Bridleways

There is only one bridleway near me, through a wood and it's fairly rough
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Bearing in mind we haven't had rain here for 2 weeks, the ground is boggy, My horse lost a shoe in it today (the shoe wasn't lose when we went out). The tree branches are very overgrown, I'd go down on the quad bike to cut some branches, but I don't think the bike would get through
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Who do I contact to get it sorted out, I'm more than willing to help them
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Also, there are two other potential bridleways near by, who do I ask if they can be turned into bridleways? Same people as above?
 
Eaglestone

Eaglestone

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PeterNatt on here will point you in the right direction, I am sure
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....you could always PM him and he will get back to you as he is excellent
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I dont think that just going and cutting branches off trees would be a good idea... might annoy local farmer/landowner
 
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I dont think that just going and cutting branches off trees would be a good idea... might annoy local farmer/landowner

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local farmer/landowner may be growing branches to stop riders using the path!

you need your local council rights of way dept or BHS access.
 
Contact your BHS Bridleways Officer and the County Council Rights of Way office - if you look on the Council website it will direct you to bridlepaths/rights of way, etc.

Best if you can speak to an officer and tell them exactly where and what the problem is, and then to get your friends to report it as well, hopefully they will respond to the extra calls. Don't give up, it might t ake more than one phonecall.

As for "potential bridlepaths" - well that is a minefield. Definitely contact BHS person about this. It is not that simple, but there might be a claim through historical evidence, or user evidence and they would be the best person to know.

You could also find out who the owner is and ask permission to use it.
 
Some Council Rights of Way officers are brilliant and others not so much!!! When I lived in Berkshire they were fantastic. Any problems were put right immediately, when a company closed off a bridleway to do some gas works without telling anyone they were fined and the money was put into repairing the surface, they were great! I have since lived in Yorkshire where we never saw anyone and they allowed one landowner to put a locked gate on a bridleway, and did nothing about an overgrown bridleway on a steep hill with barbed wire on the other side. Shropshire is also similarly crap. We have only one bridleway round here and if you manage to open the three rusty gates hanging on the ground (I couldn't do them on foot!) you have to make it through a field of bullocks, which according to the officer "can't be that bad or else the farmer would not have put them there"!!!!!!!!!!

Good luck. I don't envy you the hassle!
 
We've just had a new one open near us this week! Means we can go on an 8 mile round trip with only 1/4 of a mile road work, hooray! All through woods, lots of canters, next to the river, gorgeous!

It's a permissive bridleway, I believe a collaberation between the owner of the woods and the National Trust.
 
I had an "interesting" experience in Shropshire recently too! Still to defend them, they have spent an awful lot of money on some projects, so I guess it has diverted it away from some more routine work. Look on www.shropshireriding.co.uk.

Cattle - not really an issue. A farmer can put cattle in a field. It is a nuisance if your horse doesn't like them (and I have had one, and it was a factor in selling her).

Complain like made about the gates. It really does mean being a nuisance, AND tell your BHS person about the problem. Also when they have improved something, ring up and thank them.

Council officers get lots of complaints, and they really like it when someone says thanks.
 
My advice would be to write (using signed for Royal Mail Letter Post) to the Senior Access Officer at your County Council enclosing a map which shows the location of the mud and overgrown trees etc. and explaining that the problem needs to be sorted out as a matter of priority. Ask him to confirm receipt of your letter.

As regards new routes contact your local BHS bridleway officer who will be only to pleased to help you. If you don't know who they are please contact me providing me with the name of your nearest town and the county you are in and I will provide you with their contact details.
 
BTW You're quite within your rights to cut/move any obstructions to a bridleway or footpath. If you cannot get through, you are entitled to find an alternative route through the forest; they are public rights of way.

I would email your local rights of way officer at your local CC, I did this ( Nothants) and was delighted when several gates were changed to more horse friendly ones!
 
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I had an "interesting" experience in Shropshire recently too! Still to defend them, they have spent an awful lot of money on some projects, so I guess it has diverted it away from some more routine work. Look on www.shropshireriding.co.uk.


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Having a look on that website now
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My biggest issue with the bridleways near me (Shropshire) is that many of them are on National Trust land and they seem intent on hardcoring every last inch. Literally every time I go there there are patches of fresh hardcore which they've just dumped with no effort to compact it, meaning the whole path is just loose sharp stones.
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Re the cattle issue, a bridleway near me is currently inaccessible due to the field being full of young bullocks. My horse is an absolute saint with cattle but these bullocks are something else - they take great pleasure in deliberately chasing horses in large gangs, and they have bloody great big horns.
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Bullocks are extremely dangerous to other animals and will take a strong dislike particularly to horses. They are nothing like cows which will usually ignore you (my horses are fine with cows), but will come cantering up to you, try to round you up and will put their heads down and charge you. Everyone in the area knows the farmer is doing this on purpose and no one can use the bridleway. There are about 40 horses around here (due to one big livery yard and a few private homes) and no one uses it - BTW people on foot can't use it either as the bullocks are so nuts.

Having a bit of a problem accessing that website just now but will try later - thanks! On the whole where we are, (north near Wales) we're not really anywhere near the long routes. Personally I don't understand the need for long straight routes that take days if not weeks to ride. Do many people use them? I want nice, safe, close, circular routes for everyay use, but I might be the only one.
 
If you want nice circular local routes why don't you do something about it? Your first port of call should be your BHS bridleway officer who will be only to pleased to tell you how to go about getting new routes developed. I can provide you with their contact details if you p.m. me.

As regards the bullocks if they are preventing your use of the bridleway I would suggest that you contact the senior access officer of the access department of your local County Council and ask him to do something about it. They can use the Enviromental Protection Act to have fencing provided which will keep the bullocks a safe distance from the bridleway.
 
Thanks will PM you, but not sure what they can do as there are no rights of ways for horses round here and I've never heard of any farmer allowing any even for payment. I think it's different attitudes to horses in different places, but that's my experience.

I did try. I called a couple of times, each time I was told different things: that it could not have been bullocks, that bullocks are harmless and that bullcoks are dangerous but they can't do anything about it as they have no power and no money. To be fair there is a limited amount of time I can spend on this with a F/T job and four horses so I let it drop, but again I do think there is a huge difference in the attitudes of different councils to rights of way problems.
 
I am afraid that if you want to get things done then you will have to spend time on it. There are a number of BHS Volunteer bridleway offices accross the country that spend a lot of their spare time on improving the existing bridleway network and creating new bridleways so if you want to get your local network improved we are only too happy to help you but you will also need to put some time in yourself.

Give me a pm and I will send you contact details of your local BHS bridleway officers.
 
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