Where's the best place in the UK to own a horse?

[SpottyBumPony]

If you could move anywhere in the UK to own a horse where would that be?

I live on the south coast so the sea is on one side. Yards are being sold and built all the time. When I bought my horse 20 years ago I could go in to any feedshop and there would be adverts for grass diy but now it's like hens teeth. We have some bridleways but they're certainly not amazing.

So tell me, if I could move anywhere, where should I go for the best grazing and hacking in the UK (and a few good tack shops to wander around too)

Personally North Yorkshire - lots of land cheap rates and lovely people best grass in England :)

I would think Wales would be pretty amazing for hacking + grass + prices.
North East England here and although it is very horsey, land prices are crazy and it is hard to find good yards plus hacking is an issue as a lot of bridleways have been built on for housing estates 😡.
On the plus side loads of competition venues + horsey infrastructure.

What's the hacking in Scotland like with right to roam?

North Yorkshire - plenty of bridleways and rural areas - there is a huge horsey community here, loads of riding clubs, competition venues, clinics, livery yards everywhere from the basic to the fancy. And there is good road infrastructure too so unless you are over by the coast you're not isolated for getting to competition venues.

I would say Scottish Borders. Hack where you like in general so long as courteous to owners. I certainly just ask and people ask us. Forty minutes to beaches. Common ridings. Pony clubs. Cross country and events every single weekend.

Depends where you are. We have right to roam but farmers round us chain up gates and the paths and lovely walks locally have stiles making them inaccessible to horses. We end up hacking on single lane roads with a long way to go for any field access. You need to have loads of time and currently have a youngster who it's too far for. Often we just go so far along then turn around which I hate. Luckily we have some nice fields and hills on the property for very short rides but those just 10 miles away or less on the shared used paths or right on the pentlands have it made!

I moved to Wales from the south east and actually found grass livery really hard to come by, like you I thought there would be loads of grazing given a) all the rain and b) more open countryside. We are South Wales though, I think west Wales is better for grazing land. Prices are pretty good though compared to SE. A lot of places seem to go by word of mouth and who you know too.

Kent if you're rich. You can live in villages that are one big bridle path.

We live in a countrified area of the midlands where there is a lot of beautiful countryside with national trust type places that you can hack in and also quite a few pony club centres.

Northumberland, lucky where I am beaches,hills,trails etc

We are on the edge of Bodmin Moor in Cornwall. You can ride straight out onto the moors. You can also be on Dartmoor or North Coast beaches with a 30 min drive.

Im from the Scottish Borders and spent my youth bombing round the countryside on ponies. It's fantastic riding landscape. The common ridings are a sight to behold and open to local riders. Scott Brash and Ian Stark both local. In fact I would say probably a third of people at my not posh school had horses or at least rode regularly

Western Scotland is great too - we were surrounded by fields, woods, trails. Great community and lots of events.

I live near the East coast of Scotland and it’s amazing, all types of yards, loads of hacking, close to beaches and within 30 minutes of three major competition venues.

I'm right on the very edge of Exmoor, it's fabulous, 360° views on most of the rides and half an hour from North Devon beaches. Woods, tracks, field, moors, bridleways, hardly any traffic. I'm aware that I'm incredibly lucky.