Calls have been made for teaching to be allowed to return at equestrian centres, with the MP for Dwyfor Meirionnydd and Plaid Cymru’s Senedd candidate for the area arguing there is a case to be made for the safe resumption of riding lessons within large indoor schools.

Liz Saville Roberts and Mabon ap Gwynfor made the call for socially distanced tuition following a visit to the Pen Llyn Lusitano Riding Centre in Llaniestyn which remains unable to offer indoor lessons, despite there being space and Covid-secure measures in place to safely deliver one-to-one riding lessons.

The riding school is also open-sided, allowing fresh air to circulate naturally.

Indoor riding schools in Wales are required to abide by the same regulations as indoor gyms and indoor fitness facilities, which cannot reopen until 10 May.

Liz Saville Roberts MP and Mabon ap Gwynfor said: “Equestrian sport is a non-contact individual activity, with known physical and mental health benefits.

“Having seen for ourselves the Covid-secure measures in place at the Lusitano Riding Centre in Llaniestyn, there is no doubt in our minds that social distancing at these spacious locations is extremely easy.

“If places such as garden centres are rightly permitted to reopen, where there is much closer contact between people, then surely one-to-one riding lessons in a spacious and well-ventilated riding school should be allowed to resume.

“Riding schools are the lifeblood of the equestrian industry, and they have had a particularly rough time over the past year.

“For many riders, their weekly visit to the riding school is critical to their mental wellbeing as well as being a recognised form of enjoyable, non-competitive physical exercise.

“We urge the Welsh Government to look again and consider allowing socially-distanced riding lessons in Covid-secure riding schools to resume.”