Where is the best place in the UK to own a horse

S

silkster007

Member
Joined
7 July 2012
Messages
12
Location
Germany
Visit site
I am leaving the Army in two years and can relocate to anywhere in England. I have a Hanovnarien and an irish hunter. Where is the best place in UK for hacks, indoor school, and livery? Lincolnshire is supposed to be very good.
 
Might be biased but Gloucestershire, we're horse country here. There's about 8 comp centres within an 40 min drive and loads more within an hour and a half. Hartpury, badminton, gatcombe are all very close. Hacking is brilliant if you're in the right place and the amount of livery yards here is unreal.
 
I used to live under Bulbarrow hill in Dorset, wonderful place for riding, you could get onto the wessex ridgeway and be out all day without seeing another road, ground wasn't too bad in winter. Or Piddletrenthide near Dorchester, again wonderful hacking just loads and loads of tracks across fields, I was told the hunt master owns nearly the whole valley so they just hunt everywhere (that may not be correct just what I was told)
 
Well I'd love to live in the New Forest but live in clay-y Sussex! Plus side here though is loads of competition venues.
 
Cheshire is very good. Lots if comp centres including a decent number of BE venues (so great if u like cross country!)

It's also got the M6 cutting through so easy access to other areas and venues!

Hacking is good if you find the right yard (think this is true of anywhere in the UK!) but for example you can ride In delemere forest or tatton park (may need permit? - long time since I've lived that area!)
 
dollymix said:
Cheshire is very good. Lots if comp centres including a decent number of BE venues (so great if u like cross country!)

It's also got the M6 cutting through so easy access to other areas and venues!

Hacking is good if you find the right yard (think this is true of anywhere in the UK!) but for example you can ride In delemere forest or tatton park (may need permit? - long time since I've lived that area!)
Click to expand...

Agree with this lots of great farm and cross country venues lots of competitions and beaches half an hour away too
 
Grumpy Jewel said:
Not Sussex or surry, very expensive and clay everywhere so nasty in winter and like concrete in summer!
Click to expand...

agree on the expensive.
However both counties very good for commute to London/airports etc and some areas have some lovely hacking as well as good comp centres.
Much is also on sandy soil - not all of these counties are on clay, always worth checking specific areas.

However, that said, I'd prefer to be further out to Worcs/Hereforshire or Gloucs :)
 
Gloucestershire is a bit rubbish, at least my bit never had such awful grazing or hacking. I too have heard amazing things about The New Forest area. Also have very fond memories of Cardiff/ rudry/ Caerphilly hacking
 
Vote for oxfordshire! West/south oxon is racehorse county, several event riders have set up locally, many centres dotted around and its fairly reasonable. Although leics/notts/midlands in general are very horsey
 
For Hacking you cannot beat the New Forest IMHO, we have miles and miles of off road hacking and can go where ever we like. Can get a bit wet in winter but loads of sandy tracks so always somewhere for a good gallop. If you stick to the North East parts then you also have very good access to the M27 and it's easy to get to Sparsholt, Quob and Crofton from there.

Plenty of livery form full to a Field, the only downside is there are very few liveries on the forest with an indoor school, but a lot have decent outdoor schools.
 
Last edited:
We have some fab hacking down here in Devon/Cornwall - moorlands, forests, old railway lines, and of course the wonderful beaches. Good range of competition venues, and some excellent riding clubs and instructors.

But choose wisely as areas can differ vastly - oh, and it ALWAYS rains:eek:
 
Depends what kind of country you like - hills, forrests, beaches... And if you want to compete or hunt.

I live within reach of Cheshire, and think its great for competition venues and farm rides, but wouldn't want to hack out there... I'd rather be a bit further north in the hills. Lincolnshre and Notts are great if you are into hunting, but were too flat for me!

I live in the Pennines, and the hacking is superb, but it is usually at least an hour's drive to affiliated venues, especially eventing. There are plenty of unafilliated competitions though.
 
If I could live anywhere, I would prob choose near ish to Lambourn, as great hacking, road links, etc. I found Glos to have lots of clay, the going at Hartbury always seemed sticky when going xc there. The new forest is fine, but not if you want to do lots of galloping, too many people and quite stony I found. Depends exactly what you do with your horses, and your type of hacking! Is also quite location dependent within a small area too, for instance where I keep mine is great, but 15 mins in the other direction, and the hacking wouldn't be much use for me!
 
Well I don't know where the best place is, but I can tell you it isn't Cumbria, unless your horses have special flippers on their hooves to cope with the constant rain and flooded fields.

If I had a choice it would be the New Forest for me. :)
 
Definately Lincolnshire!!! Lots of flat fields for galloping on, and lots of woodlands beaches and tracks within short driving distances!! Once I have my own transport ill be regularly making the one hour journey to the beach in summer!!!
 
I can tell you north Wales specifically Anglesey is not the place to go! Excellent hacking but no shows within a reasonable distance and its rained for about two years solid ( prior to that was snow!) but livery and hay is cheap!
 
Right at this very moment the best place would be somewhere like New Zealand (sorry I am aware that it's not in England but it seems to have been raining/ flooding in almost all of England for 8 months now and it's getting a little dull!)

Lincs is very horse - because property is cheap and lots of people keep horses at home. Loads of great comp venues and beach is accessable for most. I don't thing the bridleway network is great (spoiled by Berkshire forestry commission land which is ride where you want to!) so take care with the exact area and make sure there is a nice local farmer who's happy for you to use his fields or enough bridleway for you
 
West Sussex isn't all on clay. We're at the foot of the South Downs - so on chalk. The fields drain really well, even in this awful weather and the riding is fantastic - miles and miles of bridleways with scenery to die for ... I love it!
 
Lincolnshire Wolds
ADVANTAGES
sandy soil, lots of cross country courses, lots of equestrian centers within a small distance, Lots of competitions Sandy beaches within an hours drive that you can ride on any time of the year, great weather normally a drought area although this year has been a bit wetter, Housing is cheap and livery and fields are around.
Stubble for miles if you can convince the farmers to allow you to ride it
Access to the motorway network via the M180

DISADVANTAGES
snow can lie deep and for a time if the wind is from the east
there are areas of clay which can be muddy
where is is sandy the grass doesnt grow very well
rural areas have a poor road structure so you can be a bit remote
finding farmers that like horses can be hard in what is basically an arable area
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top