Equestrian: Taking your horse on holiday in Yorkshire is new trend for 2023

Tourism organisations say that the cost of living crisis is making people consider staycations and the cheaper option of camping again for 2023 following a huge surge in demand and visitor numbers at hotspots across Yorkshire, such as the Yorkshire Dales and coastal locations, during COVID lockdown travel restrictions.

The British Horse Society now even has a BHS Ride Leader Pathway, which is an industry recognised career route for anyone wishing to pursue a career in equestrian tourism.

The organisation says that riding for pleasure is the most popular equestrian activity in the UK and with 20 per cent of riding activities in the survey indicated as riding holidays or trekking, the equestrian tourism industry is continuing to grow in popularity.

Alison Muir has been offering horse holidays at her self-catering holiday cottages at Street Farm, in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, since 2008, but said bookings for horses are already being made for this year – and they don’t open to horses until May.

She said: “They are definitely becoming more popular, particularly this year. We have had lots more enquiries and a lot more horses coming at this point.

“People have set about organising holidays much earlier than they would have done and you can understand why. It can be a really inexpensive form of holiday and horses cost a lot of money to keep throughout the year. If you take it on holiday it means you get to enjoy the holiday and spend more time with the horse.

“There are more places doing it and they have worked out if you set up a field making it possible to bring a horse it grows an opportunity. You have got to consider other things as well. In the last few years there have been issues with riding on the road and traffic has increased. When you take it on holiday you choose somewhere you can explore and have access to off-road hacking.”

People visiting other areas that they are not familiar with also prefer guided rides and routes with maps that are easy to follow.

Heidi Green has started offering horse holidays at the campsite she runs in Robin Hood’s Bay on the Yorkshire coast and herself takes visitors out for guided rides to catch sunsets and sunrises as well as to the beach and across the moors.

The family business, at Farsyde Farm used to include holiday cottages and a riding school but she has changed it to cater for horse holidays.

As a child, Ms Green also camped there and when the site came up for sale in the 1970s, her parents bought it.

"My mum always loved the coast and we used to camp here as kids. She bought the farm when it came up for sale. It was her dream and we moved in the 1970s. It was an old dairy farm and they developed it.”

The campsite opened as a pop-up venture last year but was restricted on days. Now she has a license, Farsyde is open all year round and not restricted to the weekend – plus the location of being between the sea and the moors means that horse holidays don’t have to just be for the riders.

Ms Green said: “It is not just horse holidays, people can bring other members of the family who are not into horses because there is so much for them to do around the area - whether that is biking or walking. There is always lots for everybody to do.

“I have done a few horse holidays before but haven’t pushed them until last year because we were busy with the cottages and riding school.

“A lot of people are looking at camping holidays because it is a cheaper holiday and some people are looking at just one night away and they don’t have to be here for three nights and don’t have to take time off. It is doable to come on Friday, ride on Saturday and go. People are working really hard and don’t have to spend a fortune doing something different.”

Someone else navigating the rides is also a big attraction, said both holiday providers, as it takes the stress out of worrying about getting lost or straying onto private land.

Ms Green added: “People also want guided rides and I can take them and it saves them wondering where do we go, do we go to the moors by ourselves, what if we go too far? I can do all that and show them the best views, the beach, moors, forests and stop at a tea-room.”