Newsletter Autumn term 2016

National Championships

 

IMG_1094South Bucks RDA members have had fabulous competition results this summer. We had 12 members representing SBRDA at the National Championships at Hartpury in July, and for the rst time this year the Championship was a three-day event. All our riders achieved great results, however a few must get a special mention. On the Friday, Cameron (Tuesday rider) riding Forrester, and supported by Malcolm, won the Countryside Challenge Class and the Combined training class. Saturday saw Jamie winning the Grade 1a dressage class riding Robin. On the Sunday, Jonnie won the grade 3 dressage riding Robin.

On the Sunday, Joseph, at his 4th Championships and supported by Alison, rode two excellent tests: the Countryside Challenge and Intro to Dressage. They too won the Combined Training on Sunday. Joseph achieved the highest Countryside Challenge score of the weekend and came home with a trophy almost as tall as himself!

Again this summer, we arranged taster sessions for children with disabilities living in Buckinghamshire. These rides are organised through the South Bucks District Council.

Rio Paralympics 2016

 SBRDA President, Sophie Christiansen, riding Mrs Diane Redfern's Athene at RIO Paralympics 2016 winning grade 1A competitions.

SBRDA President, Sophie Christiansen, riding Mrs Diane Redfern’s Athene at RIO Paralympics 2016 winning grade 1A competitions.

After several months of intense training, Sophie, Helen, Di and Athene travelled to Rio, Brazil, to take part in the Paralympics.

Sophie had her second horse, Janerio VI, on standby until the last day. Athene had to travel to Liege with all the GB horses (by lorry) where they met up with other horses from Europe to y to Brazil, arriving in the middle of the night and then on to the equestrian venue 2 hours from the airport.

We are very grateful to our manager Helen Burt for all her hours of work making sure that Sophie’s two horses were in tip top condition and ready to compete. Sophie won all her Grade 1a classes, helping Team GB retain their Gold medal place in the team event.

di and athene

Since returning home, Sophie has been very busy with TV and parades, while Athene is having a well-deserved rest, and Helen is now concentrating on making sure SBRDA is running smoothly.

The trustees would like to say thank you to Helen and her team for being so exible and hard-working to enable Sophie and Athene to compete at Rio. They would also like to thank the volunteers who did extra during this period.

Horses

Since returning home, Sophie has been very busy with TV and parades, while Athene is having a well-deserved rest, and Helen is now concentrating on making sure SBRDA is running smoothly.

The trustees would like to say thank you to Helen and her team for being so exible and hard-working to enable Sophie and Athene to compete at Rio. They would also like to thank the volunteers who did extra during this period.

We have had a few changes to our horse line up since our last news. We have said goodbye to Bluebell as she was not able to work as well as we had hoped. Moo came on trial and again his paces were not good enough for us.

Mable has retired from her competition career as a ‘medium level’ dressage horse and her owner has loaned her to the group. She is proving to be a very useful horse for private lessons and is gradually being introduced into class lessons.

We have just acquired a lovely pony ‘Socks’, a young 5 year old small cob. She will be trained and gradually brought into class, and is so far settling in well and is very polite!

Anya is taking a break from RDA and has gone back to her owner.

Bertie, a very experienced dressage horse, has just joined us and is on trial. He will be a great asset to share private advanced lessons with Mable.

Tru, Gem’s pony, is joining some of the class lessons during the week to support Forrester and Robin’s workload.

Fundraising

We continue to need to raise funds for the general running of the group and keep ride costs as low as possible. Please keep looking at the noticeboards for information about fundraising events.

Great thanks go to Jayne Stevens and her family and friends for taking part in the Slough walk – together they raised £2,000 for the group.

Jayne and Salina ran a tombola for us at Stoke Poges Village Fete and raised £300.

Andrew (Sunday rider) and Chris (his dad) ran a tombola during our celebration BBQ and raised £140.

Sarah (Saturday rider) has recently raised £500 with the help of her drama group.

Sophie very kindly donated a ‘Gold Tom’ mascot from the Rio Paralympics, which raised £1,000 for the SBRDA at the RDA Gala Dinner Auction.

IMG_2456Throughout the summer we have been running a Woodland Ride Challenge that several of the riders have taken part in. We are still collecting sponsorship monies, all of which we would ask to be in by 12th Nov. We will let everyone know the nal total in our winter newsletter.

 

Easyfunding Raising

Despite having only 44 people signed up to this scheme, we have managed to raise just under £300! If anyone uses the internet for shopping please sign up and nominate SBRDA, and ask your friends to sign up too. There is no cost to you. Visit https:// www.easyfundraising.org.uk/ for more information.

BTmydonate

If you are wanting to donate online, or get others to sponsor you, please use this online platform.

This is a free service to us, and JustGiving charges the group £18 per month whether there are donations coming in or not. We will be terminating our membership of JustGiving shortly.

Thank you to all those who are using the Charity Table for both bringing in items to sell and buying the donated items.

Celebration BBQ

IMG_2599After the Paralympics, SBRDA members congregated around the BBQ to celebrate the achievements already mentioned. Sophie kindly brought her medals and a Golden Tom to show everyone. We all had a great afternoon and with only one quick shower everyone had a great time mixing and meeting riders and volunteers from different days.

 

AGM | Thursday 10th November | 7.30pm in the Classroom
All trustees have had to stand down, as per our articles. Nominations are open for current trustees to re-stand and new trustees to be appointed. If anyone is interested in being a trustee please talk with Di, Theresa or Ian. We will be showing highlights of Rio at the AGM.

Christmas Carol Service | Sunday 4th December | 4.30pm in the indoor school Tickets will be available soon, please ask to reserve your tickets.

Supra Regional Conference | 19th April 2017 | Newbury Racecourse You will be emailed nearer the time about tickets for this event.

Regional Show | Sunday 4th June 2017 | Wellington Riding