Horse riding

Horses are a historical feature of the Lincolnshire landscape, which remains one of the best destinations in the country for a horse-riding break, thanks to the gentle terrain, the extensive network of bridleways and the traffic-free country lanes.

Lincolnshire is horse-riding territory, with horses featuring throughout the county's history. Hundreds of miles of ancient bridleways snake deep into the countryside, with dozens of riding schools serving as focal points for a riding break. For centuries the land here was tilled by horses, and before the arrival of cars, horse power (in the original sense) was what propelled carriages up and down the Great North Road.

Lincolnshire's open rural expanses are well suited to horse riding, with a network of quiet lanes making access easy and safe. The bridleways have few gates and there's very little traffic on the leafy country lanes, many of which are old drove roads with wide grass verges. Long-distance routes, like the Viking Way are accessible to horse riders (on selected parts of the route), as are some of the waterways; the new Water Rail Way between Lincoln and Boston is an example. There are also plenty of established circular horse rides throughout the county.

A wide variety of riding schools and equestrian centres across Lincolnshire cater for riders of all abilities with some also providing B&B facilities and riding holidays.

Each of the horse riding schools in Lincolnshire offers its own unique programme of lessons and hacks whilst horse lovers will also enjoy the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre, which hosts annual medieval pageants, complete with authentic medieval garb for both horse and rider.

Further information

• Countryside Access Map: this useful online tool enables you to find routes and open areas with public access for riding in Lincolnshire. To find the map, visit www.atems.co.uk/emride/map.html for an online directory of equestrian businesses.
• Lincs Equestrian Directory: another online resource - www.lincsequestrian.co.uk
• Ride Welland project - http://ridewelland.blogspot.com – is a dedicated scheme looking at the development of equine tourism in the south western corner of Lincolnshire and the surrounding counties.
• Ride UK – another online directory of bridleways in the country www.ride-uk.org.uk