Peel Riding for the Disabled announce new name Peel Horsepower

PEEL Riding for the Disabled has a new look and more apt name – Peel Horsepower – after an announcement by the group’s parent body Riding for the Disabled Association of Western Australia (RDAWA) last week.

The name change is due to the word disabled becoming less desirable in the community and no longer truly reflecting the programs that HorsePower provides.

The group’s clientele has changed since its inception 46 years ago, when it was mainly children with physical disabilities. Today participants range in age from one to 80 years with diverse disabilities from physical to intellectual.

The group also runs programs for youth at risk and people with mental health conditions.

HorsePower president Jo Williams said the group’s programs were invaluable.

“Every day we see the difference our programs make in our participants’ lives,” she said.

“We’ve seen children take their first steps and speak their first words, adult’s bodies strengthen after debilitating illnesses and we have seen the joy our participants experience when they come into our centres.”

Currently the group provides horse riding, carriage driving, hippotherapy, vaulting and a mental health program called Walking with horses.