A group of six 13 and 14 year old children, all of whom attend a special school for those excluded from mainstream education, started attending Ride High once a week in April.

(All the names have been changed for privacy purposes)

Week 1 The first lesson saw a fight between two of the children and all refused to put on riding boots. The children had poor concentration skills, they constantly interrupted the teacher and one another and one had a very aggressive demeanour.  Katy wouldn’t participate in any activities with other children and was very unhappy when close to other people. She complained continually of physical and medical problems.

Week 4 All the children wore not only boots but jodhpurs and long hair was tied back. They didn’t interrupt each other. The teacher from the special school observed of Brooke’s behaviour: “Brooke is a difficult child, she is frequently abusive and unkind. We have never seen her like this …. engaged, polite and happy, it’s remarkable.”

Week 5  14 year old Macey commented: “I have learned my left from my right here.”

Week 6 The whole group was well behaved and all were quiet whilst the riding instructor was explaining things or helping another child. The teacher from the special school commented: “These children are nicer people because of Ride High”. Brooke complimented a child she often bullies about her appearance and helped her with her jodhpurs. She later asked: “Could I do work experience here one day?” Katy participated fully in all activities, often squashed up on a bench with the other children. We haven’t heard about physical problems since week two. She spontaneously hugged one of the Ride High volunteers.

Week 12 The Ride High open day. The aim was to celebrate the official opening of the Ride High clubroom and to show referring agencies, funders and potential donors what we do. The event was attended by 45 people including the Mayor of Milton Keynes. Guests were shown round the clubroom and saw the children’s work, listened to a presentation from the chair of trustees and then watched a riding display by the children. Each child had prepared a short presentation about themselves, their ponies and their time at Ride High. This was a major challenge for the children, one of whom suffers from chronic anxiety; another has Asperger’s Syndrome. The skills exhibited by the children included: taking pride in their appearance, listening and being quiet, waiting for their turn, overcoming nerves, remembering their presentations, being polite to the Mayor and interacting positively with guests afterwards.

The children’s comments included:

“Thanks for making me do it – I can do a presentation in front of anyone now.”
“I was so scared but I feel brilliant now.”
“I remembered my words – how cool is that?”
“Can we do it again in front of my parents?”

The director of the special school wrote:

“We want to use Ride High as a crucial component of our education programme for the foreseeable future. We are seeing positive change. Your support is having a significant impact.”
Kirsty Brice, MK Central Personalised Education Centre.

We have continued to work with these children through the summer holidays. During this time we have had a remarkable attendance record with just one unexplained absence and we have continued to see excellent improvements in behaviour.

The Ride High trip out to Buckingham Palace – 2nd September

We were given passes to watch the Changing of the Guard from inside the railings on the forecourt of Buckingham Palace after which we had a picnic in a local park and then went on for a tour round the Queen’s stables. For the children, most of whom hadn’t been to London before this was an experience of a lifetime. The children all wrote letters of thanks to the Queen and received back a wonderful personalised acknowledgment and thanks from the Palace.

What people say about Ride High:

Children’s comments:

“Ride High has been a life changing experience for me”
“Ride High has helped with my tinnitus”
“I like Ride High because everyone is so friendly”
“I like Ride High because people listen to me here”

Parents and carers comments:

“No one has ever said she’s good at anything before”Mother
“She is much calmer altogether since going to Ride High”Mother
“At Ride High he has not been judged on his past but has been encouraged to continue with positive improvements”Guardian
“You are interested in her as a person and you have helped her to talk about some of her problems”Mother

Other commendations

“ The Milton Keynes Community Foundation has been most pleased to support the early stages of Ride High, an innovative and extremely well organised project that seeks to benefit some of the most vulnerable and marginalised members of our local community. From the very beginning, Ride High has aggressively set out to create a robust and sustainable organisation, spread the word in order to best reach those most in need and enlist the aid and support of appropriately skilled individuals to ensure an efficient and effective provision of service. While it is still early days, our monitoring of the project has demonstrated to us that Ride High is undoubtedly making a real difference in our community.”
Milton Keynes Community Foundation, Bart Gamber, Grants Director

The primary operation of the charity is to help disadvantaged children from Milton Keynes by teaching them to ride and care for horses. Part of the programme is to run fun sessions that encourage the children to learn about horses through a variety of activities such as arts and crafts, photography, games and team competitions and computer projects.

  The children have the opportunity to:

• learn to ride
• learn to look after a horse or pony
• experience other aspects of equestrianism through trips out
• learn about vocational possibilities in the equine field
• participate in associated group activities
• get involved in running Ride High

By offering membership we will encourage children to participate over the long term.

CHILDREN AND HORSES WORKING TOGETHER – THE BENEFITS

RIDE HIGH aims to give each child an enjoyable experience that will help him/her to cope with daily life in a more positive and constructive way.

The specific benefits that RIDE HIGH offers can be grouped into three categories.

A) Enhancement of social and personal skills

• Dealing with horses builds confidence and self esteem
• Riding gives a feeling of doing something special, something many of these children will never have had before
• Learning to ride and care for a horse brings the satisfaction of learning a new set of skills and a sense of achievement
• Looking after a horse encourages responsible behaviour and a positive attitude to safety issues
• Riding in a group environment teaches the importance of teamwork and consideration for others
• For most children, time spent with horses is enjoyable, fulfilling and absorbing.
• Membership of a club engenders a sense of belonging to a community

B) Health benefits

• Riding provides outdoor, physical activity for those children who may not enjoy mainstream sport
• Riding for one hour burns on average 350 calories
• Riding develops balance and coordination

C) Educational benefits:

• There is evidence that physical exercise benefits levels of concentration.
• Club sessions include projects to improve literacy and numeracy such as working out the costs of feeding a pony for a year or writing a riding diary or blog.
• Trips to associated educational events such as a trip to the Household Cavalry or a Stubb’s exhibition, broaden a child’s experience of the world beyond their home town and open up vocational possibilities
• Children are encouraged to contribute to the development and improvement of RIDE HIGH

The children are encouraged to identify ways in which they have benefited from their experience with horses