It’s the morning break at Danesfield Church of England school, where the staff are engaged in a rather delicate discussion: which one of them is going to clean up the pile of freshly deposited horse manure on the playground?

Danesfield serves the Somerset town of Williton, in the middle of horsey country. Not red coat and 4x4 Mercedes horsey country but the sort of place where down-at-heel boxes — some apparently held together by bailer twine — are towed by elderly Land Rovers that wheeze up hills. The Quantocks are on one side, Exmoor and the Brendans are on the other.

No surprise then that some of the pupils here pack jodhpurs and hard hats into their kit bags. What might surprise you is that Danesfield is a state middle school where 25% of the pupils have special needs.

It’s one of a growing number of state schools that are taking an interest in riding, once seen as a rather upper crust occupation. The organisers of the schools championships at Hickstead in West Sussex say that nearly half the entries now come from state schools, competing alongside the likes of Millfield, also in Somerset, and Cheltenham Ladies’ college. At Danesfield they are particularly proud of their record as the only state school to win a local jumping competition, organised by Wellington school.

Riding is not only a test of athleticism and skill, but it teaches discipline: the horse is in the care of the rider. It can’t be thrown into a box like a cricket bat at the end of a poor innings: it needs feeding, brushing, and mucking out. Saddles and the rest of the tack need to be polished.

And all this discipline has had a marked effect on the special needs pupils of Danesfield. “What it’s really good for is the children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder,” says special needs co-ordinator Sian Moore. “Some of them come from very deprived backgrounds; they can be very aggressive. But learning to respect an animal, learning that an animal has feelings is very good for them.”

The school offers lunchtime riding lessons at a nearby stables, weekly lessons at the Conquest centre in Taunton, which specialises in teaching riders with learning difficulties.

For some, the prospect of riding lessons is much more attractive than maths, English and history. Parent Lorna Webber used to have difficulty getting her son Jake, 12, out of bed for school on a Monday. He has Asperger’s syndrome and found it difficult to concentrate on his work. Now he not only looks forward to riding on a Friday, but his new enthusiasm has had a knock-on effect with his other work. “He’s taken to it really well,” says Lorna. “He wakes up on Monday morning and says, ‘It’s horse riding on Friday’.

“It’s really helped him with his other work because now he has something to look forward to at the end of the week. His concentration is better; he can get his head down and focus.”

The headmaster at Danesfield, Ian Bradbury, has been so struck by the impact of riding at his school that he’s considering expanding. “I’m thinking of putting in our own stables,” he says.

Even with a couple of stables, the school riding team will be a long way behind their independent rivals as far as facilities are concerned. Millfield, famed for its sport, is planning its own specialist polo unit to go with its polo field. It is also laying out its own cross country course. Millfield is just one of a number of schools that provides livery — accommodation for pupils who want to bring their own horses.

Stonar, an independent girls’ school near Bath, has stabling for 60 horses and offers riding scholarships. “Many girls choose to keep their own horses at school,” says the prospectus. “An ambitious young horsewoman can combine her studies with equestrian training, whether or not she has her own horse. Our most talented often go on to compete at national and international levels.” A team from Stonar won the national schools jumping championships last year at Hickstead.

But it’s not just the sport and the glory, it’s not just the discipline, it’s not even the boost it can give to pupils who are struggling with their academic work. There are hidden fringe benefits of riding lessons. As one Danesfield teacher told me: “We had a very promising rider here, who went on to work with horses. Thanks to that, she’s now living with a millionaire.”

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