Camilla opens riding centre to help Brixton's troubled young

More confident: Chemilla and Jadine at the Brixton riding centre
12 April 2012

A riding centre that aims to transform the "life chances" of troubled youngsters in Brixton will be opened by the Duchess of Cornwall today.

Ebony Riding Centre will unveil a £1.7million stables and paddock just two months after the arrival of its horses was delayed by the riots.

It has been built between Brixton market and the Loughborough estate, raided by police in the search for looters.

The club was set up 15 years ago but this is the first time its 50 members will be able to ride in Brixton rather than take a minibus to riding schools in Lewisham or Kingston.

Camilla has been president for two years and was today seeing how young people in one of London's most crime-ridden wards benefit from working with its eight ponies.

Many of the children have special needs, such as Asperger's. Others have chaotic family lives or were removed from school because of poor behaviour. But Ebony trustee Lynn Clark said the horses helped to teach them to "reconnect with society".

She told the Standard: "They are getting life lessons, including how to sit an exam, pre- sent yourself, be punctual and treat others with respect.

"All of these skills can be taught very effectively with horses. If you treat a horse badly you won't get anything good out of that animal.

"Working with something bigger and scarier than they are teaches them that they don't know it all and can't bully everybody else. I think horses offer a special psychological benefit. In a densely pop- ulated urban area with a lot of gun and drug crime, this is good for the soul."

Funders included Sport England, the London Marathon and the British Equestrian Federation, which invested £200,000 of its Olympic legacy cash.

Half-hour lessons cost as little as £6, and 150 children a week can ride. Twins Chemilla and Jadine Lambert, 16, have been club members for six years.

Chemilla, who is studying for an International Baccalaureate and hopes to work on a US ranch in her gap year, said: "The club has made me more confident around the horses - and people too."

Jadine, who wants to work at a racing yard in Newmarket, said: "Everywhere else you ride is usually surrounded by fields. This is bringing people closer."

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