Can u ride in a public park?

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wizgirl

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we have been riding in a local park for months and all park keepers to date have been polite kind and chatty.

Anyway, tonight a park keeper told us we were not to ride in the park and it was illegal. We were asked to leave. There are no signs to say that horses are not allowed or any info on the website to say this was the case. In fact it says it welcomes all - obviously not horses.

Is this right?
 
I ride im my local park. as you say there is nothing anywhere that says that i can not and therefore i do.. We never have any trouble off our park keepers.. they quite like it i think.. they jsut ask that we are insured.

Lou
 
Not sure what rights you have - I would say that technically if there are no by or bridleways then you shouldn't automatically gain acess.

Something I did find out the other day is that you can graze your horse on any common land...ie clapham common. Thinking it may be cheaper for me to go to work on Oscar and park him outside work!
 
There may be local (very old) byelaws regarding riding. If this is the case it would then be illegal to ride there. Best to politely ask why the permission has been withdrawn.
 
Also ask for reasoning, as parks are supposed to provide safe off road recreation for the public and horse riders are among the most vulnerable if forced to use only roads.

We were allowed to use our local park if we kept to the tarmac paths, but by being responsible about that we then negotiated a little route through a woody bit and also a link up to a bridleway where previously there was a dead end.

But you could only use the park if your horse would step over the steel stumps which tried to stop motorcyles and cars driving in! Some would, some wouldnt!

When dealing with it only discuss with the management of the park not the on the ground wardens as they can sometimes make up non existent rules to make life easier. And be assertive about the essentialness of meaningful access while being prepared to make step by step agreements about the extent of access.

Often they will try to say horses are too big and scare peeps. We were always able to counter that as it simply wasnt true, children loved to see horses in the park and we would always make a point of standing for the children to stroke the horses. Sometimes the rules are contradictory eg horses scare toddlers but then tell you you have to stay on the tarmac ie the same path as the toddlers. So we would stay on it unless spied a little un or prams then move off, petting session then back on.

good luck!
 
I contacted the local council, and was told it was ok to ride in the park. I used to take my horse to my parents house every Sunday - this included a gallop through the middle of Horsham Park (and yes, I was told that I was allowed to gallop as long as it was safe to do so). I even took him through there when the carnival was in town! I always got positive comments, people saying how nice it was to see a horse in the park.

I think your best bet is to ask the local council, although most parks are classed as common land, and therefore you should be able to ride through them.
 
Everyone, walkers, runners, mountain bikers can use our local park absolutely free EXCEPT horse riders. Riders have to buy an annual permit to ride in the park & not only that have to produce their insurance when applying which has cover for a minimum of £5,000,000 third party liability.

So riders trot through the park nice & gently trying to avoid the idiots charging around on mnountain bikes who don't have or need any insurance..
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Generally the riding of horses in public parks is governed by local bye laws, each council is different rules regarding this.
 
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