A black cloud hangs over the future of riding schools ? a drastic rise in compensation claims for every bump and bruise is threatening to put them out of business.

One West Devon firm has already closed and others are facing a bleak future as insurance premiums soar.

There are now just a handful of insurance companies willing to provide cover and if the trend continues it may not be long before it becomes impossible to run a licensed riding school.

Sue Turner, of White Tor Stables at Mary Tavy, said although she had no experience of anyone claiming against her school, the increase in litigation had taken the fun and the profit out of the business.

?It is going to finish riding as a learning sport,? she said. Mrs Turner recalled a recent case where a rider came off a horse in an arena and immediately got out her mobile phone to sue.

?She received £2,500 and the case did not even get to court ? the insurance company just paid up,? she said.

?Our public liability insurance is doubling year on year for this reason. Horse riding is a dangerous sport, second only to motor racing, I heard the other day, and there is no such thing as a predictable horse.?

Rosemary Hooley, who has been running a riding stables at Skaigh Farm near Okehampton since 1964, said: ?Despite having no claims in ten years with the same insurance company they would not renew my cover this year and in the end I only found one who would insure me ? at a very large premium,? she said.

Mrs Hooley said some people were claiming for ?nothing at all?: ?If a horse treads on somebody?s toe, straight away they are looking for insurance money.

?It has almost become a secondary business for people taking part in so-called dangerous sports. In many establishments riders are not allowed to do anything more than trotting because of the risk of sueing.?

Mrs Hooley said there was a snobbery element attached to riding and far from taking it up as a sport, many people now had riding lessons to ?climb the social ladder?.

?Some ambitious parents try to push their children into riding when they do not want to and when something goes wrong they blame somebody else. There are dangers with riding horses and a duty of care can only go so far.?

Tavistock-based solicitor Jane Phillips, who specialises in defending riding school owners, horse societies and pony clubs, said she used to average 76 cases a year, but so far this year she had already had 62 claims.

?I have had to take on another member of staff to cope with the workload,? she said. ?We have had everything from people being paralysed to someone being bitten and another sueing for a bruised leg where a horse kicked them ? some of these cases are totally unmeritorious.

?Not only are riding schools going out of business but proprietors are being put under tremendous strain in defending these cases, and for this reason alone they are calling it a day.?

Mrs Phillips added that when she started equine work 22 years ago, there were more than 20 insurance firms providing cover to riding schools, but now there were just four.

Colin Baker, of South Essex insurance company, which is one of the four, said he sympathised with riding schools but until there was a decline in claims, fraudulent or not, they had little choice in increasing prices.

?Everybody is taking advantage of the compensation-crazy culture and insurance companies have to charge the correct prices or run the risk of bankruptcy,? he said.

?It seems if someone sits on a horse the wrong way they will blame someone for it - we are endeavouring to work with the equestrian industry and individual horse owners to make sure they have the proper duty of care in place to help prevent more cases occurring.?