We are Carl & Rose Tommons, as horse lovers we were given the opportunity to develop Sandy Lane Equestrian on a greenfield site at the start of 2002. It has since grown explosively as a Riding School, from a starting client base of 15 people we now provide in excess of 400 lessons per week. From the outset we were both determined to provided a facility that we could not only be proud of but that clients would also be proud to be a part of. Our first task was to find the right Principal Instructor who came in the form of Fiona Prisk and with Fiona on board we set about establishing the school.

It was also obvious from the start that approval of the industry's main governing bodies The British Horse Society, (BHS) and The Association of British Riding schools, (ABRS) was required to establish a benchmark for our performance.

You may ask what do BHS & ABRS mean to me? They are symbols of Excellence and confidence, wherever you see these signs you can be assured that the correct elements for your wellbeing, protection and education are in place. To gain the approval of the BHS & ABRS the establishment must be licensed with the local authority, it must have public liability insurance and it must have qualified instructors, (ours are BHSAI), it must have trained First Aiders (we have 3) and it must carry out risk assessments for all of it's activities, each horse and pony must be vetted and put through it paces in front of a vet to ensure it has the right temperament and is physically up to its job. Finally lessons have to be conducted in front of both BHS and ABRS examiners independently to ensure that the content and standard of instruction is up to scratch. Approval has to be re-applied for every year and instructors have to attend refresher courses every year and that is just for your welfare.

Animal welfare also plays a huge part, again every new horse/pony is vetted and every year all of the animals undergo a thorough veterinary check up, criteria is laid down for the stabling, its size, suitability and level of maintenance, the amount of grazing land required is set down and checked for fencing, water provision etc. We aim to provide all these facilities to a higher than acceptable standard.

On top of all this we personally are striving to develop a site that you will enjoy coming to and provide lessons on horses and ponies that are loved, that will give you hours of fun and leave you a competent rider with the confidence to enjoy any horse or pony that you have the opportunity to ride in the future. Best wishes

Carl, Rose & Fiona

Sandy Lane Equestrian