Appeal for mechanical horse to get disabled moving again
The mechanical horse. MHLC-10-10-12 riding Oct32
VETERAN riding instructor Rosanne Pudden is off to Buckingham Palace next month to be awarded the MBE for her 40 year devotion to setting disabled people free from the confines of a wheelchair.
VETERAN riding instructor Rosanne Pudden is off to Buckingham Palace next month to be awarded the MBE for her 40 year devotion to setting disabled people free from the confines of a wheelchair.
But if she gets the chance, it’s quite likely 78-year-old “Ro” will tell the Queen that the award she’d far rather receive is £38,000 in hard cash so that she can buy a mechanical horse to teach beginners the basics before they climb onto the back of a real animal.
“It’s a big thing to get onto a horse when you’ve no legs,” said Ro, who recently began teaching a former soldier from the parachute regiment who was blown-up in a landmine explosiion.
At Lowlands Farm stables in Shrewley, Ro is being helped in her fundraising efforts by county councillor Clare Hopkinson and Jeff Doherty, from Southam, whose 20-year-old son, known as JJ, died in Afghanistan in 2008.
Jeff, who set up JJ’s Memorial Fund to specifically help paratroopers and their families, said: “I am hoping we will be able to raise enough money for this mechanical simulator because there are so many disabled people whose balance and confidence needs to be improved before they can enjoy the benefits of riding.
“As Ro says getting up on a horse is a big deal if you’ve had both legs blown off. Sadly, I think she’s going to see a lot more injured soldiers trying to get some sense of freedom back by getting out of their wheelchairs and into a saddle.”
Ro herself is so full of optimism that she and her fellow trustees in the Riding for Disabled Association will be able to raise the necessary cash that she’s already secured planning consent for a hut to house the simulator that will be able to tirelessly start, and stop, trotting and cantering at the press of a button.
She said: “We’d like to have it installed here by this time next year.”
Certainly she plans to tell the Queen - or whichever royal is in residence - about her fundraising when she goes down to London to accept her MBE on November 7.
On Wednesday several of the more experienced riders who turned up at the farm for their weekly lessons agreed a mechanical horse would help beginners. They included Dawn McBride, aged 53, who has multiple sclerosis, Zia Clayton, aged 38, who has dystonia, Katie Rowland, aged 42, who has lung problems and Hilary Payne, aged 78.
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Monday 20 May 2013
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