by RLAK Program Director Liz Dulski
This past weekend Ride-Like-Knight headed to Raleigh for the
Special Olympics Equestrian Tournament. Rider Josh Dazey and Red Ted
represented RLAK in 3 events which included showmanship, western riding, and
western equitation.
This year was a bit different because five other RLAK instructors
came along to help work the horse show. The instructors include Hallie Myers,
Claire Pollard, Sarah Lishen, Willow Goodman, and Stacy Canty. The instructors
helped work the warm-up arena, ring stewards, rider check in and cheer on Josh
and Coach Brooke Ellington. Josh and Red Ted had a successful weekend of
showing. He took home a bronze medal in showmanship and fourth place in western
equitation. Brooke said “Special Olympics gave myself and my student the
opportunity to be in competition. Understanding that winning was not the most
important aspect of the games.”
After the weekend was over we asked the other instructors what
they thought about the weekend. Claire Pollard said “Special Olympics gave me
the opportunity to see the competition aspect of therapeutic riding and enabled
me to see where I could take riders as an instructor in the future.” Claire was
lucky to get to ring steward with a judge all day on Saturday. Sarah Lishen
said “Over the weekend at Special Olympics I got the opportunity to make sure
all riders where present for their classes. I got to meet the coaches one on
one and gained knowledge as to why certain equipment was used.” Overall
it was a great weekend and learning experience for everyone involved. We will
be back next year going for gold.
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