Has anyone approached a farmer about hacking on their land?

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In order to increase the amount of off road hacking I have I was thinking about approaching the farmer whose land joins onto the yard I am on (or asking the yard owner to!) about the possibility of hacking round his lovely fields, only the ones that don't have cattle/sheep in obviously!

has anyone done this and what was the reception you got?

Thanks!
 
I have - and it was all fine, farmer was suprised that Id asked !! always made absolutely sure I was careful to shut gates and only go round the edges though, had a great time :)
 
Yes we asked politely to use a track that meets a bridleway on the farmer's land. He said yes, of course as long as we shut all gates and mind his livestock.
He was happy enough because we were polite and asked!

Oh we also plan on giving him a bottle of wine at xmas - to say thanks and keep the goodwill going!
 
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We had a lovely farmer who runs a little feed shop, we rode round his land for years, always gave him a bottle of whisky at Christmas, sadly the pikies spoiled it by coursing for hares and now he has blocked up all the entrances with machinery so no-one can get in. So sad.
 
Yep. Two in fact, although one is too far away to use. Daughter and her friend have access to a couple hundred acres provided they behave responsibly, keep to the edges etc.

They can say no, in which case you haven't lost anything, but if perchance they say yes then go for it!
 
Yes, not on his farm land but on his farm drive that goes for about three miles, so can either just do the drive or once at the end of it you can cross over and do a village too.

He was fine, most of the local riders have asked and use it and he doesn't mind as long as you don't canter on the verges xx
 
palomino698 said:
Am I right in thinking they cannot give permission for horses to use the 'environmental strip' as the grant they get for it prohibits riding?
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Interested to know if this is right, the farmer I asked said he wouldn't get his grant if he gave us permission. I thought DEFRA supported more off road riding, they support the toll ride scheme TROT, and I thought that was where the subsidies came from - but I might have everything all wrong....
 
When i moved into the area, i asked our farmer neighbour if we could ride across his fields from ours to get to the quiet lanes, he told us he didnt mind where we rode in what ever weather....I have now been with him 6 years :)
If anyone asked us if they could ride around the fields to get off the roads, i wouldnt hesitate to say yes.
 
PeterNatt said:
Yes you can now ride on the enviromental strip without loosing the subsidy.
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Peter - do you have any info or can you point me to something, so that I could print it off and show him. He seems a really genuine guy, but I think he would want more than to take my word for it. TIA HB :D
 
It depends in which scheme his buffer strips are and what sort of habitat there is. Have a read through Natural England's website, that's where the cross compliance thingy and environmental stewardships are described.
 
When I was young I asked the local monastry if I could ride on their land, and they said yes. 150 acres of farm land that if I cut through also led to unlimited bushland trails.

Now I almost never ride on the road. All the trails we used to ride on used acces through a combination of fire trails and private land, and now the fire trails are difficult to access, without access through private land first.

I used to be able to ride for 2-3 hours without seeing another person every afternoon after school. Now days I would need to float my horse to access trails and they would still be full of people.
 
Ashgrove - ditto!

If it is an environmental strip then it shouldn't be ridden on, but TROT got round this by the farmer leaving an slighter wider strip for the horses to use. So long as the ground isn't poached and trashed it is OK, but you do have to be careful in wet conditions and stay off it really.
 
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