At 7.30am on Sunday 25th May, horse boxes holding very precious cargo – our therapy ponies Beeby, Charity, Gifford, Harry and Raiden – rolled out of the Yard, to make their way up to the Scottish National Equestrian Centre at Ecclesmachan, for the RDA Regional Qualifiers 2025. At the same time our 16 riders, all participants at Muirfield Riding Therapy, were getting themselves ready at their homes to come and join us for a day of excitement and competition. And what a day it was, hard work and rain storms, happy faces and plenty of rosettes!
With the weather forecast looking mixed, the ponies and volunteer crew arrived at the incredible Scottish National Equestrian Centre (SNEC), which is part of Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) Oatridge Campus. Muirfield Riding Therapy (MRT) comes under the Edinburgh and Borders Region of Riding for the Disabled, and the Region is lucky to have access to the incredible Arenas at SNEC, where the Qualifiers were held.
This annual competition gives RDA participants of all abilities the opportunity to enjoy the buzz of a competitive atmosphere, be a part of a team and fulfill their personal potential. Classes include dressage, Countryside Challenge, Tack & Turnout as well as the popular Arts & Crafts class, so something for everyone.
The team had been hard at work at MRT in the weeks leading up to Competition Day, learning their dressage and countryside challenge tests and preparing their artworks with our volunteers, but also in the days prior, as they made the ponies pristine for the big outing. Now, as the crew got the ponies out of their transport, groomed and tacked, and into the Warm Up Arena, our riders started to arrive, and register, picking up their riding hats for safety checking.
Team MRT
What an outing it was, it seemed there was an MRT competitor in the rings all morning, with a much bigger team this year; Alexa, Cameron, Charlotte, Corry, Eilidh, Elliot, Euan, Esther, Felicity, George, Grace, Jace, Jasmine, Maria, Millie and Struan. Although Helena couldn’t be with us on the day, we look forward to future competitions with her and Team MRT.
MRT Coach Caroline said,
Earlier in the year I did a session switch [to our Friday afternoon session] and met a brand new pool of participants. Along with trainee coach Lucy, we thought about entering the Regional Qualifiers with a group of new recruits and we are so glad we did! With only a handful of weeks from the tests going live, the participants worked really hard to learn the tests which included new school movements and also the countryside challenge – have you ever tried to open a gate from on top of a pony??
The Competition Tests
Team MRT rode twenty one Classes across the day, with the incredible Beeby, Charity, Gifford, Harry and Raiden. Struan and Charity were first up riding their dressage test, ‘RDA Grade 6 Championship Test (2022) Walk Only’. RDA competition dressage tests range from being led by a helper at walk, to independent riding tests with lateral movements. The challenge of learning a test, riding it accurately and performing to the best of the horse’s and participant’s ability has many positive benefits for balance, control, mobility, memory, confidence and freedom!
Outside, in the Countryside Challenge field, classes had started. A bit like an obstacle course on horseback, competitors have to learn a particular route with both rider and pony navigating obstacles. Despite the rain showers pausing classes at times, everyone got through theirs successfully, and mostly dry!
Back indoors, the display of artworks were being judged, some beautiful pieces, from a wire sculpted horse to photography. All fingers and hooves were crossed for our teams’ 3 artworks, ‘Penelope’ the pony, the MRT Herd ‘Through our participants eyes’, and our Painted MRT ponies.
Participant spotlight – Esther
Esther was competing for the very first time, taking part in a dressage and a countryside challenge classes. Mum Lesley said,
Esther has a complex condition which gives her quite a list of challenges, including mobility, motor skills, balance, processing, development, learning and speech. She’s very positive and resilient but has to work really hard to acquire any new skill. She started coming to MRT three years ago for Tuesday physio-led sessions, which had an almost immediate impact on her walking, balance and gait – she went from falling over several times every day to just one or twice a week by the end of her first block.
She’s been very lucky to get several more MRT blocks since and move to the Friday afternoon group where she’s learning riding skills, which she absolutely loves. The sessions have really boosted her confidence and helped improve her concentration, not just at riding but in other areas of her life. It’s still a challenge for her but her teachers say she can now focus for longer at school
Success all round
After an exhilarating morning, everyone gathered to await the Judges results, and enjoy chatting about the day. When the results were announced, we were delighted all round, with results including bringing home 2 trophies, and 8 Ridden Qualifiers and 2 Arts & Crafts Qualifers for the RDA National Championships down at Hartpury College, Gloucestershire 11 – 13th July!
Class one: walk only
2nd Millie
3rd Corry
7th Esther
Class 32: Grade 6 walk only
3rd Struan
Class 21: Qualifier Walk and Trot
1st Tilly
2nd Eilidh
3rd Charlotte
Class 20: Qualifier walk only
1st Tilly
2nd Elliot
3rd Grace
Class 35: Grade 7 walk only
1st Cameron
2nd Jasmine
Class 36: Grade 7 walk and trot
1st Maria
Class 100: Countryside Challenge- Junior
1st Millie
3rd Corry
Class 100: Countryside Challenge Senior
1st Alexa
Class 101: Countryside Challenge
4th Charlotte
5th Jace
6th Euan
Class 103: countryside challenge
1st Esther
Arts and Crafts: Junior Drawing
1st MRT Friday crew
Arts and Crafts: Junior Sculpture
1st MRT Friday crew
2nd MRT Friday crew
Cup winner: Junior Best turned out
Cameron
Cup winner: highest score in the countryside challenge
Alexa
Participant Charlotte said,
It was an amazing experience, it was great to see the people who had done the event before but taking part was really fun and getting to spend time with my friends from MRT
Charlotte’s family came along to watch her, and mum Sharon said,
Thank you for organising this for Charlotte, she had an absolutely brilliant day and couldn’t wait to show off all her rosettes. I know there is a lot of hard work going on behind the scenes but it was a great day and Charlotte loved hanging out with the team.
Participant Esther’s mum, Lesley, saw Esther receive a rosette for her dressage class, and then going on to win her countryside challenge class,
Getting to take part in the RDA regional qualifiers on Sunday was a brilliant experience for Esther. She loved feeling part of the team, both with Raiden and Jimmy and with the other MRT riders, wearing the dressage kit, the build-up through the art competition, and taking her rosettes into school to show her class. We felt so proud to watch and it’s given the whole family a shot of optimism about what she might be able to achieve.
And finally
What a fun, happy day, loads of hard work from everyone, our participants, their families, our volunteers, our ponies and all the organisers. Thank you to everyone.
A final word from Coach Kym,
I’m so proud of our participants, they all came along with smiles on their faces, put in so much effort, showed resilience when things didn’t go to plan and cheered each other on. I couldn’t ask them for anything else. It is a privilege to be one of their coaches.
