Get involved
Support our work by joining our team of 300 local volunteer access and bridleway officers. Alternatively, you can get involved by finding your local BHS affiliated equestrian access groups who work to defend, extend, improve and promote safe, easily accessible off-road riding for everyone.
Volunteering opportunities with BHS
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BHS supports more than 1,000 volunteers to take positive local action, to champion our work in participation, safety, access & rights of way, and equine welfare & care.
Our Access & Bridleway Officers are dedicated to enhancing and maintaining the UK’s equestrian access network.
If you are passionate about equestrian access and want to make a lasting difference in your area, this could be the volunteer opportunity for you.
Discover an Equestrian Access Group
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BHS Affiliated Equestrian Access Groups work across the UK to defend, extend and promote safe, easily accessible off-road access and rights of way for everyone.
Discover more about Equestrian Access Groups and find a group near you
Attend a training course or event
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We organise events and training around the UK and online, to provide you with the information you need to defend your rights of way.
Take action
Protect your routes for riders and carriage drivers by reporting any problems you've encountered and recording historic routes so they can continue to be enjoyed by future generations of equestrians
Report a problem with off-road access
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BHS Access and Bridleways Officers work with members of the public and the BHS HQ Rights of Way team reacting to threats to your access, answering your questions, representing equestrians on a local and national level at relevant meetings affecting access, working to establish new access, and promoting what exists through the BHS National Equestrian Route Network.
Check the status of your riding routes
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Even if you’re using your favourite route to hack out regularly – this doesn’t mean that your route is recorded and protected!
We can work together to ensure the routes you ride on are accurately recorded as safe off-road routes so that they may be enjoyed now, and for generations to come. The first step towards preserving these historic routes is to check the status of your favourite route.
Record and protect your routes
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Working together we can make sure that routes used by horses in the past are accurately recorded and protected so they can continue to be enjoyed by future generations of equestrians.
To help you to help us save these routes, we’ve gathered together all the resources you’ll need to get started, beginning with our 2026 toolkit.
Contact your Access Field Officer
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Our team of dedicated Access Field Officers work across England, Wales and Scotland to defend, promote and extend equestrian access. They support our access volunteers and affiliated Equestrian Access Groups, as well as working collaboratively with local authorities and other stakeholders to resolve issues on bridleways, byways and other shared use routes, researching unrecorded rights of way and responding to planning consultations and policy documents.
Contact an Access Volunteer
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Our volunteer Access & Bridleway Officers and Scottish Access Representatives are dedicated to enhancing and maintaining the UK’s equestrian access network. Find out if there is a volunteer near you here.
Fundraise for us
Rideathon Challenge
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Off-road riding routes are quietly disappearing. Bridleways become overgrown, gates break or seize up, surfaces wear away, and access points are blocked or left unsafe.
When routes aren’t maintained, riders and carriage drivers are pushed onto busy roads. Horses lose safe places to relax and build confidence. And once a route falls out of use, it becomes much harder to protect.
Rideathon helps fund the practical work needed to maintain, restore and protect the riding network, so horses and people can continue to enjoy the countryside.
Your fundraising helps make this work possible.
- £100 could help replace a damaged gate
- £50 could help resurface a worn bridleway
- £25 could help fund tools to clear overgrown access points
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Ride Out UK
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The BHS’s Ride Out UK (ROUK) campaign celebrates the joys of riding out in our beautiful countryside, as well as raising awareness of the great work we do to protect and extend safe places to ride and carriage drive off-road.
Running throughout the year, our exciting Ride Out UK events range from fun rides in the beautiful countryside, to online talks and demos. They are the perfect opportunity to get involved, while also raising money for the BHS Ride Out Fund, helping to fund multi-user routes across the UK.
