Lesson Volunteers

Lesson Volunteers

Posted for Newbury Riding For The Disabled Association (RDA)

Posted by Volunteer Centre West Berkshire

Register your interest

You will be redirected to the Volunteer Centre West Berkshire website to express your interest.

Riding For The Disabled gives lessons to children with physical and learning disabilities. 

Lesson volunteers help get our ponies ready by grooming and tacking them up. During the lesson, volunteers either lead and oversee the pony or sidewalk, assisting the participant where necessary.  Sometimes the lessons involve short periods of trotting, so it is very helpful if pony leaders and side walkers are able to do some brief, light jogging.

After the lesson, ponies are untacked and may need their rugs put on. Then the volunteer teams often have time for a cup of tea and chat.

Wyld Court at Hampstead Norreys is a Downland Village through Hermitage on the B4009 to the North of Newbury about 10 miles.

What skills do I need?

Having equine experience isn’t a requirement as all volunteers undergo training.  However, volunteers do need to be able to attend their chosen session for approximately 2-3 hours per week during term time, on a regular basis, in order to build up a good rapport with the participants and the rest of the team. Our volunteers must be aged 16+ years and need to have a good level of fitness to be able to walk alongside the ponies, and sometime run.

You will also need to hold an Enhanced DBS certificate that includes the Child Barred List check, which we will process. However, we do ask volunteers to reimburse the fee of £13.20 so that we are able to retain funds for pony upkeep. DBS checks are renewed every 3 years. We also take up references prior to a new volunteer participating in a lesson, as well as asking you to complete an online Safeguarding course.

RDA is very much a team effort and good interpersonal skills are also important.