BUILDING on a hugely successful partnership which is now entering its third year, members of the Riding for the Disabled Association of Ireland (RDAI) had breakfast on Tuesday with some of Ireland’s top show jumping riders on the eve of the opening of the 2019 Stena Line Dublin Horse Show.

First started in 2017, the event was organised by the Horse Sport Ireland Show Jumping High Performance Committee, and aims to raise awareness of the work carried out by RDAI and the services they offer.

Members of the 2019 Irish Aga Khan squad that included Cian O’Connor, Darragh Kenny, Shane Sweetnam, Paul O’Shea and Peter Moloney were in attendance, along with Irish team manager Rodrigo Pessoa, assistant manager Michael Blake and several other top riders competing at the RDS this week.

Speaking at the event, Frankie Griffin from the Riding for the Disabled Association Ireland said: “We are so thankful to all the Irish riders for their time and for making this such a success and to Horse Sport Ireland for organising this event. It really means a lot to all the kids who came today and to the RDAI to get the message across about what we do and to let people know that no individual involved gets paid for the work that we do and in turn none of the people that use our services have to pay – it is all free of charge.”

One of the organisers of the event, Taylor Vard from Horse Sport Ireland’s Show Jumping High Performance committee said: “We are thrilled once again for our athletes to meet with RDAI members here at the RDS and to promote the exceptional work that is done by the RDAI.

“I have to thank our fantastic sponsors who came on board again this year including Charles Owen riding hats, Alpes D’OR. Cian O’Connor and Tredstep Ireland and thank you also to the RDS for their help and support. The RDAI are always on the look out for volunteers and I would encourage anyone who thinks that they might be able to help out to make contact with the RDAI through their website.”

More information on the Riding for the Disabled Association Ireland is available on www.rdai.org