Rhonda Crowe and Roy Denton from the car club and Dawn Haddon (in red) from Riding for the Disabled. Photo: RDA.
February has been a busy month for Wagga’s Riding for the Disabled (RDA) team with classes resuming, a major fundraising event and plenty of generous support from volunteers and community organisations.
Last week, Roy Denton from the Proud and Polished Car and Motorcycle Club dropped in with a cheque from money raised during the Show and Shine in November.
RDA’s Lizzie Macquarie said there was always work to be done and bills to pay.
“With 18 horses on the property, there’s feed, maintenance, vet bills, shoeing and just the general upkeep on the property, which does add up,” she said.
“It’s such a help when we get support from groups like the Proud and Polished Car and Motorcycle Club. They wanted to give back to the local community groups and we were lucky enough to be one of them.”
The Wagga RDA Centre is not funded by the government and relies on donations, grants and funds raised through the RDA opportunity shop on Baylis Street.
RDA also hosted the annual Hoedown Showdown in February and coordinator Lee Hesketh said it was a big success, raising more than $12k.
“This is our third year running and it was our biggest one yet,” she said.
“The first year went really well, the second year was better and this year was almost better than the two of them combined.”
This year’s Hoedown Showdown was bigger than the previous two years. Photo: Lee Hesketh.
Along with live music, line dancing demonstrations and the watermelon eating competition, the ‘balloon pop’ proved to be an effective fundraiser.
“Unlike a raffle, the best thing is that everyone walks away with a prize, and we had so many great donations from local businesses,” explained Lee.
“There’s always a lot of maintenance issues that need to be addressed out there and operating costs that all the money goes to.
“We’ve also been saving for a new vehicle that would be able to tow the horse floats because we’ve got volunteers that were using their own vehicles to transport the horses.”
Every balloon contains a prize at the popular balloon pop. Photo: Lee Hesketh.
Over the weekend, the RDA team hosted a training day for locals who are interested in volunteering.
“I started out here as a volunteer 30-odd years ago and came back on and off and now I’m here regularly,” said Lizzie, who now wears multiple hats covering everything from publicity to hands-on training.
“I just love the horses, the people and the kids,” she laughed.
“The kids get a real level of empathy for their horses, there’s socialisation with other riders and it’s great just seeing the patience they learn and the skills that they get from it.”
Lizzie explained that there were also more places available for groups and individuals who would like to be a part of the program.
“We’re still building back up after COVID and we’ve got a few spots to fill,” she said.
“If schools are wanting to get involved and would like a spot, and we’re also trying to get together a few more independent classes as well.”
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