Countryside Challenge at RDA Saddleworth to celebrate Horses for Health Relay

WET weather didn’t dampen spirits in Diggle as a Countryside Challenge raised more than £500 for the Great Horses for Health Relay 2021.

The event was put on at Saddleworth Stables by Saddleworth Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA) to support this year’s relay.

The relay event took place on July 1-4 to highlight how horses can help with mental health and wellbeing and also to raise money for equine charities.

RDA Countryside Challenge

As the RDA was chosen as one of the seven causes, they wanted to put on a fun event to support the initiative and help raise more money.

Alison Pickering, of RDA Saddleworth, explained: “We are delighted to be one of the charities who will benefit from sponsorship money raised from the Great Horses for Health relay.

“The pandemic impacted hugely on our income and we wanted to support the initiative by putting on a fundraising day, which all horse lovers could take part in and have some fun.

“Sadly the rain did put off a lot of locals walking up to see us and some of our disabled riders understandably opted not to come as they would struggle in the heavy rain.

“However, we still had a great turnout of more than 40 riders who took part in the challenge course and the horse simulator on loan from the British Equestrian Trade Association.


“We’d love to give a special shout-out to Greg and Heidi from Tesco Greenfield who donated fruit, snacks and drinks.

“Thank you to GMP Mounted Police for coming to Saddleworth Stables with Bumble and Brunswick and to Diggle Hotel who are always so supportive of us, and provided delicious sandwiches and sausage rolls.

“Thanks also to Horse Show Judge John Lloyd, seen here awarding challenge winners Molly and Ludo their 1st prize gift voucher from Naylors.”

The Countryside Challenge competition was sponsored by Naylors Equestrian and Country Store and invited riders of all abilities who would like put their equine partner to the test.

The outdoor course included Stevie the Scarecrow, Laura’s Logs and Newtownards Maze which were constructed especially for this event to provide a varied and fun track.Naylors provided gift cards for first, second and third places plus gift cards for the top three sponsorship fundraisers.

In addition, The British Equestrian Trade Association (BETA) gave rosettes and goody bags to all participants on the day.

Visitors also enjoyed a ride on Robo, BETA’s mechanical horse which visited for the event.

RDA offers fun activities like riding and carriage driving to benefit the lives of more than 25,000 disabled children and adults, delivered by 18,000 volunteers and qualified coaches at nearly 500 RDA centres all over the UK.

Find out more about Saddleworth RDA on their Facebook page: www.facebook.com/saddleworthRDA

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