Damian in The Bulletin

 

All in A Day's Work for Damian

Article written by Jan Zander

Reproduced from the February 2006 Bulletin with permission

Damian Day answered a plea for volunteers to help at the Taupo three day event 2 and a half years ago.  There he met Trevor Gregory and the rest, as they say, is history.

He has since become a young man we now recognise helping out at every show north of Taupo and who has become an invaluable asset to any and all course builders in the main arena. 

Day carries all his worldly possessions with him wherever he goes, erects his small tent and gives of all his energy to the show that he is attending at the time. We have come to rely on his input, and the only thing he asks, is that we refuel him from time to time!! Not only does he work from daylight till dark with course building and changing but he sits out all day, in all weather, and picks up the many rails downed by the horses during the day's competition. By night, he is amongst the revellers, tidying and getting rid of the empties so that the mess to be dealt with in the morning is minimal.

Day has dyspraxia, which is often referred to as clumsy child syndrome. Damian is not a child. He is 21 years old and dyspraxia is something he will never grow out of. He has to live with it and the way people react to it, and therefore to him! He is of above average intelligence and has a wonderful ability with a camera, but most people just assume that because he looks a little awkward and has trouble with communication, he can be ignored or ridiculed. 

The reason he spends so much time and energy with us is that he feels a little accepted and enjoys the feeling of belonging. He knows he is different and that is why he is always there or thereabouts but cannot quite bring himself to party. Damian cannot shave as he lacks the fine tuning of body awareness (cannot tell where his hand is in relation to his face) and may appear to ignore or not hear at times. This is all due to dyspraxia and no two days are ever the same for Damian. After spending so much of his life around horses, is it any wonder that he finds himself at least once a week, riding horses at the RDA? He finds this very beneficial for muscle development, particularly in the upper body.

Come the end of a show and long after the last truck has gone, Day packs up his tent and belongings, jumps on his bike and pedals towards the next destination. He bikes to nearly all the venues, arrives and pitches his tent and we have the best volunteer available for the next show!

In the last few weeks he has pedalled from Cambridge to Ti Papa, Tauranga to Taupo, Auckland Three Day and back to Taupo for the Christmas Classic. Beat that! Thank you so much Damian for all that you do for us in showjumping, the sport would be all the poorer without you. We, from the National Equestrian Centre, cannot thank you enough for the last couple of years of tireless work that you have  put in for us. Have a great New Year.