments, potential barriers and how Tea with a Pony can suit your group – lots of engaging and outside the box discussions.
Open to newly signed up groups and those thinking about starting this Spring.

Dudley-Smith Award

RDA Carriage Driving is indebted to Susan Dudley-Smith for wishing to recognise our ‘unsung heroes’. Each Year RDA will acknowledge volunteers who have made an important contribution to RDA Carriage Driving through hard work and often unsung efforts.

The Award will be presented at the National Championships on Friday 15th July 2022.

To download the nomination form please follow the link www.myrda.org.uk/runningyourgroup/carriage-driving/

All nominations are to be received by Faye Mckenning (fmckenning@rda.org.uk) by Friday 15th June.

Best wishes,

Brigitta Falcini
Communications Coordinator
Riding for the Disabled Association