About Us

As a member of the Sivewright family Sarah had a privileged upbringing at their Talland School of Equitation, Gloucestershire, where she competed through Pony Club and affiliated competitions to represent Great Britain as a member of the British Team. Having gained British Horse Society qualifications, Sarah trained students at Talland, competitors and riders at home and abroad and spent time learning about the running of a private yard with the Martin-Bird family in Sussex.

Marriage to William moved Sarah to Angus where, until a riding road accident in 1993, she operated a popular training yard for children and adult competitors. Work moved the Houstouns to Cumbria in 2002 where Lantra gave Sarah the opportunity to study for a business management diploma; passionate about the horse industry she based her studies on the horse industry to learn what she could do to find a solution to the escalating problems, litigation and closure of riding schools.

With help from legal, insurance, environmental health, HSE, emergency services and equestrian 'Hall of Fame' experts Sarah developed a pre-accident initiative, which was launched in 2005 with the support of the Country Land and Business Association. The initiative, , 'Safety And Risk Assessment For Horses', is a user friendly system designed to enable business operators to identify, control and reduce the risks for everyone was tried and tested by The Cumbrian Tourist Board.

Since 2005 has been used by business operators of riding schools, livery yards, studs, polo clubs, training yards, facility-centres, show grounds, holiday centres and animal sanctuaries up and down the country.

Sarah's Qualifications

  • International Coach; Registered British Horse Society Instructor (BHSI regd.)
  • Judge for British Horse Driving Trials Association
  • Pony Club Visiting Instructor
  • Cardiff University Expert Witness (CUEW)
  • Chartered Management Institute Diploma in Business Management
  • Chartered Institute of Environmental Health: Health & Safety
  • Chartered Institute of Environmental Health: Risk Assessment
  • C+E (Artic) Licence
  • Animal Movement Certificate
Taking in the fells Courtesy of the Winter family Taking in the fells Courtesy of the Winter family