In the last three years, the growth of the Cowra chapter of Riding for the Disabled has been exponential, according to president David Hawkins.
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"We've gone from using four horses to using 12," he explained, speaking at the club's end-of-year Open Day.
"We're pretty much booked out, we've got waiting lists now... We've got another school trying to come on board... We do four schools, and Mulyan are attempting to bring in more students... St Pat's are making noises as well."
The growth has been demanding - there were 666 volunteer hours in October alone, and one can only imagine the demand of those sorts of numbers from March to November, when RDA operates away from intensity of the summer heat.
"That adds up for people checking horses, barbecues at Bunnings - that's how we raise our money," Hawkins said by way of example.
"We've got 45 registered riders, we have pretty close to 48 volunteers, I think? Active volunteers, anyway."
Nevertheless, once you look at the faces it becomes readily apparent why the volunteers do the work that they do.
"This year we competed in the Cowra Show, and we had some riders riding off lead," said Hawkins, "They did their events independently.
"That's what some of the parents and grandparents were saying to me earlier... In two years, the growth has been unbelievable, and that's really down to the coaches."
With two qualified coaches, a further three in training, and plans already underway to get another two coaches in training, Hawkins was hopeful that with more qualified coaches it will become easier to cater for the growing demand.
"We can only do it in steps... Once they [the three] get to assistant coach, then we put two more in as training for coaches... We end up hopefully with five or seven, which will break things up a little bit."
However, there were even more ambitious plans on the horizon as well.
"We're talking with the Showground... we're trying for an arena," the president said.
"It'll benefit the wider community... If we get everything through the way we like it, it'll be a proper equestrian size arena.
"We don't need that size, but if you're going to go for the grants you might as well, because then everybody else can use it.
"If that goes through it'll really, really expand things."
The step towards bigger projects seems like a logical move for the growing organisation, but as Hawkins notes they are tied intimately to the local area.
"We raise money in the community," he explained.
"I always say these horses are fed on sausage sandwiches, because that's where the money comes from."
NOTE: On Tuesday, 19/11, the first line the above mistakenly said that it had been three years since the RDA's inception. It has actually been running successfully for more than 25 years. This was based on a misunderstanding, and we sincerely apologise to the RDA for the error. It has now been corrected.
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