Use of land space by horses : quantitative importance, distribution, and issues

Up to now, there was very little data available regarding the ways in which equestrian activities are integrated into the rural and suburban land spaces. Thus one can wonder where, how, and via whom which types of horses and equestrian activities are spread out over the territory ?

According to the REFE (Economic network for the equestrian sector), France boasted 1,100,000 equids at the end of 2014. It was estimated that 0,5 million hectares were occupied by these animals, which represents 0,1 % of French metropolitan territory, and 5 % of the  permanent grass land. However these figures are little known today, as is the way in which horses occupy this land space. Within the framework of a research programme « Horse and territory », which is conducted in collabortion between the IFCE (French institute for horses and equestrianism) and the INRA (National institute for agronomic studies), exhaustive inventories of horses present, their owners, and the land space occupied (grazing space, accomodation space be it for permanenet or alternate use) were carried out over small territories considered as « models » (see the fact sheet : Exhaustive census of horses : close up overview of the equine population within six small model territories). In the towns and villages studied very thoroughly, horses occupy between 1,4 % and 6 % of the total surface of these territories, which represents between 0,5 and 4ha per horse.

In the suburban towns studied, horses occupy between 1,6 % and 3,5 % of the total land surface, this figure tending to drop with added land pressure, without necessarily reducing the number of horses present, they are then concentrated over smaller plots of land. Moreover, the  existence of local equestrian traditions increases the density of horses present and their concentration within the territory. Finally the suburban land space has the highest density of horses (4 to 7 horses per square km).
In the rural areas studied, there are very wide disparities with regard to surfaces occupied by horses, these vary between 1,5 % and 6 % of the total surface. These differences are linked both to population density and the availability of land for horses. For example, when the land is mainly used for professional agricultural activities, there is little available land space for horses. On the other hand, low population density, or considerable agricultural desertion, frees land space for horses.

By coupling a statistical processing of data regarding location of horses and the thorough observation of a field census, we were able to identify two different distribution patterns for horses on the land space.

Intertown gradient

When on the scale of urban areas, there is an urban-rural concentric zone model which is noticeable in the three areas studied (figure 1). According to this gradient, riding schools and livery yards are preferentially located near towns close to urban poles, where a large proportion of the rider customer base is located. These structures adapt to real estate pressure, by having a high concentration of horses on reduced land space, and could almost be qualified as « soiless ». On the other hand, stud farms and training centres for race horses are found in villages located at a distance from the urban centres, on the rural periphery of urban zones. Individual owners are located in all types of area, whatever the distance from urban zones. They adapt their strategy to available land property near their residence or leisure areas.

Intra-town gradient

On the scale of the town or village ( in rural or suburban areas), another gradient takes shape, intra-town, depending on the distance from the town or village centre. Breeding studs and training centres for racing alternately use large plots of land located at a distance from town or village centres (rotation between different plots). On this local scale, riding schools and livery yards seem to look for ease of access for their customer base, by locating near the main road networks. Finally, individual owners prefer to use plots of land located right next to their residence, and integrate their equestrian activities within their residential bubble, where the plots of land available to horses prolong the space dedicated to the house. These horses usually occupy small spaces in between built-up areas. Frequently these owners compensate for the lack of own land by temporarily occupying fields located further away which are either loaned or rented out to them. However, this type of land space occupation evolves, as they are gradually pushed back to the outskirts of the villages, as urbanisation advances.