Volunteer

About us:

Pegasus Riding for the Disabled is a voluntary, non-profit organisation which provides opportunities for anyone with a disability to enjoy safe, healthy, stimulating, horse-related activities in the South Manchester area.

Pegasus RDA was launched in January 2017 and set up by a volunteer trustee team with a wealth of RDA and equine experience. Having all volunteered with RDA in the past, when the opportunity came to set up a new group, it was snapped up and a lot of hard work has gone into the wonderful new RDA Group.

The group currently has six Trustees, three Group Coaches and two Trainee Coaches. This means that it is more likely that at least two of the coaching team will be at the sessions offering advice, ideas and support to our participants, volunteers and parents/carers.

We use the horses and facilities of North Cheshire Equestrian Centre, Carrington, South Manchester. Our sessions run on Sunday mornings between 9:30 and 12:15. We currently run four 30 minute lessons and we group together people of a similar ability in order for everyone to get the most from their lesson time. We currently have over 30 regular riders, supported by our team of wonderful volunteers who make it possible for Pegasus RDA to function so efficiently and positively.

Success of our group to date has been apparent with a wealth of national and regional awards, including RDA Young Volunteer of the year in 2017 and RDA Volunteer of the Year in 2018, demonstrating the hard work and enthusiasm from the entire group.

We are a friendly, welcoming, inclusive and lively team and would love to hear from you if you would like to be involved.

As a charity, we are 100% reliant on sponsorship and donations in order to carry out our activities. If you can help please do contact us or donate here.

Why not join our volunteer team and become part of something special?

It is the commitment of our volunteers that enables people with disabilities to interact with and ride horses to benefit their health and wellbeing. We welcome anyone who would like to be part of our volunteer team. Whether you can commit weekly, or not, we would love to hear from you, our sessions run on Sunday mornings 08:45 – 10:45 and the team are at the yard any time from 08:00. We appreciate that this is rather early for a Sunday morning, if you cant make it for 08:00 do not worry at all, the lessons start at 08:45 and even if you fancy coming for just one or 2 of the later lessons it would be great to see you and more hands the merrier!

We need volunteers with a mix of skills to make our group work. It is people like you, who want to share in the fun, excitement and achievements of Pegasus RDA and be part of the environment that bring horses and people together. We pride ourselves on high standards of care, safety and training and every volunteer is trained and supported to ensure those standards are met. Roles are not limited to working with horses and riders, we also need people to help out with fundraising, administration and many other tasks. Volunteers must be over 14 years of age.

What volunteering involves:

Volunteering involves being part of a friendly team, working to improve the lives of others. As a team activities are undertaken to ensure the smooth, safe running of sessions, and to welcome and work with people with a range of disabilities.

Types of activities for volunteers in the weekly sessions:

• Helping riders understand instructions
• Helping riders on and off ponies
• Walking with riders during the session
• Leading ponies
• Helping the coach set up the session
• Helping the coach with games in the session
• Manning the drinks stand!
• Although the yard don’t expect us to help them with yard duties, we do like to lend a hand!
• Other types of activities to get involved with:
• Fundraising
• Events
• Annual trip to the North West RDA show (May)
• Training we provided for volunteers

We provide all training for our volunteers to ensure safety and understanding of the roles. There is no pressure or time period in which training is to be undertaken, we fully appreciate that some people do need more, or less, training and support than others

Klaudia is our volunteer training coordinator and pleased to help with any questions, demonstrations and buddying through training:

RDA use a Green Card system which is a declaration that you have been shown and understood the correct procedure to carry out tasks in a safe manner. Only relevant work with which you will be involved in needs to be completed and signed by a qualified member of staff. This system is in place for both safety and a requirement of RDA insurance. You are not authorised to carry out any procedure unassisted if you have not completed this element of training on your green card. You must not sign your card if you have been shown a procedure but do not fully understand or feel confident to undertake it. Please ask for more training.

Once training is complete the Green Card is sent to National Office for processing, a certificate is issues and you will also be provides with a Pegasus RDA polo-shirt!

Safeguarding:

Working with vulnerable children and adults we have to take safeguarding very seriously. Helen Bacon (Trustee) is our Safeguarding Officer and point of contact for any safeguarding concerns anyone may have.

To ensure volunteers are aware of safeguarding we cover off the important points and codes of conduct as part of the induction. We also work with RDA National and Trafford Safeguarding and Social Services Teams who provide formal safeguarding courses.

RDA National provides e-learning modules, we ask all volunteers to complete the safeguarding module http://rda-learning.org.uk/

Volunteer rights and responsibilities:

As a volunteer, you have the right to:

• Have a named member of staff to whom you work with
• Be included in meetings, training, social events and functions
• Be inducted into a safe working environment
• Be insured by PRDA
• Be taken seriously by colleagues
• Be consulted on matters that directly affect you

As a volunteer we expect you to:

• Be reliable
• Arrive on time
• Notify Pegasus RDA if you are not available or running late
• Respect the confidentiality of the organisation, its riders and fellow volunteers
• Respect the rights of users of our service
• Carry our volunteering activities professionally
• Acknowledge decisions made by others

Join us:

We would love to hear from you so please get in touch via the Contact Us form or download our application form at the link above! All volunteers are required to undergo a DBS (Disclosure & Barring Service) check as part of the induction which the group pays for.