Whangarei RDA Arena Safety Upgrade

Here at the Whangarei Riding for the Disabled, we are very lucky in that we have an All Weather Arena. This ensures that we are able to give Riding Therapy to our kids year round, whether there is rain or shine. Over the years, it of course has had a bit of wear and tear from the elements and also with OSH safety regulations updating all the time, we have found ourselves needing to upgrade our Arena to be able to keep our Operations Certificate.

We need to upgrade our surface, it is currently very uneven and quite deep in places. This makes it hard for the horses as their legs get quite tired walking through the deep sand and so do the horse leaders and sidewalkers! This requires having the top level of sand and rubber pulling back and the base to be leveled, then the sand and rubber smoothing back and compacted slightly. We may need to add some more topping also.

Currently, we have a deck which protrudes slightly into the Arena. We currently use this to mount the riders onto the horses. This is now not considered safe and we need to pull this back and build a movable mounting block to ensure safety of the children, horses and handlers.

Along the sides of the Arena, when it was originally built, they used open railing running lengthwise. We need to replace this with Ply to give a solid side. As it is now, a horse may be able to catch their leg between the rails and injure themselves.

Our back wall is also in need of some TLC. Over the years the weather has warped the ply and there are sheets pulling away and curving from the main wall. This is leaving gaps for the rain to come in and the movement of the loose sheets creates noise which can upset the children and the horses. We would like to replace it with a nice white coloursteel to brighten the Arena and have a nice weather tight end.

During the winter, it can get a bit dark and dingy so we have lights to brighten our way. Unfortunately, these are very old as well and have blown and disintegrated over time. Also, being flood lights, they are very expensive to run and only provide direct light. We would like to replace them with LED lighting which would be much cheaper and brighter to run.

There are a number of other maintenance projects needing attention also. Drainage needs to be dug to prevent flooding down the back end of the Arena when it rains. Clearlite around the outsides has perished and cracked needing replacement. Guttering and downpipes have rusted and also need replacing and our roof needs a chemical wash so the Clearlite can let some much needed light through.

To continue to offer Riding Therapy to Northland, as we have in the past for hundreds of children, we need to complete these repairs quickly and efficiently. All help is much appreciated and will ensure the continued happy involvement of many children whose lives are enriched by attending Whangarei Riding for the Disabled.