History
Why Scooniehill?
Lily and John Mason farmed at Scooniehill Farm to the south of St Andrews. For years they provided a home for the horses and ponies and a base from which the Group operated.
“Lily and John Mason are Scooniehill RDA”
- Princess Anne, National President, 1981
How did we start? 
A news item about the benefits of riding for the handicapped, one outgrown children’s pony, a girl with cerebral palsy, and a very enthusiastic physiotherapist came together in 1971, and the Scooniehill Group of the Riding for the Disabled was born. The aim of the RDA is to give the opportunity of riding or driving to any disabled person who may benefit in general health and happiness. Towed carriages present an alternative for the heavily handicapped when riding is not possible.
As Jane Errington (retired occupational therapist) explained to Sir Harry Secombe when he visited the group for the programme Highway in 1985:
"We have to go back to the ancient Greeks for the origins of this therapy. They used riding in the treatment of depression and found it cheered the spirits."
Children who have been disabled from birth and have never known normal movement cannot understand about balance from which all purposeful movement derives. All children can begin to learn, however, by sitting on a horse which is moving and balancing. This lets them feel forward, backward and side-to-side movement.
From small beginnings the Scooniehill Group grew to around 100 riders each week, using 8 ponies and around 40 helpers. On an exciting morning in 1981, Princess Anne arrived at Scooniehill by helicopter to visit and spent one and a half hours watching the children ride, chatting with the children and helpers, asking questions, telling amusing stories and making at least one very helpful suggestion about something she had seen used at another group for a rider with a very particular handicap. The visit was lovely for the riders and their parents, but the real honour for the Group was when the Princess chose the visit to be shown in a TV programme about a year in her life.
At Scooniehill and later at Langraw the riders had access to beautiful countryside along paths, across fields, and through woods. One elderly lady rider remarked that McIntosh Patrick should have been painting the scene! Very occasionally the Saturday children rode to the East Sands at St Andrews, where the ponies enjoyed walking and trotting in the shallow water. In the summer some of the children rode to a neighbouring farm nearly an hour’s ride away, where helpers had a sumptuous picnic organized, and where the ponies could graze in a little field bounded by the Cameron burn and mayflower. The group then enjoyed a few games before catching their ponies, grooming and tacking them up, and riding or walking (helpers) home. No-one needed rocked to sleep that night!
Over the years circumstances changed. Helpers and ponies grew older, many new health and safety rules had to be complied with, and the decision was taken to retire the ponies and move to a riding school where suitable ponies could be hired and an indoor school could used on wet or cold weather. The first move proved unsuccessful when the riding school closed after about a year. A very small beginning was made at Kilconquhar riding school, and as more enthusiastic helpers were found in that area, the Group grew again. Under the chairmanship of the late Frank Butler, who retired in 2004, the Group became a registered charity with trustees, and the finances were put on a sound footing.
Now adults from centres in Cupar and Leven, children from schools in Cupar, Buckhaven and Leven, and individual children from throughout East Fife (brought by their parents at the weekend) have riding lessons at Kilconquhar. We have a wonderful riding area with an outdoor school, and beautiful grounds to hack out in.
Mention has been made many times of the work of helpers. Helpers are the mainstay of every group. Being a helper is a very worthwhile occupation, offering the opportunity to meet new people, make new friends, gain lots of exercise and gain valuable experiences, but most satisfying of all is to able to help children or adults to ride a pony, and to see them gain confidence while thoroughly enjoying themselves.
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