RDA East Antrim

17/06/2026

SAVE THE DATE …….. RDA East Antrim Pleasure Hack

Sunday 13th September
Shane’s Castle
By kind permission of Lord O’Neill

We are delighted to announce our 7th annual charity pleasure ride at Shane’s Castle.

Unfortunately, our ride scheduled for 22nd March had to be postponed. Anyone who paid for the March event and did not receive a refund will have their payment honoured for the September ride.

Entry Fee £25 per rider
Your entry includes:

* Tea/coffee and scones
* Our much sought-after goody bag (sponsors to be announced)
* A fun morning riding out with fellow horse enthusiasts

Ballot
We will also have amazing ballot prizes, details to follow.

The Hack
This is a fantastic opportunity to experience the beautiful surroundings of Shane’s Castle Country Estate. The route will be clearly marked along safe off-road tracks and is expected to take approximately 1 to 1½ hours to complete.

Important Information

* Riders must provide their own horse.
* Riders must have their own insurance.
* All riders under 16 must be accompanied by an adult throughout the ride.

Supporting RDA East Antrim

This annual pleasure hack is our main fundraiser of the year and provides vital support for our amazing RDA group, which relies heavily on donations.

We meet every Monday morning during the school year at Laurelview Equestrian Centre, where we support:

* 8 pupils with severe learning difficulties from Hill Croft School
* Up to 12 pupils from Thornfield Speech and Language School

As you can imagine, it is a very busy morning, and we depend entirely on our dedicated volunteers who give their time each week. We are always looking for additional helpers and would warmly welcome new volunteers.

Summer Volunteers Needed

This summer we will be running our “Give It a Go” Summer Scheme, and we are currently short of volunteers.

If you are available on Thursday mornings for a few hours on:

* 30th July
* 6th August
* 13th August
* 20th August

we would love to hear from you.

Thank you for supporting RDA East Antrim. We look forward to seeing you at Shane’s Castle for another fantastic day of riding and fundraising!

Keep checking on our posts for entry date and details.

03/05/2026

Very excited about our Regional Qualifiers this Wednesday at Laurelview equestrian centre. We have an amazing number of entries. 27 in the Countryside Challenge and 22 in dressage. Wishing all our competitors good luck and let’s hope we see some sunshine.
Wishing our adult riders good luck as they will be competing in both dressage and countryside challenge throughout the morning.
We are also looking forward to seeing Thornfield school riders who will be competing in Country side challenge, they have been working hard over the last 5 weeks practising. They have produced this beautiful painting which is entered in the arts and crafts competition. Good luck to all of you on Wednesday.

30/04/2026

Thank you lady captain of Greenisland Golf Club, Hazel Winning for picking RDA as her charity of the year, supporting Antrim, East Antrim and Ballyclare RDA Groups. Such a wonderful charity transferring lives though horses, harnessing the power of the human and horse connection to enrich lives and support disabled people and those with long term conditions to experience freedom and connection, feel valued, included and live fulfilling lives.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18vi7M47RH/?mibextid=wwXIfr

15/04/2026

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1438062991693969&id=100064708444946

We’re delighted to invite our community to the official opening of our brand new Sensory Room at Omagh RDA 🎉

🗓 Thursday 16th April
⏰ 4:30pm
📍 Omagh RDA Centre

The opening will be carried out by Councillor Barry McElduff, Chair of Fermanagh and Omagh District Council.

This new space will make a huge difference to the children and young people we support, providing a calm, engaging environment alongside our equine activities 💙

We’d love for you to come along, see the space, and celebrate this exciting milestone with us!

15/04/2026

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1428965772603691&id=100064708444946

🐴 SPRING DRESSAGE AT OMAGH RDA 🐴

We’re delighted to invite riders to our upcoming Spring Dressage Competition at Omagh RDA!

📅 Sunday 19th April & Sunday 3rd May
👩‍⚖️ Judge: Ms C Abernethy

Classes available for all levels – from introductory (with support if needed) right through to BD Elementary level. A fantastic, inclusive competition for everyone to get involved in 💙

✨ RDA classes available
✨ Intro classes (can be led or have a side walker)
✨ BD Intro to Elementary tests (Full list in the comments ⬇️)
✨ Para & Pony Club classes available on request

💷 £12 per class

⏰ Entries close: Wednesday 15th April

📲 Enter by:
Text Gwen on 07785952824
📧 Email: [email protected]

💳 Payment via Stripe:
https://buy.stripe.com/00w14oguH6Lw8HR7hF3Ru02

🕕 Times will be sent out Friday 17th April from 6pm

Come along for a brilliant, supportive day of dressage – we’d love to see lots of riders taking part! 🐎✨

👉 Please share to spread the word!

23/03/2026

A busy morning at East Antrim RDA at Laurelview Equestrian Centre. Hill Croft School, Class of JOM had their last day with East Antrim, it was lovely to see their progress over the 8 weeks. Also it was great to welcome the proud parents as they watched their little ones receiving their well deserved certificates and medals. Our thanks to all our volunteers for their hard work and to Laurelview’s RDA horses, Guinness Toby Matilda and Keady.

23/03/2026

Pippa Funnell chats on Talk Horse podcast with Tristan Phibbs and Joe Ashman on Free Rein. Such an interesting and inspiring story of learning to ride for his role in Free Rein. Listen to the end when he talks about his passion and understanding of RDA and their participants and volunteers.

We’re back for Series 3 of Talk Horse! Did you miss us? We’re kicking things off in style with a guest hot off a flight from LA.Actor Joe Ashman, otherwise k...

11/03/2026

We are EAST ANTRIM RDA have sadly had to make the difficult decision to postpone our Charity Hack on Sunday 22nd March. This has not been an easy decision to make but after much discussion and consideration we have decided to revert back to September when we normally hold this fundraiser. We have a new date of Sunday 13th September. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause you. For those of you who already purchased tickets we are happy to honour your payment for our new date on 13th September. Either that, or go the link for refund. If you have any difficulties in refund please leave a message and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

https://buytickets.at/rdaeastantrim