Calon Riding for the Disabled Association

27/10/2026

Congratulations to Adam on passing his RDA Silver Award! After years of hard work it is so well deserved and we wanted to wish him congratulations and well done from all of us! 🥳😀👏🌟
Thank you so much to Di P and Di W for coming to examine his work for this award - which included a practical and theory assessment in person, and a portfolio of work on 6 modules of horse care and stable management!

Llongyfarchiadau Mawr! From all the team at Calon!

25/09/2026

Congratulations to Jess- who got on Sophie by herself for the first time on Wednesday!! 🥳🥳 Jess has been coming to see the horses for a few months now and is nearly 7 years old.
we are so proud of her achievement and getting over her fear, well done Jess!! 👏👏🌟🌟

looking forward to seeing you next time, from Alys, Sara, Mandy, Marilyn and all the yard volunteers at home

14/09/2026

Just passing this on from Gofal Dydd Y Waen, a brilliant local service in Denbighshire that offers services to people living with serious illness and their families. Please feel free to pass it on to anyone you know who might benefit.

08/09/2026

21/08/2026

Well done to all the yard gang today on their performances in the Fun Yard Showing competition!

The teams: Violet and Jason, Rob and Bradley, Adam and George and Grace, all competed in several different classes which were judged by Ami Tilston, who came to watch the teams perform their moves with the horses.

We’ll put more photos and videos from the day on in the next few days, but here’s a few from the prize giving.

A huge thank you to Sara for organising the day, Ami for coming especially to judge and to Marilyn for helping getting the ponies ready and do some practice runs with the riders.

09/08/2026

Congratulations to Penny and Sophie, two of our RDA horses, who went to the Llanarmon Show yesterday with Mandy and Sara!
Penny came away with 1st, 2nd and reserve champion rosettes, and Sophie with two 1st place rosettes.

We’d like to say a huge thank you to Sara and Mandy for taking them and also to the volunteers who helped on our fundraising stall at the show, Adam, Sue L-J, Sue E, Barbara- and to Rob on the ‘ have a go’ vaulting barrel’ activity!

Our stall made approximately £350, and it was a lovely atmosphere at the show- with many other stalls to visit, a live ferret show (with races against the children), vintage car display, dog show, and archery practice to name a few activities.

If you’d like to come and join us at the next show- then we’ll be going to the Llandegla Fete on Sept 5th at 2pm -4pm.

19/07/2026

Here’s our final lot of photos that have come in from Hartpury- and finally the results for Calon! 😁

Well ridden everyone- everyone gained over 60% in their class, and some of the classes were huge this year, running all day long with over 30 entries in one class!

Our riders came away with 1x 1st, 4x 2nd, 2x 3rd, 3x 4th, 1x 5th, 1x6th, 1x 13th, 1x 16th, 1x 18th.

Our vaulters came away with 7x 1st, 2x 2nd and 3rd place in the individual classes and 1st place in the team on the horse.

And last but not least, Michael came 1st with his sculpture in his senior Arts and crafts class.

A last thank you goes to uk for running this huge event, and all their hard work trying to organise classes to keep the horses comfortable (and riders) in the hot weather- it was a very well run event and we can’t thank them enough!

16/07/2026

Some more lovely photos coming in- thank you so much guys for sharing them all! Was fantastic to see everybody competing and enjoying themselves.

Another thank you today to Vale of Glamorgan RDA, and especially to Clare their head coach, who so kindly helped us by providing a fantastic horse, ‘Annie,’ to Christie in the Level 2 Show Jumping! Well done Christie on your fab round! 😁🐴👏

We’ve been so fortunate this year with the different groups and individuals helping us out so that every rider in North Wales had a horse to ride!
Thank you to Di Porter and Jayne for helping us find horses 😁🙏

Some lovely photos here too from Meirionnydd Special Riding Group of their riders Lily and Iago on Tina. Congratulations to both of you, and to Elena and Reese who also competed on Wenlo RDA horses, as well as Sophia from Montgomery RDA! Fantastic results for you all!
Llongyfarchiadau ar eich perfformiadau gwych! 👏👏🌟🌟

We’ve still got a few more photos to share so keep tuned for more coming up in the next few days….

13/07/2026

Photos and videos are starting to come in from the fantastic weekend at Hartpury! Diolch o galon!

Our horses Penny and Tina behaved beautifully and our riders on them were all placed in the top 6 of their classes. Diolch o galon to all the volunteers who put in time and effort helping to exercise them and bath them in the preparation running up to Hartpury! 🙏🙏

A huge thank you to the volunteers who made this possible: Sara, Mandy, Kirstie, Andrew, Robyn and Ceri - who supported the riders and vaulters at this national event.
And a massive thank you too to Dawn and Wenlo RDA ( Riding for the disabled) for lending Frances and Jimmy to us for 3 of our riders who needed a horse in order to compete- and to Rachel and Charlie Roberts who brought Hari for 2 of our riders - it’s the kindness of all these people which meant every Calon rider who qualified at regionals were able to attend the Nationals.🙏🙏🌟🌟
Huge Thank you to Andrew and Robyn for bringing Celt (from Eryri vaulters) which once again meant our vaulters could compete on the horse. This was the first year some of our vaulters competed in the trot and canter compulsory classes, as well as the walk classes, and Celt made this possible! 🐴🌟

Congratulations to all the riders and vaulters who competed for Calon- Amelia, Christie, Sara, Gemma, Michael, Violet, Grace, Amy, Jacob, Zak, Charlie, Blossom, Lily, Bethany and Autumn! You all did us proud!
And congratulations too to the Meirionnydd Special Riding Group riders Iago, Lily, Reese and Elena - and Sophia from Montgomery RDA who all rode fantastic rounds!
Llongyfarchiadau I bawb! 🥳🥳👏👏🌟🌟

We’ll be posting more pictures and videos as they come in, and the final scores too… but for now we hope you enjoy the photos and videos for today..
Diolch o galon, Alys and the Calon Team 😁😎

11/07/2026

This weekend sees our riders and vaulters competing at the RDA National Championships down in Hartpury University college. There are 9 of our riders competing over the weekend and 8 vaulters competed today.

We have taken our two lovely ponies, Penny and Tina, down this year to support the riders in the different disciplines. Showjumping, Dressage and Countryside challenge. We have also been very lucky to borrow Hari from Charlie and Rachel Roberts, 3 horses from Wenlo RDA and 1 fromVale of Glamorgan RDA- and Celt from Andrew and Robyn Williamson for the vaulting. Thank you to you all for so kindly helping us to allow all our participants to compete! 😁🙏🌟

We will post the riders and vaulters results when we get back to Wales, as there is still one day of competing left to go- and the horses will be wanting get home tomorrow evening!
But thank you to those riders and vaulters who have already sent a few pictures to share! We will soon share many more!