Apparently, participating in the Riding Programme not only gives the person a sense of achieving an experience, but also the rocking motion of the horse stimulates the physical actions of the body.

 

It all started for RCG when Maggie Broom from St Andrews RDA came to talk to the Club about their work. When asked how we could get involved and what was on their wish list we were told about the project to purchase  a new ramp to allow wheelchair and general safer and easier access in mounting the horse. Communication between Maggie, Sharraine Ballao and David Ling continued over a number of months.

 

RDA had been quoted $14,000.00 for the ramp but after discussions with retired mechanical engineer Steve Jenkenson and the Men's Shed at St Andrews they volunteered to manufacture the Ramp similar to the design of the ramp at the RDA Bundoora.

 

 

The Rotary Club of Greensborough donated $1,000.00 and also donations were received from Bendigo Bank and City of Nillumbik. With these new developments the actual cost of the ramp was about $3,000.00.   

The ramp was constructed at the Men's Shed. It is approximately 15 Metres Long and 1.8 Metres Wide, and was transported to the Pony Club where it was assembled and painted over three days by voluntary labour from the Men's Shed and David Ling and Bill Carter from Rotary Club of Greensborough.

 

 

Assisting the community is not about just donating monies, it is also about volunteering your time in enabling projects to succeed in the most economical way possible. In this case some

$11,000.00 was saved and in doing so  some other projects will benefit from the savings made.

 

It makes one feel a sense of pride and thankfulness when you see the smile on the face as the riders conquer the task of doing something that had been impossible

for them to achieve.