Mary Allbrook qualified as an RDA Coach in 2015. She enjoys coaching the riders and watching their confidence and enjoyment increase as their skills develop. She also examines our riders and also riders at other groups for their Riding and Horse Care Proficiency tests and she regularly attends RDA training days. Mary has her own horse and rides regularly and competed a lot in her younger days.
Mary has been our rock both at North Norfolk RDA and at Worstead&District RDA. Always supportive, calm and dedicated.
Gill Riley has been volunteering for the RDA for nearly three years now and has been a qualified coach for the last year. She is keen to assist riders in getting the most out of their rides, ensuring it is as both therapeutic and enjoyable. Coaching the riders to develop new skills and build on existing ones is particularly rewarding as it helps build confidence and awareness. Gill strongly believes that for some of the riders it is that pure enjoyment that is as therapeutic as riding skills.
Assisting non-verbal riders is particularly rewarding for Gill as their response is sometimes harder to read but just as important.
Gill has horses of her own and gained her love of horses from her grandfather, who always kept at least one horse, riding into his 80s, hopefully achievable for Gill too.
Gill is an invaluable addition to our coaching team, creative, cheerful and very knowledgeable.
Left to right: Judie Howie (trainee coach), Mary Allbrook and Gill Riley