Today as being Wednesday means its Acorn and squirrels day.
I got there for 12pm today as I was going to be teaching the first ride as Sue who normally takes it was away, all six riders were there today.
They are all really good at getting on, even Gail who is quite severely disabled is able to get on quite well, with the fact our mounting block is able to move up and down, it is also large enough to have a wheelchair on. ( We did a lot of fundraising to be able to have it made as having hydraulics it cost a lot of money.)
I don't often teach these riders, today I got them doing lots of stretching exercises, stopping and starting at letters around the school, I also got them steering around cones and changing direction across the school.
I also gave them rings that they had to place on cones around the school, which made them bend and stretch down towards the cone on the ground. Gail made me smile today, as she was very determined that she was going to place the ring on the cone on her own, she even told me that I wasn't allowed to lift up the cone to help her. She did it. I got the riders to place the ring on the cone first using one hand and next time using the other hand.
We finished off the ride having a race down the school, they had to stop on the B - E line and stretch for their horse's ears and tail before carrying on to finish.
In the second session we had only three riders today as one was away, I got them to do a lot of steering through cones and a lot of stopping which is working on improving their balance.
I got these riders to place the rings on cones as well.
I was really impressed with Roxy today as her legs are really beginning to relax down more and her balance has improved no end.
Chatting to Roxy and her carer today about Roxy being on the radio article, she told me that she is doing work experience as a radio presenter with Seale-hayne, as they have their own radio station. I shall need to listen before next week to it.
Tonight I filled out the form and wrote out a cheque for the RDA coaching conference which is being held at Warwickshire college at the beginning of November. The provisional programme looks good, more on this another time when its confirmed,
shall post it off in the morning on the way to work.
Wednesday 25 September 2013
The Curious Incident of the dog in the night-time.
I've just finished reading this book.
The Curious Incident of the dog in the night-time.
By Mark Haddon.
It was a really good book , it is based on a young person aged 15 with Asperger's Syndrome, having to deal with everyday living.
Having had many riders with Asperger's and Autism over the time teaching RDA, I can relate to many of the traits described in the book.
It is a murder mystery in a completely different context to others. I can recommend it, not only as a good novel to read, as an excellent insight to the issues faced by people with Asperger's / autism, coping in the society in which they find themselves in.
If you ever get the chance to read this book then do, you wont regret it, you never know you just might learn something. Even if it is that everyone has something that they can offer in their own way.
The Curious Incident of the dog in the night-time.
By Mark Haddon.
It was a really good book , it is based on a young person aged 15 with Asperger's Syndrome, having to deal with everyday living.
Having had many riders with Asperger's and Autism over the time teaching RDA, I can relate to many of the traits described in the book.
It is a murder mystery in a completely different context to others. I can recommend it, not only as a good novel to read, as an excellent insight to the issues faced by people with Asperger's / autism, coping in the society in which they find themselves in.
If you ever get the chance to read this book then do, you wont regret it, you never know you just might learn something. Even if it is that everyone has something that they can offer in their own way.
Tuesday's Activites
Today before work I listen again to the article about Acorn and Squirrels RDA that was on radio Devon last Thursday morning, on iplayer radio. I decided to post a link on to both my Facebook page and on twitter, I was really impressed as no sooner had I put it on to twitter than it was retweeted by someone - a true case of networking in action.
Today I went to Forde abbey to teach the younger riders of chard RDA group, all four riders were there today, there was no rain in sight today so that was good.
I had the two girls first followed by the two boys in the next half hour. These riders all need three helpers with each of them, one person leading and being in charge of the pony and two side helpers looking after the rider on the pony.
Today I was carrying on with what we have been doing the last couple of sessions.
I was getting them to stop by cones and count to a number before asking the pony to walk on to the next cone to do the same at that cone. they also were practicing steering around the cones first to the left and then to the right of the cones.
I then got them to place rings on a cone, first using their left hand then next time with their right hand, each cone was a different colour and so the rider was asked what colour they wanted, so as to practice speaking and interacting as this something we are working on with the riders, the counting is also helping with this.
To get the girls to sit up as straight as they can I tell them that they need to sit up as if they are top models, to get the boys to sit up I tell them that they need to sit up as if they are soldiers which seems to work very nicely.
To finish I was getting the riders to name parts of the ponies that they were sitting on and simple parts of the saddle and bridle as I am hoping to arrange for someone to come and see if they are good enough to be awarded their RDA grade one certificate and badge at the next session as it will soon be time to finish for the summer as the clocks will soon be going back and it will be dark in the evenings.
Today I went to Forde abbey to teach the younger riders of chard RDA group, all four riders were there today, there was no rain in sight today so that was good.
I had the two girls first followed by the two boys in the next half hour. These riders all need three helpers with each of them, one person leading and being in charge of the pony and two side helpers looking after the rider on the pony.
Today I was carrying on with what we have been doing the last couple of sessions.
I was getting them to stop by cones and count to a number before asking the pony to walk on to the next cone to do the same at that cone. they also were practicing steering around the cones first to the left and then to the right of the cones.
I then got them to place rings on a cone, first using their left hand then next time with their right hand, each cone was a different colour and so the rider was asked what colour they wanted, so as to practice speaking and interacting as this something we are working on with the riders, the counting is also helping with this.
To get the girls to sit up as straight as they can I tell them that they need to sit up as if they are top models, to get the boys to sit up I tell them that they need to sit up as if they are soldiers which seems to work very nicely.
To finish I was getting the riders to name parts of the ponies that they were sitting on and simple parts of the saddle and bridle as I am hoping to arrange for someone to come and see if they are good enough to be awarded their RDA grade one certificate and badge at the next session as it will soon be time to finish for the summer as the clocks will soon be going back and it will be dark in the evenings.
Monday 23 September 2013
It has been a busy week for me with RDA activites.
Thursday 12th September.
Today I had some calls to make to sort out a few Problems that a group had with Instructors and riders, which after some discussions of the various solutions possible, were sorted.
In the evening I drove to Ilton which is near to Ilminster to teach the chard RDA ride there, they are a group of teenagers, that I have been teaching for several years now,
they were all their normal chatty selves tonight.
I am working on getting them off the lead rein in walk and trot at the moment,which
can be a bit hair raising at times. I got them to stop between poles on the ground and steer between blocks off the lead rein. One or two of them were having 'brake' problems.
Jamie, which is one of riders, wanted to know why there was a 'x' marked on the wall of the arena when it is in the middle of the arena, I explained to him that it was there for people that didn't know where 'x' was, to help them find it when they were riding down the centre line.
It was nearly dark when I got home, just a fortnight ago it had been light when I got home just goes to show that the nights are drawing in and winters just around the corner.
Monday 16th September.
Today I went back up to Ilton to teach Lauren and Jason, these are my two riders from chard RDA, who went to the Paralympics last year and got inspired to do more, so over the winter I went up and did extra coaching with them, they went to the regionals in Cornwall in June and came 1st and 2nd in their dressage class, which everyone in the group was very pleased with. next years aim is to qualify for the RDA nationals.
I got them working hard this evening on their trotting and circles.
Tonight it was dark when I arrived back home, it was very cloudy tonight which didn't help.
Tuesday 17th September.
Today I was meant to go and take the chard RDA session at Forde abbey, unfortunately it was raining and as we are outside and the riders are not very old, the decision was to cancel it as the ponies even though they are very good wouldn't be happy with the wind and rain, It has only been the second one that we have cancelled this summer so far.
Wednesday 18th September.
Acorn and squirrels ride in Exeter this lunch time, all the riders were there today, it was a busy session at 12.30pm, as we had Matt Woodley from radio Devon, come to see what we do in the riding sessions, he also interviewed some of the riders, carers and the helpers for his radio programme the next day, as radio Devon are supporting a charity that had just recently given our group some money. It was a bit daunting attempting to teach riders with someone holding a microphone close beside you, still I managed it, hopefully it will show everyone what RDA is all about.
We have a space now in our 12.30 session as one of our riders is now not able to ride with us due to other commitments, we do have a waiting list of people wishing to ride with us, so it will soon be filled, Sue who has the list is going to get in contact with them, one or two have been waiting for some time so it will be a case of seeing if they still wish to ride or are still able too.
Thursday 19th September.
Got up to listen to Radio Devon, turned the radio on only to hear the last few minutes of the interviews,I could just make myself out in the back ground, thank goodness for BBC iplayer, I was able to listen later in the day, it was a good article hopefully something will come from it for both the group and the charity the radio is supporting.
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