YOUNG ANGUS riders are sitting pretty after a vital donation to the area’s Riding for the Disabled group.

The organisation’s South Bottymyre centre, just south of Forfar, was the destination for Monifieth BT employee Doug Borthwick, who has funded a new piece of equipment for the group after landing a cash sum through a company fund.

Doug, a BT project engineer, secured almost £750 through the firm’s Give As You Earn community support scheme and the money has been used by Angus RDA to purchase a treeless saddle, which puts the rider more in touch with the horse they are on.

Doug’s daughter, Claire, is a friend of nine-year-old Gemma Lumsdaine, from Monifieth, and the Borthwick family were keen to support the group which Gemma has been riding with for a number of years.

“We can nominate ideas and I knew they were looking for this saddle so I put that to BT and we received the money for it,” said Doug, who visited the centre on Saturday with son, Murray (8).

Angus RDA chief instructor Elinor Phillips said, “The saddle doesn’t have a firm tree in it, so it is almost like riding bareback and the rider can feel the full movement of the horse beneath them, while still being comfortably secured.

“It makes a real difference and we’ve now got two of these saddles, which we are very pleased about.”