Tracy van de Straaten and Blade Penson, 10, were awarded respectively with the runner-up NZRDA coach of the year award and the runner-up NZRDA rider of the year awards at the NZRDA Annual Awards Dinner in Wellington recently.
Ms van der Straaten, who is often Blade’s coach, nominated him for the award.
"I did it because of how he has approached [riding] through the year."
Blake first came to ESRDA at the beginning of 2023.
"RDA was suggested as a way of increasing his confidence."
Initially there were nerves about how he would cope riding a horse, but those nerves were quickly calmed, she said.
In his first term he achieved his first goal, to learn the routines.
"He’s improved a lot now.
"Learning the routines has helped him increase his independence and he’s now got more confidence on the horse.
"He’s actually wanting to start to trot now. He’s doing awesome."
She enjoyed seeing Blake succeed.
"You get a smile on your face.
"It makes you really proud to see how he is overcoming his own problems."
Ms van de Straaten did not know she had been nominated for the award, as someone else had entered her.
"It was a bit of surprise.
"People were congratulating me on something I didn’t know I’d actually got."
She had been volunteering with ESRDA for six years.
ESRDA head coach Carol Dawson said Ms van der Straaten did an amazing job and she was proud of her achievement.
