News

RDA Covid Updates

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Riding Lessons:
We are now slowly starting to open up our riding lessons again. At the moment we are required to adhere to a 2m distance rule so we can only allow riders who ride independently or where they ride requiring minimal assistance and this assistance is provided by someone from their same family who has been trained to act as a leader and/or side walker. 
As restrictions lift & we train more parents/carers to assist then hopefully more of our riders will be able to return - Lesley will be in touch with individuals as we open up more riding sessions. We are also hoping to offer a meet the pony session to some riders who will not be able to ride for quite a while. 
 
Ponies:
All the ponies are in good health & have benefited from a well deserved break during lockdown. A huge thank you to Abi for taking care of them all when no-one else was allowed on the yard.
 
Health & Safety:
Thanks to Lesley who has sorted the Covid risk assessment for RDA and got the yard up to the required Covid safety measures. Riders & parents/carers will all require an induction before riding lessons start again.
 
Volunteers:
Some of our volunteers are back helping out at sessions at the weekend. This role is mainly reduced to pony care rather than leading & side walking within lessons but nevertheless is still vital to us running riding lessons. Again, all volunteers have to undergo an induction for our new Covid procedures.
 
Financials:
We were extremely worried at the beginning of lockdown as to the future of Belvoir Vale RDA. However with the amazing support from our rider families we are now in a much stronger financial position than anticipated. 
In addition we have already secured a grant from National office which has paid for all our Covid related costs (new sink, signage, sprays, wipes, soaps etc..). We have also applied to the Co-op for their community funding 2020-2021 so fingers crossed for this.