We need all sorts of people to run Muirfield Riding Therapy; meet some of them below. We have volunteers from age 12 to age 86! Some of our volunteers come with horse knowledge and others are people people; everyone's skills and talents are used.
If you have a few hours to spare a week, please come along to one of volunteer training sessions and see what we get up to; have a chat with the friendly session Training Mentors; meet the Riders and of course the Ponies! Training is taken at your pace. Experience is far less important than enthusiasm. Meet some of our team members below.
Our Coaches do a huge amount of work. As well as physically instructing our Riding Therapy sessions, every session has to be planned in advance often incorporating themes such as colours, holidays or seasons. The Coaches also have to tailor their activities to the individual riders' ability, so there are usually lots of things going on at once!
Coaches take responsibility for the whole session and work very hard to make sure everything runs smoothly.
The Session Communicator is the link pin in communication which passes throughout the group, Speaking to Riders, Parents, Carers, Schools, Helpers, Instructors and Mentors about issues which affect the running of the organisation.
The Communicators job is to make sure that everyone's voice is heard! Communicators also help to raise the profile of events whether they are training, fundraising or social.
Our Training Mentors guide new volunteers through their training from the initial form filling to the gaining of the nationally accredited Green Card, at a pace which suits the trainee. Training Mentors also encourage volunteers who have their Green Cards to build on their experience, to attend Training Sessions within the group and at Riding for the Disabled Association County level, and to ensure volunteers attend mandatory extra training courses such as Child Protection and First Aid.