Horse riding is a significant and growing participant sport. More than 2.4 million people ride regularly, and many more ride occasionally as a weekend or holiday activity. Riding is a sport and leisure activity available to people from all walks of life, to men and women, to young and old, on equal terms.

Bridleways and byways are an important but undervalued national treasure. Few other countries can rival the network of paths or the diversity of British riding country. But in the areas closest to towns and cities, the countryside has been sliced into many small segments by massive post-war development including trunk roads, motorways, housing, and industrial and retail sites. The effect on the equestrian community has been to isolate the many riding centres and to destroy the coherence of the ancient rights of way network. Yet towns and suburban areas are where the majority of riders are to be found. In the countryside, conversely, there was not seen the need to make bridleway provision because the roads were lightly used. Development is removing the justification for that assumption.

The British Horse Society is working to create a National Bridleroute Network. This will initially consist of existing strategic national routes (for example, The Ridgeway and the Pennine Bridleway), regional routes (Swan's Way, the Icknield Way) and promoted circular rides. Over time, it will build up into a comprehensive network of community circuits linked together by linear routes.

The first phase of creating the National Bridleroute Network has already started. The Society has:

• collected information about the existing strategic long distance routes and the circular rides
• discussed with DETR a national signing standard, including use of route numbers
• started to prepare proposals for new strategic and circular routes to fill the gaps in the network
• started to seek sources of funding from grants and sponsorship.

The National Bridleroute Network will fill the gaps. Community Circuits will ensure many riders have access to primarily motor traffic free routes. Regional Routes will link the Communnity Circuits, so allowing longer rides, and reducing the need to travel by horsebox or trailer to places of equestrian interest. The National Network will consist of strategic routes across the country, linking up the regions and, potentially, linking into Europe too.

The Network will promote active sport and healthy leisure. The Network will provide opportunities for quiet, outdoor activities in harmony with the environment. In a 1998/9 national survey (in the Daily Telegraph), it was found that 53% of people said their main purpose in owning a horse was to go hacking.

The Network will increase access for all. The Network will be open to riders, cyclists and walkers. Money spent creating links will benefit the whole of society, not just horse riders. The development of Community Circuits will ensure that gaps in the rights of way network are filled. And by ensuring that there are circular motor-traffic free routes, parents need not worry about their children being run over.

Economic diversification can benefit rural areas. While most riders are located close to towns and cities, the development of the National Network will enable people to ride further afield. There is already a demand for riding holidays, and the provision of well signed routes through rural areas will bring money into the local economy. Cyclists spend, on average, £35 per day per person on cycling holidays, straight into local pubs, shops and bed and breakfasts - that's more than day trippers spend when they go to the Lake District. Riders will spend this on themselves, and more on their horses.

References
1. British Equestrian Trade Association Survey, Jan 2001.