Gaddesden Place Riding and Driving for the Disabled Group

Briden's Camp, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, HP2 6EX

Registered Charity Number 1074313

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Riding for the Disabled in the UK, and also the 80th anniversary of the Pony Club, Gaddesden Place RDA and the nearby Flamstead Pony Club organised a joint event.  Over twenty riders from each organisation participated on a beautiful sunny day on 5th July 2009. 

It worked like this:  Riders from each of RDA and Pony Club partnered to form teams of two.  In the morning, all riders and their ponies did individual dressage tests.  Then in the afternoon, each Pony Club participant did a jumping round, and immediately ran to hand over the baton (in the form of a birthday party invitation) to their RDA team member, who set off on a "handy pony" obstacle course.

Points earned for each round were added up to decide the winning teams - but the real point of the day was to have fun, and lots of it!  We think it's the first time that a joint event like this has taken place, and we were lucky that Jane Holderness-Roddam (Chairman of UK's RDA national organisation) was able to spend the day with us and present the prizes.  Here are some of the pictures:

Lizzie and Jane look on in astonishment

Whooooaaa!Not so fast!!

Jane Holderness-Roddam, an Olympic eventing gold medallist, Badminton winner, and the Chairman of RDA in the UK, congratulated everyone on a wonderful 40th anniversary event for the RDA, and  80th anniversary of the Pony Club, and presented the prizes.

Flamstead Pony Club celebrated the anniversary with new jumps

Meanwhile Harvey the guide dog had his eye on the RDA birthday cake