A Search for Unity

A little piece by my brother Prashant, who does horse-riding with the Riding for the Disabled Association (Kenya) (www.rdakenya.com), a charity that works with disabled people from mainly underprivileged backgrounds, and aims to provide a safe and enjoyable environment where individuals with special needs benefit from developmental, therapeutic and educational equine oriented activities. Those like Prashant able to afford it pay a nominal fee for the activity, but all others are subsidised by the charity.

I started horse riding about 10 years ago because I needed therapy to help me improve. I like my riding very much because I find it fun and enjoy doing the exercises while riding. I also enjoy to go out in the fresh air.

I go for my riding once a week with my riding teacher Sue Anderson. She is a great person and she has really helped over the last 10 years to learn and enjoy riding. My horse's name is MC and he is a white horse. When I started riding I was finding it very hard to balance and do the exercises on the horse.

When I had started the riding I used to ride slowly. Now I can ride faster and show the horse which way I want to go by using my hands and also the reins. The exercises that I do on the horse are, throwing the ball and bin bags and also the ring. I also do sit ups while the horse is running. On the horse I can also do body turn from side to side and also stretch down on both sides.

At home I do a lot of cycling as that helps my balance. That has also helped me to do my riding much better.

I go for my riding lesson to a place in Karen which is in Nairobi. It takes me about half an hour to get there by car. Sometimes I have done riding in the wild when we have been to places like Lewa and Kisima in the Laikipia area of Kenya. During those rides I was getting very close to wild animals like giraffe, zebras and elephants. Once I also rode on a camel, it is different somehow than rising on a horse.

I hope to carry on riding for many years to come. Riding is fun and I hope more people can do it.

Prashant Shah, Nairobi