Report - Section 2.4

2.4 The scale of the local equine industry

There are 8 BHS Approved riding establishments in East Sussex, 8 in West Sussex, 26 in Kent and 31 in Surrey.

It is possible to estimate the size of the local horse and horse-riding populations and the importance of the industry in the High Weald Leaderplus area in a number of ways.

1. Parish horse count

A parish horse count was conducted by HWBG in 2002 from which it can estimated there were 3,502 horses in the parishes in the Leaderplus area. (A further 2,421 horses were counted in 15 parishes which were outside the Leaderplus area, elsewhere in Wealden District and Bexhill-on-Sea) ie approx 1 horse per 25 people.

2. Estimation based on area

An aerial survey, including a horse count, was carried out in 1986 by the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology. This estimated that there were 4.5 horses per sq km in the South East region. The area served by the WARR Partnership in Rother and Wealden District is 821 sq km, giving an estimate of 3,694 horses (NB: HWBG estimate that horse numbers have risen substantially since 1986).

3. Estimate based on Riding Establishments

There are 9 riding establishments in the WARR area³. If they follow the national average of 32 horses each, this would total 276 RE horses.

If usage ratios are similar to Essex RE’s at 8.3 hours per horse per week⁴, these RE horses support a riding population of 276 x 8.3 = 2290.

If RE’s also keep livery horses which are not in RE work, at the same proportion as in Essex (46% of horses living at RE’s), then this would make a further 276 x 46/54 = 235 horses.

This gives 511 RE horses in total.

In Essex, the RE horse population is 12.7% of the total horse population. Applying this ratio to the High Weald gives a total horse population in the High Weald of 4023.

It is possible to go on to look at the riding population that these horses might support. Of these 4023, 276 are in RE work. The remaining 3747 are in private ownership. 18.8% are not used (old, unrideable etc.), this leaves 3042 horses in private use.

70% (2129) are probably in sole owner-use. The remaining 30% (912) are in shared use, and may support 912 x 2.4 riders ie 2197 riders.

Adding all these figures together:

2290 riders supported by RE working horses;
2129 riders have sole owner-use;
2197 riders have shared use.

This gives a total riding population of 6,616.

The population of the Leaderplus area is 89,700. Riders therefore constitute 7.4% of the population. This is considerably higher than the national figure of 4.5% of the population who enjoy riding in the UK each year.

Remembering that there are 3 times as many Riding Establishments in Rother and Wealden Districts combined as there are in the WARR area, it is possible to see the importance of equestrianism to the area⁵.

³ Wealden District Council has licensed 19 REs, 4 of them in the Leaderplus area. Rother District Council have licensed 9 RE’s, of which 5 are in the Leaderplus area. Altogether, there are 9 RE’s in the Leaderplus area.
⁴ Based on figures collected in Essex, by S.J. Judd in 1994 for an unpublished PhD thesis.
⁵ There are also three carriage driving clubs in the South East. The Oaks driving club in Hooe near Battle has a membership of 220 drivers and non-drivers and holds regular drives and competitions including national events at Normanhurst and helps organise the international driving trials in Brighton each year. The committee also organises the increasingly popular indoor carriage driving trials.

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