OPINION: Take kids to water and let them drink

The trouble was that it took time for them to learn that horses can have minds of their own - they are not like BMX bikes or motorbikes - and sometimes exercise that prerogative, particularly when they know they are being ridden by inexperienced riders.

Now few people know this, but one of my sidelines is horseriding. Each year, I run a horse-riding business for a couple of weeks for a friend of mine while he goes on holiday. Some years ago, I rode a horse from Offa's Dyke to the Welsh coast, six days almost non-stop in the saddle.

So when we went pony trekking, I often acted as an extra guide: youth work(er) on horseback. It can be a real learning experience for young people. The high spot, until new regulations forbade it, was a brief canter across the top of the moor. The real guide and myself had a cunning arrangement to separate out those who were capable of the canter and those who were not. He would ride on to the point where the canter would finish. I would stay with the group, most of whom expressed a wish to canter.