KENDALL Riding for the Disabled (RDA) has been gifted land and will start 2021 with a new home.
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The search for a new home base has been a long and stressful journey following the group's departure from their Camden Haven showground site.
Kendall RDA vice president Jenny McGregor could not be happier and said the gifting of 10 acres on Old Coach Road at Batar by generous land owners, who only want to be known as Lindsay and Anne, is wonderful news.
Kendall RDA set itself a $100,000 fundraising goal earlier this year to purchase their own land after lengthy negotiations to stay at the showground failed.
The Camden Haven Pastoral Agricultural Horticultural and Industrial Society Incorporated gave the volunteer community group six months to vacate the showground at Kendall. They need to be out by November 30.
Kendall RDA, through the tireless work of its volunteers, has been providing horse riding experiences for people with disabilities for 25 years. It has been operating from the showground since 2016.
Before stopping operations, the group had 48 volunteers, seven horses and 24 riders aged between two and 60 with varying levels of disability from cerebral palsy to Downs Syndrome, visual impairment and autism.
The land, which has been negotiated with a 20-year lease, is now being prepared for the arrival of horses. An arena will be established as well as stables.
"It has taken a huge weight off to know we have a future, which we never gave up on. It has been a hard slog and we have approached anyone and everyone to try and get some land," Jenny said.
"It's all good and we are really happy. (Anne and Lindsay) didn't want any fuss but they have just been wonderful."
A lot of work has already been done to get the land ready. The riding season usually starts in March and that's the target the group is aiming for.
"There is light at the end of the tunnel," Jenny said.
"It will be a while before we are up and running. We've got fencing to do, infrastructure to be brought down and assembled, feed sheds and a machinery shed."
When lessons officially kick off, the group will be calling out for volunteers to come along for the ride.
"I've always known we live in a wonderful community and this has just confirmed it and shone through."
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