THE North regional chair of Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA) has been named RDA UK Volunteer of the Year.

Pauline Harrison received the accolade at the national championships held at Hartpury College in Gloucestershire.

She supports all of the RDA groups in the North East and Cumbria including Slaley, of which she is chairman.

“I couldn’t believe it and I still say, I don’t know why because there’s many people who do just as much, if not more”, she said of her award. “I got it because I have a really good team on my regional committee, and I have some of the most fabulous groups.

Hexham Courant:

"I’m grateful; it is such a special thing to do and it is totally volunteer-led.”

Pauline has been regional chair for three years but has been involved with the charity for 30 – first going along with a friend to take a child for a ride on a pony.

She said: "The demand for the service is incredible, we can't meet it. We need more volunteers, we need more ponies. And most of all, we need more riding centres.

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“Our whole aim is to let them have fun. Because the physical therapy they get while sitting on a horse, without even knowing, is quite remarkable.

"We don't just teach a child to sit on a pony, every exercise we have has been designed by a physiotherapist and we can cater for individual needs. We also have letters and pictures, so were learning literacy, numeracy and general interaction with people they are perhaps not familiar with. 

“The children react and the difference you can see in them in a term is phenomenal.”

At the national championships, Pauline, who was formerly county chair and regional treasurer, presented a jubilee saddle, from the Worshipful Company of Saddlers, won by the North region to the Keswick Calvert Trust.

A number of RDA groups competed and returned to the North-East as national champions in varying disciplines.

Pauline added: “The grassroots of RDA was started by taking a child round a field for a ride on a pony and letting them have the physical benefits but also the mental benefits that are now recognised that equestrian gives.

“To see that child on a horse, it alters the whole perspective of his or her world because they’re then up there on a horse. The horses also just have this empathy, it’s quite wonderful.”

Hexham Courant: