Equine students in Somerset are champing at the bit to help their lecturer go for gold in an international competition.

Norton Radstock College lecturer Dawn Watkins is managing Britain’s tentpegging world cup team and has enlisted her students to stage a training event at the HorseWorld horse sanctuary in Bristol as part of their assessment.

Tentpegging involves galloping in a straight line with a sword or lance to hit wooden tent pegs on the floor.

Dawn said: “In their first week the students managed to get sponsorship from leading equestrian brand Mark Todd Clothing and have other companies expressing an interest.

“It is a discipline which none of them are familiar with so it is letting them learn about another sphere within the equine industry.

“They are going to have to organise the whole event including providing information for the riders, health and safety at the yard and will be doing all the ground work. They have been working really hard and have real enthusiasm.”

In last year’s world cup, the British team won silver, and Dawn is hoping this year, with her students’ help, they will carry away a gold.