Aylesbury and Wendover Riding for the Disabled Group

Do you have some free time on Friday afternoons, and do you enjoy being outdoors? If so, we would love you to help us at the Aylesbury and Wendover Riding for the Disabled Group.

This long-established group operates out of a small, friendly yard in Weston Turville which has an outdoor school and provides the right type of ponies and environment for our activity. We also have our own mechanical horse which we use when it is too cold or wet for the children to ride outside. At present we have the use of three ponies which enables us to provide riding lessons for 12 children on a Friday afternoon, throughout the year, during term time.

Some of our children come from the special needs unit of a local primary school and others attend the PACE centre for disabled children in Aylesbury. They really look forward to their ride each week and gain enormous pleasure and benefit from the experience of being up on a horse; their confidence improves as well as their balance and muscle tone. There is often noticeable improvement in speech development, and the beaming smiles and laughter during the activity session each week show clearly how much the children enjoy themselves – in addition to the physical benefits.

We primarily rely on fundraising and donations to cover our expenses such as pony hire. Our activity is done on an entirely voluntary basis. All the instructors and helpers are volunteers and as a rule, each rider needs three helpers, one to lead the pony and two side walkers. We are always looking for more helpers. If you are free for a couple of hours on a Friday afternoon during term time and you would like to help us (no experience with horses necessary) then please give me a call on 07914 905196 or 01296 689136.Vanessa MorganSecretary