Britain’s Horsiest County: how we did the scoring
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Resident legends: We asked each of H&H’s section editors to make 10 nominations in various sectors of equestrian sport and in the fields of people, places and events. We allocated 5 points to famous people on the basis that they would probably make their base in a region that serviced their needs and therefore the needs of others, 3 points to events and 2 to equestrian hubs.
Polo clubs: Information from Hurlingham Polo Association. www.hpa-polo.co.uk
Racecourses: Information from British Horseracing Authority. www.britishhorseracing.com
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Hunts: Information from Baily’s online.
Point-to-points: Information from Point-to-point Owners’ and Riders’ Association national fixtures list. Location allocated on where meeting took place. www.ppora.co.uk
Livery yards: Information from British Horse Society. www.bhs.org.uk
Riding schools: Information from the British Horse Society and Association of British Riding Schools websites. www.bhs.org.uk www.abrs-info.org
Pony Clubs: Information taken from the Pony Club website. www.pcuk.org
Riding clubs: Information provided by the British Horse Society.
Passported equines: Information provided by the National Equine Database. www.nedonline.co.uk
Equine vets: Restricted to veterinary practices specialising in equine treatment. Information provided by Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons.
Approved bridleways: Information provided by The Access and Rights of Way department of the British Horse Society. The percentage of bridleway access available against total public rights of way in a region was then calculated, taking into consideration local knowledge of area representatives. These percentages were then converted into a score and rounded up to the nearest .25% ie if 27% of access was available the region scored 2.75.
Affiliated horse trials: Information taken from the British Eventing website. www.britisheventing.com
Affiliated showjumping events: Information taken from the British Showjumping website. www.britishshowjumping.co.uk
Affiliated dressage events: Information provided by British Dressage. www.britishdressage.co.uk
HOYS/RIHS qualifying shows: Information taken from www.hoys.co.uk and www.bsps.com
Affiliated trainers: Information taken from the relevant discipline websites.
Registered farriers: Information taken from www.farrier-reg.gov.uk
Tack shops and equine feed merchants: Information supplied by the British Equine Trade Association. www.beta-uk.org
Pro-hunting politicians: Information acquired from the websites of current members of Parliament and co-ordinated in conjunction with a list of MPs who have been consistently supportive of hunting and who, in particular, voted against the Hunting Bill at its Third Reading in September 2004 and who are still in the House of Commons supplied by the Countryside Alliance.
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For the full report on Britain’s Horsiest County, see the current issue of Horse & Hound (7 July, ’10) — out today
