Report - Section 2.1

2.1   Number of horses and riders

The National Equestrian Survey 1999, conducted by BETA, found that 2.4 million people enjoy riding in the UK each year. This represents 4.5% of the population.

They identified that there are around 965,000 horses in the UK, of which 900,000 are privately owned and 65,000 are professionally owned. Not all horse riders are horse owners: about one in ten riders own their own horse.

Until 1996, the GHS regularly included questions about participation in sports and leisure activities. Their definition of horse-riding includes horse riding, show jumping or pony trekking. The GHS found quite consistently over a period of ten years that 3% of the adult population participated in horse-riding in the 12 months before interview. For the 1% of the population who had ridden in the 4 weeks before interview, they had ridden an average of 8 times (1996 figure).

Table 2.1:   Participation in horse-riding by people aged 16 or over

	1987	1990	1993	1996
Participation rate in the 4 weeks before interview	1%	1%	1%	1%
Participation rate in the 12 months before interview	3%	3%	3%	3%
Average frequency of participation per participant in the 4 weeks before interview	7	6	7	8
Average frequency of participation per adult per year	-	-	-	1

General Household Survey 1996

An unpublished report for the Countryside Agency in 2001 found that 5% of households had at least one member who had participated in riding in the countryside in the previous year. The proportion of the population riding in the countryside on any given day is 0.5% (midweek) and 0.9% (weekend)².

Table 2.2: Household activities
(where at least one member participated in the activity in the previous year)

Activity (multiple response possible)	%
Walk, run or cycle for recreation, exercise pets, fitness	54
Walking or rambling in the countryside	48
Cycling in the countryside	23
Running or jogging in the countryside	10
Horse-riding in the countryside	5
Off road motor sports in the countryside	4
None of these activities in the countryside	42
Don’t know	1

Use and demand of rights of way: Entec, unpublished study for the Countryside Agency, 2001

Table 2.3: Participation rates for a selection of other outdoor activities

	Previous 4 weeks	Av frequency	Previous 12 months	Av frequency
Walking (2 miles or more)	40.8	8	65.5	40.8
Cycling	10.2	10	18.7	12.7
Horse-riding	1	7	3	0.9
Water sports	0.6	4	2.8	0.3
Sailing	0.5	3	2.1	0.2
Canoeing	0.3		1.5

General Household Survey 1996

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² Rights of Way Use and Demand Study, Entec/Countryside Agency, Unpublished, 2001