Alani Chappell's progress led to her being given the award for Rider of the Year at the NZRDA awards dinner.
From left: Tararua Riding for the Disabled president Jo Smith, Alani on Coco, Tara Ormandy (behind Coco), volunteer Allyka Hanks and coach Judy Edmonds.
Alani Chappell's progress led to her being given the award for Rider of the Year at the NZRDA awards dinner.
From left: Tararua Riding for the Disabled president Jo Smith, Alani on Coco, Tara Ormandy (behind Coco), volunteer Allyka Hanks and coach Judy Edmonds.
By Leanne Warr
When Alani Chappell started riding at Tararua Riding for the Disabled (RDA), she was only three.
They’ve had a few challenges, says coach Judy Edmonds, but five years later, Alani’s progress prompted a decision to nominate her for Rider of the Year in the New Zealand Riding for the Disabled Awards (NZRDA) 2023.
Alani was announced as the recipient of the award at the NZRDA conference and awards dinner last weekend.
“It is huge for an RDA of our size to take out the rider of the year,” Judy says.
That wasn’t the only accolade from the weekend for Tararua, which is based at Mangatainoka, with 16-year-old volunteer Allyka Hanks named as runner-up for Junior Volunteer of the Year.
Allyka Hanks was named runner-up for Junior Volunteer of the Year at the NZRDA awards. Left, with Judy Edmonds.
“Getting either of them is a huge thing for us.”
The Rider of the Year category goes to the rider who has made the most “amazing achievement”, Judy says, with their disability being part of it.
She says Alani has made huge improvements such as being able to ride independently, with a lead on, so side-walkers don’t have to hold her.
“That’s a huge achievement for Alani because we’ve had huge issues over the years with throwing herself backwards and things like that and we’ve managed to overcome those.”
Judy says many of the volunteers at Riding for the Disabled love seeing the riders develop and grow.
“That’s one of the reasons we all do it. To see these guys achieve goals and see the improvement.”
As for Alani, Judy says in the nomination form, she wrote about Alani’s achievements. “She’s ended up teaching us.”
Tararua Riding for the Disabled has been going for about 31 years, while the parent organisation has been going since 1972.
For many of the riders, some might be experiencing struggles at school, either academically or with other students and Judy says they come along to Riding for the Disabled and end up showing vast improvement in their school life.
President Jo Smith agrees that children struggling in school often feel like they are not being heard, but are able to come to RDA and feel they are being treated on an individual level.
“They’re known as a person, not their disability,” Judy says. “They can come and be upset, fearful and leave and they’re ecstatic and happy.”
She says there have been riders who have never been able to show empathy, but once they’ve started riding, they learn how to show empathy to the horse, which is then passed on to showing empathy to other human beings.
RDA has three programmes: educational, therapy and sport and recreation, which cover all disabilities, including mental health.
Education is around helping those students who may need more work with maths, colours, or something similar.
Judy says they have activities the riders can do which might involve a maths equation, or matching pictures, as well as those that help improve their fine motor skills.
With those doing it for therapy, RDA gets input from therapists on what needs to be improved on.
In sport and recreation programmes, these often help to provide a social benefit, or for health issues.
A lot of young teenagers also come either through school for work experience or they’re homeschooled and want to do volunteering, such as Allyka, who started volunteering at 13 and is now doing NZQA qualifications in equine management.
