Postcards from Paris: what an ordinary RDA coach learned from the Paralympics
The Paris 2024 dressage arena at Versailles If you're looking for a field trip for a group of seven over-committed RDA volunteers (five coaches, five trustees, three both, six involved in the foundation of our new RDA group, Aim RDA ), a long weekend at the Paralympics is a hard pitch to beat. A pipe dream from last summer successfully graduated to actual real-life holiday last weekend, when we took to the stands in the gardens of Versailles to watch the best disabled dressage riders in the world. London 2012 (where four of our party of seven had also watched the para dressage, before we all knew each other) was a significant event for a lot of people. It was definitely pivotal for me, as a new RDA volunteer who didn't know much other than that a) I liked horses and b) wanted to support people. There were Paralympians in Paris who were sat in the same stands as us in London, too. I'd chalked London up as a very special one off, but as a very determined friend kept pointing