RDA Rider Competes at Junior World Championships
17 July, 2017
17 year old rider Kieran Halliday from Herne Hill in the Swan Valley was the only WA competitor to be chosen to compete at the 2017 World Junior Equestrian Vaulting Championships in Austria, this August.
Kieran started riding at Riding for the Disabled (RDA) Swan Valley when he was 7 along with other children with intellectual and physical disabilities and has progressed to now a junior coach and mentor to other young riders who attend RDA.
Kieran also has his own advanced vaulting group with his mother called Western Australian Equestrian Vaulters for advance canter training, and Kieran still vaults with the Swan Valley RDA.
Kieran was the only boy to achieve a qualifying score for Junior Worlds in Australia, and two girls also achieved qualifying scores. They were then submitted to a selection panel who chose who will represent Australia at the World Junior Championships.
Community TAB has been an ongoing major sponsor to RDA WA and has also provided a $2000 contribution to Kieran and his parents to ease the burden of financial commitments for them to send Kieran to Europe to compete in the competition.
Community TAB Manager Matthew Thomas said it is fantastic to see the positive effect the therapy provided by RDA can have on people’s lives.
“Kieran’s achievements show the amazing participant progression riders with disabilities can make if they attend RDA sessions,” Mr Thomas said.
“We have had a great ongoing partnership with RDAWA for a few years now and this is the second opportunity we have had to sponsor an individual associated with the organisation.”
RDAWA has been helping adults and children with physical and intellectual disabilities develop their abilities and enrich their lives for over 43 years.
RDAWA is a charitable organisation that combines the transformative power and the therapeutic effects of horse riding in the provision of equestrian activities which provides neuromuscular stimulation similar to that of a human, therefore promoting improved strength, balance, coordination, flexibility and confidence, as well as social inclusion.
There are 19 RDA centres around the State including, Albany, Denmark, Collie, Carine, Hills, Pinjarra, Peel, South West, Swan Valley, Mid-West, Mandurah and Oakford.
The FEI World Equestrian Junior Vaulting Championships are from the 2 to 6 August in Ebreichsdorf, Austria.
The competition can be live streamed from the website – www.vaulting2017.com