Ollie’s special day at the RDA

Exciting times at the Riding for Disabled (RDA) last month, with one brave young boy taking on something a whole lot bigger than him.

Ollie Gordon has been going to RDA for a couple of years now, but June 17 marks the day that he overcame his fears and got up on a big horse.

Smiles were contagious all around, but especially brave Ollie who rode like a champ. RDA member, Tanya Rae spoke with The Courier about Ollie’s journey and what his incredible achievement means to everyone at RDA.

“We were lucky enough to have a new miniature pony come to RDA last year, which slowly started to change Ollie’s interactions with the horses,” Tanya said.

During this time, Tanya mentioned that as much as she was learning a lot about Ollie, she was learning things about herself.

“I learnt that I had to quieten myself and to not be so enthusiastic and energetic. Also, if he wants to come up to me, he can, I don’t have to always go up to him.

Fast forward to this year, the RDA team had a new strategy with Ollie which was to take him and his pony away from the other participants into the campdraft arena.

“It was here that Ollie could interact with his pony and then I could re-direct his energy to other places.

“We did a lot of chasing birds and running across the arena following the flock, as they landed. Then back to the pony for more patting.”

For each practice on the pony, Ollie’s mum would come along for some extra support.

“This was amazing because with the extra confidence of mum around, we were able to get Ollie up and riding his little pony.

“Ollie, who is pretty much non-verbal, repeated one word over and over “GO, GO, GO”. He loved it.

“This was the day Ollie made me cry; I was so happy and proud of him.”

Tanya explained that it was then in this moment, they decided to attempt to put Ollie on a big horse. Knowing change was going to be challenging, Tanya and the team were very
unsure of how this venture would go.

“We experimented a couple of times in different locations, trying to convince Ollie to hop on board with no luck.

“It was then decided to take Ollie and his new big horse, Trooper, out to the big arena in a familiar environment.

“Ollie wanted to get on his new horse, Trooper, and attempted to several times, but was overcome with fear.

“He was so frustrated in himself; we could all tell how badly he wanted to get up. Still not much luck, back to chasing birds in-between attempting to mount his horse.

Just before they had finished, Ollie’s Mum said, “We are going to have to go, so you had better get on this horse”.

“Well, he ran back and threw himself to the side of his horse Trooper, I took the opportunity to help him on. The smile on his face was so big, and off we went.

“Ollie was so proud of himself, he was beaming as were all the volunteers and his wonderful Mum.

“I am excited to see where Ollie’s journey and progression will go, I believe I have gotten just as much from this wonderful experience as Ollie has.

“None of this would be possible without all our wonderful, supportive volunteers and horse donors who lend their precious horses to us,” Tanya said.