Riding for the Disabled Association

The Riding for the Disabled Association, also known as the RDA is a United Kingdom based charity focused on providing horse-riding and carriage driving lessons to people with both developmental and physical disabilities.

In addition to running international operations, the RDA is also a member of the international umbrella group, the Federation Riding for the Disabled International. In the UK, the association is one of 16 members that make up the British Equestrian Federation.

The Ancient Greeks as early as 600 B.C. and later the Romans recognised the therapeutic value of horseback riding. In Europe, France in particular, had documented the therapeutic use of horse riding as early as 1875. More recently, in the United Kingdom, Dame Agnes Hunt at the Orthopaedic Hospital at Oswestry during 1901 employed similar techniques. Later Miss Olive Sands MCSP took her horses to the Oxford Hospital to provide riding for the rehabilitation of Soldiers wounded in the trenches during the First World War.

The achievements of Lis Hartel of Denmark are generally regarded as the impetus for the formation of therapeutic horseback riding centres throughout Europe. Polio had impaired Hartel’s mobility but not her spirit. In 1952 she won the silver medal for Individual Dressage during the Helsinki Olympics. Medical and equine professionals took notice and very soon centres for therapeutic horseback riding began to form throughout the United Kingdom and Europe.

In 1951 Elsbet Bodtker, having met Liz Hartel, was inspired to give lessons to young patients on her son’s ponies. She was uniquely qualified as an international rider and a Mensendieck physiotherapist, and so had the respect and approval of the doctors.

In the United Kingdom Mrs. Norah Strang, a member of the British Polio Fellowship, organized riding for children disabled by polio, at a local riding centre. Her riders won the first national competition at Stoke Mandeville Hospital sports centre. In 1957 another remarkable lady, Mrs. Jacques, made contact with a physiotherapist in Copenhagen. By this time she had organized a team of helpers and ponies, and was offering riding to a local orthopaedic hospital. She also met Mrs. Regester who had returned from Malaya where she had been teaching disabled children to ride for some years at the request of their doctors.

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