26 October 2012

Horse riding benefits disabled locals

The New Zealand Community Trust (NZCT) has given $20,000 to New Plymouth Riding for the Disabled (RDA) so a professional instructor can help the city’s disabled community develop physically and mentally.

New Zealand Riding for the Disabled recently made a mandate that by 2013 every RDA group must have at least one trained and qualified instructor overseeing its programmes. To this end, New Plymouth RDA has employed Merle Troy to establish and implement appropriate therapies for its disabled riders.

After being a RDA volunteer for approximately 10 years, Merle decided to take up the challenge of becoming a qualified instructor. She is about to complete the comprehensive New Zealand Riding for the Disabled Chief Instructors Certificate.

“The programme is quite complex,” says Ms Troy. “We see a lot of different medical conditions and we have to instigate, in liaison with the appropriate medical professional, the correct therapy for each individual.

“My role is very much hands on,” she says. “I work with all the riders that come into the programme. At the moment we have around 55 riders between the ages of four and a half years and 55 years. Along with our physiotherapist, I assess the riders, establish goals for their therapy, and then assign a horse and the necessary volunteer(s) to work with the rider.”

The benefits that come from this exercise are significant. A horse’s walk replicates a human’s walk as it uses a large and varied number of muscles. For many of the riders with disabilities, particularly those in wheelchairs or reliant on walkers or crutches, this is the only time they experience the full use of their bodies and muscles, or experience the feeling of moving independently.
As well as physical benefits, Ms Troy says social and psychological parts of the riders’ lives can often improve via these programmes too.

“For example, we have some riders who are mute in their normal day to day lives, but once they start coming to RDA, many of them begin to communicate with sound or speech. Some will only communicate while they are with us, reverting back to being mute once they leave the grounds and horses. It is quite incredible,” says Ms Troy.

New Plymouth RDA is based at Barrett Domain, which means riders can encounter nature at its best while doing their therapy. Classes are run Monday through to Thursday, and range in length from three quarters of an hour to an hour. Riders start each session by riding in the arena doing exercises designed to encourage extension of their bodies and minds, and then they progress to activities outside the arena which includes riding through the Domain.

NZCT’s Taranaki Regional Advisory Committee chairman, Neil Wolfe, says the trust is mindful of returning gaming funds to the community where they were raised. He says NZCT is delighted to be able to help fund this valuable community organisation.

“Riding for the Disabled holds an important place in the community,” says Mr Wolfe. “It is not only for those who have a physical disability; it can also enhance the life of able bodied people who have a medical condition. NZCT is very pleased to be involved in this wonderful work.”

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