30% of Surrey is covered by The Surrey Hills, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). But a decline in farm incomes, coupled with pressure on the County's land for housing development, has led to an increasing amount of our rural landscape becoming lost.

Surrey has an extremely active equestrian industry, with three racecourses, polo training grounds, riding schools, livery and stud yards, resident international competitive riders and thousands of horses, horse owners and riders. There are thought to be in excess of 25,000 equines in Surrey. Multiply this number by the average grazing requirement per horse of 1.5 acres, and the enormous influence the horse industry has on the landscape and conservation becomes evident! With increasing pressure on green areas, it is important that horse-keepers manage land to maintain landscape character and for the benefit of wildlife.

Examples of visual problems that can arise at horse-keeping sites include: overgrazed land (particularly in winter); sprawling muck heaps; jumps and bright coloured equipment; inappropriate, excessive or neglected fencing and buildings. Horse-keeping has become more apparent on the edges of towns where horse ownership and keeping seem to be on the increase.

However, the potential benefits to Surrey of the industry are great. These range from increased revenue to the county's farmers through much needed diversification income, to the existing benefits to wildlife conservation that some horse owners and land managers make.

Farmers, racehorse trainers, livery yards, riding establishments and all horse owners and keepers are able to enjoy the benefits of this Project, which offers help and advice to land owners and managers. The scheme also offers advice to other parties on the grazing and shelter requirements of horses and ponies.

The Project has set a standard for 'Best Practice' in landscape and conservation friendly pasture management nationally. As well as providing landowners and managers with a source of information, the scheme demonstrates the positive affects that horses have on the landscape.

The Project has produced a series of Advice Notes on topics ranging from Trees and Hedges to Water Regulations. The text from these Notes is available on this website and some pages have PDFs attached, enabling the colour Notes to be viewed. There are additional webpages to assist with other aspects of horse-keeping such as assessing and securing grazing land and disposal of manure in a local, sustainable manner.

In addition to offering guidance via the webpages, Advice Notes and Advisory Calendars, more specific advice can be given over the telephone, via email or as a result of a visit to pasture. On request, presentations about the Horse Pasture Management Project and suggested ways to manage pasture for the benefit of the landscape and environment as well as grazing equines can be delivered to interested groups. For more information, please contact the Project.

Watch Horse Pasture Management Project introduction video (Transcript below).

Please note: This file uses Windows Media Video/Audio 9 Codecs. If you have a problem viewing, you can download the latest Windows Media Player from the Microsoft site.