Who are we?
We are based in North Leigh near Witney and provide therapeutic horse riding for over 40 riders with a range of disabilities. Horse riding is widely recognised as an excellent form of therapy; building self confidence, improving concentration, coordination and balance. Our group runs 17 sessions each week with our six working ponies.
We have a 22 acre site with a purpose built indoor arena and a new outdoor Countryside Challenge course. Our charity group is staffed entirely by volunteers; 50 helpers and nine qualified RDA Coaches. Together we provide riding and horse care sessions, maintain our paddocks and stables and support our fundraising activities to keep our group active.
We are totally self funded with no government or national RDA aid, and rely entirely on donations. Every pound donated by you has a big impact.
Why are we crowdfunding?
Due to the increase in rainfall over the last few years, and the geography of our site, our paddocks have become increasingly waterlogged for longer periods of time. This has resulted in very muddy areas where the horses stand; around the gateways and feeding bins. The horses and volunteers have all been struggling to move around safely because of the ankle-deep gloop making it difficult and challenging to care for the horses and run our sessions safely.
How we’ll spend the money raised
We want to make life easier and safer for our wonderful helpers and install more hardstanding around the field gates and feeding bins. We have completed one gateway to assess the impact at a cost of £1,500 which includes sub contractor's labour and materials. This hardstanding has been hugely successful and we want to create similar hardstanding areas in five more of our gateways at a cost of £7,500. The images below show the area around the field gates before and after the installation.
Community impact
We help many local people with physical and mental disabilities experience the benefits of therapeutic horse riding. This improves their mental wellbeing, confidence and reduces isolation and anxiety by providing social contact for those who are isolated. The sessions also improve physical co-ordination, core strength and muscle development, as well as strengthening areas of weakness and uneven development for riders who have physical disabilities. Our volunteers come from the local community and also benefit both physically and mentally from their involvement with our sessions.
How you can play your part
There are four simple ways to help us reach our target, and make this project a reality.
1. Make a pledge. Don’t delay if you’re going to support us, because momentum is key to our success!
2. Spread the word. Share our project on your social media pages and tell the world to get behind us! The more people we reach, the more support we will get.
3. Offer rewards. Get involved if you are a local business by donating things we can offer to our supporters. We will give you a shout out!
4. Fundraise for us. If you want to run your own fundraiser – maybe a sponsored activity or similar – use the 'contact project' button at the top of our page to let us know. Setting up your own page only takes a few minutes and you won’t need any bank details. Just a fun idea! For example could you hold or organise a Bake Sale, a Coffee Morning, an Open Garden Day, a Garage Sale, a Sponsored Run/Walk/Dance or Skip or could you place one of our collection boxes at your school or business?
All ideas are welcome however large or small.