Aim RDA concentrates on supporting riders that cannot access RDA elsewhere due to working hours, and/or educational commitments. We generally consider riders from the ages of eight upwards, but may consider lowering this in exceptional circumstances. Aim RDA prioritises participants who are not able to take time out of school or work for sessions, as this is catered for by other groups in the region. 

We are particularly keen to cater to disabled participants who are adults, and/or young people interested in proactively progressing their skills: these are groups which are often not catered for as widely within the RDA landscape, and which fit our coaches’ skillsets well.

There is no maximum age for participants as long as an assessment has been made that the rider is fit and well enough to ride, and their access requirements can be catered for. We consult with RDA specialist physiotherapists for confirmation of suitability and necessary adjustments

In theory, yes, but in practice it is not that simple. Aim RDA considers each application to ride on a case by case basis. Considerations must be given to the rider’s height and weight, compared to available horses, as well as any reasonable adjustments that need to be made for them to access facilities. Thought must also be given to a rider’s physical condition, and how they will mount and dismount safely given the resources at each location (Aim RDA does not currently have access to hoist or mounting platform facilities, for example).

Aim RDA also prioritises spaces for those who need and would benefit from the specialised nature of an RDA environment, and would not easily be able to access riding in a mainstream setting for physical, cognitive, and/or emotional reasons. We are not a commercial riding school able to offer riding experiences to non-disabled participants. Our venue at Shrivenham Equestrian Centre is able to provide this outside of RDA session times, and is recommended by our team for non-RDA riders.

If after assessment, Aim RDA are unable to offer you a ridden space, we endeavour to offer a non-ridden solution within whatever resource is available to us, or signpost you to another group that may have the facilities you need to ride safely. We are a very new group, but anticipate needing to operate a waiting list for our services in the future.

Not typically. Private lessons are only offered in very specific circumstances, and we do not have capacity to offer regular private slots in our current timetable. Group sessions are carefully organised to match riders’ abilities and interests, and are limited to four riders per group.

No. Once a participant has been assessed and offered a space in an Aim RDA class, this is offered on the assumption that the participant will make regular use of this space. This not only maximises the benefits to the participant, but also makes more efficient use of the spaces available, and of the time and care it takes our team to assess and place a participant. For many participants and their peers, routine and familiarity, alongside consistent access to physical activity, are important to be able to thrive.

Aim RDA’s sessions at Lambourn and Shrivenham are prioritised for those who do not have full-time access to their own (or loaned) horse. For many RDA participants, this is the only way they are able to access riding, and we are committed to opening up the equestrian world and its opportunities to as many people as possible.

RDAUK offers the opportunity to disabled riders with their own horses to access RDA competitions and other events as an “Independent Participant”. This involves being affiliated to an RDA group. Aim RDA is able to consider requests from potential Independent Participants within RDA’s South Region (Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Hampshire), and are also happy to offer advice on this topic. Unfortunately, we do not have the capacity or facilities to offer lessons or training to new Independent Participants. Please contact chair@aimrda.co.uk if you would like more information or advice.

We encourage Independent Participants to be active members of our group, and ensure they are fully immersed in our community. This includes being able to volunteer, coming to social gatherings, representing the group as an ambassador at events, and helping with fundraising. Not taking lessons with us does not mean you are a lesser part of our team.

It is very common for RDA groups across the UK to receive more demand for their services than they are able to fulfil. If you are interested in riding with Aim RDA, but are currently riding with another RDA group and wish to keep doing so, we will not be able to offer you a space. If you have previously ridden with another RDA group but are no longer with them, or are planning to finish riding with another RDA group, we are able to consider you for a space as an Aim RDA participant. This means that we are enabling as many people as possible to benefit from participating in RDA riding sessions.

Please contact chair@aimrda.co.uk with some information about yourself (or the prospective participant you support), and what you would like to achieve from your (or their) sessions.

We are working with our venues to establish a maximum weight limit for Aim RDA participants. This will be calculated carefully for the horses available for our activities, in line with RDAUK guidelines.

Aim RDA accepts volunteers aged 14 or above. There is no upper age limit. A basic level of fitness is required for some tasks during RDA sessions or yard work. Please let us know a bit about you when enquiring so we can advise you appropriately.

There are all sorts of things for our volunteers to get involved with. The core of our volunteers are involved in supporting RDA sessions: this can include horse care tasks, such as tacking up, grooming, or mucking out, as well as assisting with ridden and unmounted sessions. Our riders need varying levels of support, and we provide all training needed for you to become a valued part of our team.

For regular volunteers, there are occasional opportunities to support Aim RDA at external events, such as holiday activities, competitions, and fundraising events.

If being hands-on with horses isn’t your thing, but you’d still like to be involved, please don’t worry. We need support with fundraising events, administration, grant writing and plenty more to keep our group in the saddle. Please do let us know if you’d like to be involved, but in a non-horsey or non-regular way – or if you think you could do a job for us that we haven’t even thought of yet.

Yes. It takes a village to run an RDA group, and Aim RDA seeks to include as many people as possible in its volunteer team. Depending on the nature of your disability, there may be some duties which are not suitable for you to carry out in a safe or fulfilling way, but in our experience there is something to suit everyone. Please contact chair@aimrda.co.uk to tell us a bit about you, what you would be interested in helping us with, and what you might need to make it work.

You are a volunteer, so no commitment is compulsory. We do, however, find it of most mutual benefit when volunteers are able to commit to a minimum of two hours either weekly or fortnightly; many volunteers opt to do more. Attending on a consistent basis enables us to keep volunteer numbers at optimal levels, as well as helping you to get the most out of your experience.

This depends on the type of work experience you are looking for. If you are looking to gain hours over a medium to long period of time, and coming to Aim RDA sessions once or twice a week would suit this, we would love to hear from you. We operate on weekend days and weekday evenings and do not operate our venues day-to-day ourselves, so are unlikely to be suitable for week or fortnight-long school/college work experience placements. Lambourn RDA and/or Shrivenham Equestrian Centre may be better suited to this type of request.

We are happy to support corporate volunteer days, subject to venue and trustee availability. Please get in touch via email (link to contact us page).

Yes, awards schemes are the most common way of introducing younger volunteers to RDA. This is particularly productive for all parties when awards scheme volunteers continue their relationship with their RDA group beyond the requirements of their award. Aim RDA recommends a minimum commitment of six months for any new volunteer, regardless of the time period required by an awards scheme. We also strongly encourage awards scheme volunteers to take charge of their relationship with our RDA group: communicating with our team, making sure attendance is clearly scheduled, and assessment or reporting is planned in advance.

Yes, we encourage participants aged 14 and above to get involved as much as they are able, and already have a number of rider-volunteers. Once you have started in a class, your coach will be the best person to talk to about volunteering opportunities which work for you: what each participant is able to do will be as individually centred as what they are able to do in the saddle.

No, we are unable to offer riding to volunteers. Aim RDA makes use of horses owned by our two venues, who have carefully balanced workloads outside of our sessions, and are hired specifically for RDA purposes. Volunteers may be interested in booking non-RDA sessions with Shrivenham Equestrian Centre.

Absolutely, if that works for you. Registration as an Aim RDA volunteer means you are able to volunteer in our sessions at both Lambourn RDA (you would need to complete this separately if you wanted to do more at Lambourn outside of Aim sessions) and at Shrivenham Equestrian Centre. You will need to complete a different “green card” (RDAUK standard training record) for each venue as there will be some processes unique to each one to learn, but much of the training we provide is easy to transfer between locations. Sessions are run at different times and days across the two venues, so please let us know if this lines up with your availability and you would like to do more.

All of our policies are available to read on our website, under the policies section. These are updated periodically in accordance with RDAUK guidelines.

Our group is run entirely by volunteers, and our six trustees all work full time whilst also running the group. We always try to get back to you as soon as possible, but sometimes other priorities take our focus. If you haven’t heard back from us within 10 working days, feel free to give us a polite nudge to make sure we have received your enquiry. 

We have six dedicated trustees. You can find out more about them here (“meet the team” link) and how to contact them here (contact us link).

Aim RDA is a member group of RDAUK (Riding for the Disabled Association UK). RDA: www.rda.org.uk. If Aim is too far away from your home or not a good fit for you as an RDA group, we recommend using the Group Finder tool: https://rda.org.uk/rda-groups/.