Bendigo Riding for the Disabled secretary Anne Prime said the volunteer group was calling for new members, believing many parents of last year’s students could be unable to recommit. 

In previous years the group taught students from several special development schools how to ride horses and drive carriages. 

Ms Prime said those schools recently advised they could no longer help students get from the classroom to the paddock, leaving it up to parents to arrange.

“Up until now we have always given preferences to the school students. And they have always filled our books up. We often had to turn people away because of demand,” she said.

The club was uncertain how many parents would commit to the program in 2017, given the schools had previously provided transport to and from the Mandurang South Recreation Reserve, as well as staff to accompany students.

Bendigo Special Development School acting principal Kirshy McAich said while the program was valuable for participants, the school needed to prioritise resources for programs that were part of the curriculum.

“Schools obviously have a limited amount of time and staff, as well as a lot of curriculum requirements, so we need to focus on programs everyone can access,” she said.

Staff would still provide parents with administrative assistance, including permission to leave school grounds to attend lessons and support for funding grant applications, she said.

While it was unclear how many of Bendigo RDA’s existing clients would be in the saddle this year, the group was undaunted.

Ms Prime said Bendigo RDA was offering riding and carriage driving classes to all locals who had disabilities, regardless of age.

“We’re all looking forward to new challenges. We want to make sure Bendigo RDA is bigger and better than ever this year – even if there will be a bit of uncertainty until we get new clients,” Ms Prime said.