BEF launces new scheme to encourage riding
The British Equestrian Federation (BEF) launches the next step in its Olympic legacy project, Hoof, this month – www.hoofride.co.uk.
The website is designed as a one-stop shop to encourage everyone, from non-riders and lapsed riders to current competitors, to get more involved in the sport.
It will offer information on everything from volunteering, coaching or ownership, to how to go about choosing the right riding centre for you or what to wear to your first lesson.
Andrew Finding of the BEF said: “It’s important our legacy is seen to be broadly based and for the benefit of our industry as a whole.”
Also launching this New Year is the first in a line of Hoof projects – Take Back the Reins.
It involves a series of weekly riding lessons designed to support riders through the initial steps to
regular riding.
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It is tailored to suit individuals, with sessions to suit lunch breaks, school runs and work.
Ruth Vasse, 43, took part in the pilot programme, delivered by Vauxhall City Farm and Park Lane Stables.
“Returning to riding was something I fancied doing anyway, but this really gave me the incentive to do so,” she said.
“It was an opportunity to combine fitness with getting to know new people.”
Piloted in seven centres this autumn, the programme is now open for centres to register their interest.
This news strory was first published in the current issue of H&H (5 January 2012)
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A self-confessed newshound, farmer’s daughter and journalist of many years' experience, Charlotte worked on regional papers before joining H&H in 2007. A regular rider, she visited Ireland in 2010 to investigate the fate of Irish horses through the recession, to much acclaim, and reported from the FEI General Assembly in Rio de Janeiro in 2011. She left Horse & Hound in March 2013.