Avon RDA Group

Another day another road closure!

Please be aware if travelling to the Centre this afternoon (16th July) from the Henbury/Westbury-on-Trym direction.

⛔️ Henbury Road both directions (B4055 & B4057) from The Henbury Arms by the ford, to Blaise Castle along the one-way-system, is closed due to roadworks.

➡️ An alternative route from this direction would be to go along Canford Lane to Sylvan Way, and approach the Centre from the Shirehampton direction.

Please allow extra time for your journey, or seek alternative routes to the Centre.

Some of our RDA riders enjoying an end of term hack this week! What a lovely way to finish off the summer term ☀️🐴

We hope all our RDA riders, coaches and volunteers have a brilliant summer break!

Please be aware if travelling to the Centre this morning from the Avonmouth/Lawrence Weston direction.

⛔️ Kings Weston Lane from St. Andrew’s Road Avonmouth, to Long Cross Road Lawrence Weston, is closed both directions due to a large fire.

⚠️ Kings Weston Road from Shirehampton remains open, but traffic and congestion is heavy.

Please allow extra time for your journey, or seek alternative routes to the Centre.

So that’s a wrap on Team Avon’s Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA) National Championships 2026! Wow, what an absolutely incredible 3 days! 🤩

We are so proud to have been able to field one of our largest rider teams to date! 23 Avon riders gave their absolute all across 26 classes; in Dressage, Show Jumping, and Countryside Challenge.
They were all partnered by our incredible team of 7 horses who all put their best hoof forward all weekend, and handled the atmosphere impeccably: Gracie, Storm, Cricket, Harry, Nell, Whinny & Jim 💫

We are beyond proud to report the following:

🏆 5x Overall Class Champions!!
🥇 6x 1st place
🥈 7x 2nd place
🥉 2x 3rd place

📈 56% of our results were placed Top 3
📈 A huge 72% of our results placed top 6
✨ 14 of our 26 scores were above 70%!!

In addition, we had 2 riders who received trophies for special awards:
💫 Ariel D and Cricket received the Dance Trophy for the Highest Newcomer Dressage Score on Friday!
💫 Millie B and Gracie received the Sally O’Neill & Mike Butcher Trophy for the Overall Best Combination in the Show Jumping classes!

We could not be more proud of our riders, coaches, staff, volunteers, and of course horses - all of whom have worked their socks off to produce results like this!

Even more important to us than the scoreboards however, is just how proud we are of EVERY single rider who represented Team Avon this weekend. Everybody gave 110%, in challenging temperatures, to show the world what they are capable of. For some it was their first ever National Championships, for others it was their first time stepping up to a new level, or first year competing on a new horse. ALL of you should be so very proud of what you have achieved this weekend 🌟🌟🌟

We hope you can see from the photos just how much fun everyone had, how proud the riders are of themselves and their horses, and what an incredible, positive atmosphere there was all weekend.

None of this would be possible for our riders without our dedicated team of Coaches, Staff and Volunteers - both the Champs Team and the Home Team. THANK YOU for all you do for our riders! ❤️

And of course, we owe everything to our INCREDIBLE team of super horses and ponies - without whom none of this would be possible! We could not be prouder of them, total superstars ❤️

We've been busy competing at the RDA National Championships at Hartpury this weekend! 🏆🐴

Here are a few snapshots from the weekend so far, with one full day of competition still to go today!

A huge congratulations to everyone who has already taken part—you've all done an amazing job. Wishing the very best of luck to everyone competing today. We're cheering you on! 💙🍀

for the Disabled Association (RDA)

It's another hot one this week! We just wanted to assure you all that we are taking all necessary precautions to ensure the health and safety of our team of staff, horses and volunteers, as well, of course of our participants.

Horses will have regular showers and everyone will get regular hydration breaks (in the spirit of the World Cup). We will be modifying our lesson content to ensure it is weather appropriate and spending as much time as possibly in the shade of the woods.

If you have any concerns please feel free to reach out to us and a member of the team will be happy to talk to you. Keep safe and cool everyone.

*IMPORTANT: CENTRE CLOSED 23rd, 24th and 25th June 2026*

Due to the forecasted extreme heat and Red Weather Alert this week, the Centre has decided to close on Tuesday 23rd, Wednesday 24th and Thursday 25th of June.
Please be assured that staff will be working, but to a reduced capacity, to ensure the health and safety of themselves and our team of horses during this time

Emails will be monitored during this closure so please reach out to [email protected] if you have any questions.

A huge thank you to everyone who joined us for our Open Day on Sunday! We hope you had a fantastic day and enjoyed everything on offer.

We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to all of our incredible volunteers and staff who worked tirelessly to deliver such a successful event. From the activities and demonstrations to the stalls and refreshments, your hard work made the day possible.

A special thank you to our wonderful riders who generously agreed to perform as part of our programme:
✨ Verna
✨ Sicily
✨ Ella
✨ Tegan VC - Para Dressage Rider

We are also extremely grateful to Avon and Somerset Police and Avon Fire & Rescue Service for attending and supporting our cause, as well as all of our visiting stallholders who helped make the day so enjoyable for our visitors.

Most importantly, thanks to your support, we are delighted to announce that we raised over £4,700! 🎉

Thank you for helping us make the day such a success. We look forward to welcoming you back again soon!