Riding for the Disabled Association - Eastern Regional Conference

The day after Brit Champs I was riding at the RDA's eastern conference, which was held in a fantastic new venue called Houghton Hall, just outside Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire. For several weeks, we had been practising a 'quadrille' during our RDA sessions - a musical ride made up of four sets of rider + horse.

Riding is such a lovely activity! I was really looking forward to this part of my weekend, especially after the rowing racing was cancelled. I like being with the others, and with the horses, and it's such a supportive atmosphere that I feel confident and comfortable even if my body isn't working properly. On the horse, I can ride with one hand and he doesn't mind. If I tried to row with one hand the boat would just tip me in! Also, it's easier for the instructors and volunteers to help us out than it is for anyone outside the boat to help you in a scull. I find that the riding challenges me without making me feel frustrated and helpless when my body won't work the way I want it to - instead, it's easier to find ways around difficulties.

Another thing about riding which is quite nice is that you actually have to make an effort to look good, which I don't spend much time on either whilst rowing or in everyday life. However, in honour of the occasion my mum plaited my hair - this might sound small but it's something I can't manage myself because of my awkward hands, so it definitely felt a bit special!

Fancy (ish) hair - next time there will be ribbons ;)

Anyway, my mum and I arrived at the venue the night before the main event so that we could all (horses and riders) have the opportunity to get used to the setting and to run through with full costume. The horses soon adapted to the strange echoey space they were now in, and didn't even bat an eyelid when all of the parents and carers who had come along were instructed to go round flipping all the flappy seats to make a lot of noise!

Me with Victor and our support team!

Once the horses felt happy we started our run-through, which went pretty well - and even better when the music was the right volume! We did one run-through with leaders, then tried it by ourselves, which actually turned out to be easier. The horses were all well-behaved and we left it feeling pretty confident that all would be well in the morning.

Finishing circles, getting back to the middle line, before coming from the four corners to converge as a 'box' in the middle.

On the Monday we arrived at Houghton in plenty of time to get togged up and mounted. At this point the nerves crept in a tiny bit but we all stayed pretty calm and focussed. There were a lot of people watching, but it felt like a really friendly audience so we just wanted to do well and to reflect the effort put in by all the volunteers at the group. There was another musical ride before us with much younger children taking part - they were really good as well so we had quite a big act to follow!

We began by just walking quietly around the edge so that the horses could get used to all the pairs of eyes on them. It definitely helped that they'd grown familiar with the environment the previous night, and to be honest they seemed pretty unfazed by the crowd. Once we had been introduced, and the horses were suitably relaxed, it was time to start and put all the hard work into fruition!

We began with a salute...

...then walked to the long sides before cutting across the school and meeting up again at either end...

...after some more manoeuvres at walk, we kicked on into trot and trotted round on a 20m circle in the middle of the school...

...we slowed back to walk and did some wiggly moves across the school in an S shape (which quite possibly has a proper name, but I don't know it!) before going back into trot to do a serpentine from one end of the school to the other, following each other...

...finally, we came back to the middle of the school and saluted again - then it was all over! We all felt it had gone really well, and it was quite exciting to be the subject of so many photos afterwards - for example, my mum got the one below, and we were also featured in the Cambridge News - fame at last!

Us in all our glory!

The rest of the event was an opportunity to see what else the RDA has to offer - including carriage driving, western horses, showjumping and, perhaps most exciting, a display from three-time gold medal winner at the Paralympics in dressage, Sophie Christiansen (OBE!). I was particularly excited to see her ride - I watched her on TV in the London Paralympics and was impressed by her control and her joy at doing so well. When I went to Royal Holloway to study a postgraduate course, I found that Sophie's golden letterbox was on campus, and that she had been a Masters student at RH too. Watching her ride was just fantastic. I'm afraid I don't have any pictures of her riding because I was too busy just watching and drinking it all in, but since she's such a high-flyer there are plenty of other places you can go to find videos or photos of her riding. I would recommend it!

Afterwards, we had the opportunity to go and meet Sophie and her beautiful horse, Janeiro 6. Sophie was very friendly and we chatted about our mutual interests of Royal Holloway and horses - she even posed for a picture with me (*star-struck*).

Janeiro getting involved too... sweet horse!

It sounds clichéd, but it was genuinely extremely inspirational to meet such a talented rider who is also such a lovely human being. Hopefully Sophie will have lots of success in Rio too, even if the Janeiro part of her partnership may be retired by then.

Beautiful but slightly suspicious horse...

I went away from the day feeling really positive and feeling full of admiration for the horses and volunteers who make the opportunities at the RDA possible. At the moment it's a small part of my life in terms of how much time I spend at the stables, but I'd love it to grow and I really hope that what I've done so far is just the beginning of a much larger experience. After our ride, we were each given a rosette and a medal. It felt as if our efforts were appreciated and recognised as well. I was also pleased to see that our reserve rider, Claire, was given a special mention and was introduced to the crowd for her own round of applause.

The RDA is fantastic at getting people involved and at making them feel that they are achieving things - something which, in my opinion, is lacking in adaptive rowing. The RDA's motto is 'it's what you CAN do that counts', and I think this says a lot. Adaptive rowing can be seen as something to help people recover from serious illness or injury, or as a means of dealing with a lifelong condition, but ultimately you receive no reward of your achievements from anyone unless you win a race. Under the current level of classification, the most disabled inevitably lose out under such a system. I don't think it's a problem with the para-rowing community, but just that all but the very biggest regattas (the national or international ones) you win nothing for coming second. This means that if you do win something you can feel rightly proud, but to be honest I feel no more proud of the prizes I've won for rowing than I do of the medal and rosette I was awarded by the RDA for taking part in a non-competitive event. To me, both types of award represent a triumph over disability rather than over other disabled people. I will treasure my RDA medal and rosette and can't wait to earn more: and I specifically mean earn more and not win more; winning is all well and good, but you don't have to beat everybody else to be deserving of recognition.

Earned - by all four of us (and four quadrupeds...but they don't have anywhere suitable to keep such things).