Houston Farm Riding School in Uphall, West Lothian, was established in 1972 by Ian and Elizabeth Comrie. Today, the business is still part of the family and provides many clients with their first introduction to horses.

Originally when the Comries moved to Houston Farm they had pigs and poultry. "When Britain moved into the common market we knew the pig market would be difficult so we made the decision to diversify," explained Elizabeth. The farm was owned by the Department of Agriculture and had little maintenance done to it. They decided to buy it but the steading was little more than a ruin.

Ian had always an interest in horses; he'd showjumped and qualified for the Horse of the Year Show, and running a riding school was suggested. The pigs were sold and on October 14, 1972, Ian went to Kelso horse sales and bought three ponies to start. They ranged from 12.2hh to 13.3hh and were fairly young, and had taken part in the Borders Common Riding.

Both Ian and Elizabeth would teach and they used the field regardless of the weather. Elizabeth also worked night shift as a pyschiatric nurse for 20 years, having originally taken the night shift job to help buy the farm and put up the indoor school. Their first indoor school was built in 1993 – up until then they had been using a converted hay shed, which had pillars in it for many years. Today there's two indoor arenas and an outdoor arena.

Houston Farm is a licensed riding school and approved by both the Association of British Riding Schools and the British Horse Society. It's a family business that runs every day and the whole family are involved. They have four children – Jane Fegan BHSII, Fiona Flynn BHSII, Anne Comrie BHSII all teach from the stables and John, whose wife Angela BHSAI teaches and Jane's daughter Hayley is training to be an instructor.

Thursday is a 'rest day' – there are no group lessons that day but the place on our visit was still busy with individual lessons going on. On Tuesday and Wednesdays the last lessons finish at 8.30pm, and on Monday the first lesson is at 7am! The lessons range from a mixture of basic right through to competition riders. They also operate a waiting list.

"We are so popular that there's not always places available," said Elizabeth.

Every new rider is led at the start to assess their level of experience. They also run private, group, birthday rides and during school holidays popular three-day courses.

"A lot of the horses we've had haven't had the best start in life," explained Elizabeth. "But once they arrive they don't tend to leave, they've a permament home here.

"If someone is thinking of buying a horse I always ask can they afford a vet, if not they can't afford a horse," says Elizabeth, who also added they've had several horses gifted to them.

Currently there are around 58 horses and ponies at Houston Farm, a mixture of retired horses as well as some that are in for schooling.

The vast majority of horses work in the riding school and they range from 11.2hh to 17.2hh.

"Today the riders are harder to teach; there's not the same understanding of what riding is about," said Elizabeth. "We've taught people from all over the world and still have clients that have ben here at the start and several grandchildren of original clients.

"I miss the days when there was so much fun and you could see how the children were enjoying themselves," added Ian. "Health and safety means we can't do the same type of exercises that they did to learn balance; round the world was a good, fun exercise for the children."

"We have the best clients; they all work together. We had a pony that needed an eye operation and everyone worked hard to raise funds to pay for the operation," said Elizabeth.

"We are never going to make our fortune from it but we really enjoy seeing the chidlren improve. It's a hard job with long hours but we wouldn't change it," added Ian.