Old coaching inns, mounting blocks, stone horse troughs are all evidence of the horse being part of local history.  Horses were widely used on farms for heavy work up to the 1950s.  Heavy horses pulled coal carts up the Burway Road when it was only a stony track.  An extra horse had to be hitched up to help pull the load to the top of the hill.  Over 70 years ago a local resident, then a boy, can remember leading the extra horse back down the hill.

A local saddler trained horses on the Longmynd to get them fit for use by the cavalry in the First World War.  They were shipped over to France.  Many of those who survived the journey would have died in action.

The donkey path which runs under Bullocks Moor from Womerton to Plush Hill was so named as this route was used by Bill Williams, the miller from Dudgeley Mill.  He took donkeys and ponies as pack animals carrying grain and milled products to the farms around Ratlinghope.

Horses and Ponies have always been used to inspect and round up the hill sheep, and to carry forage to the livestock on the Mynd. Unfortunately, four-wheeled vehicles have taken their place. In the winter snows of 1963 a number of local riders took provisions to the isolated village of Picklescott by riding over the hill when all the lanes were blocked.

There are reports of a rider galloping to alert the emergency services of a serious fire on the hill so averting disaster, and of other riders fetching urgent help for injured walkers. Most horses today are kept as general sports horses, elite athletes, or for pleasure and leisure pursuits.

There are 53 privately owned horses between High Park and Little Stretton which are mainly owned and ridden by adults.  Horse ownership involves knowledge of country codes, pasture management, maintaining fences and hedges, drainage of land, recognition of plants and general stockmanship.
Horses are valuable animals and not easily replaced, as many are highly trained over many years.  They have a life expectancy of around 30 years and so become a precious part of the family.  They are expensive to keep and are usually insured in case of accidents.

People ride on the hills for many reasons; for the pleasure and enjoyment of the wonderful scenery.  They ride early in the mornings and in the late summer evenings to enjoy the peace and quiet.  They ride to avoid the ever- increasing amount of traffic on the roads. Apart from a small minority who occasionally hunt on the hill, most of the local riders do not venture up there in bad weather conditions. They do not want to risk injury to their horse when the going is bad underfoot and would also damage the pathways.  They are not likely to be dropping litter (what the horse leaves behind is environmentally friendly), lighting fires, leaving gates open or causing wilful damage.

At the recent Public Inquiry a number of witnesses were frightened in case horses caused injuries to walkers on the hill.  Horses may be perceived to be a danger by those who know little about them. There are no reports of a walker ever being injured by a horse.  There are,however, reports of walkers being struck by lightning whilst on the hills.

As a result of the Inquiry the "Permissive and Definitive Bridlepaths" have been reduced from 24.5 miles to 19 miles.  Cyclists and walkers also contribute to the wear and tear of these pathways.  Not all of the proposed paths involved the upgrading of official footpaths, many were well-used horse tracks, old cart tracks and drift ways.  The historic use by horses was ignored.  Some of the proposed bridleways had 50 claims of use dating back to 1916.  It is surprising that this was thought to be insufficient evidence of use.

The usual policy of the Ramblers Association is not to oppose the upgrading of footpaths to bridleways, where use has been shown, providing there is no serious conflict between horse riders and walkers. This being the case a petition to assess whether local people, walkers and cyclists did not object to horses being ridden sensibly on the Longmynd was organised.  The results showed that the anti-horse views heard at the Public Inquiry were not reflected by over 400 people on the petition.   They did not think horses caused an annoyance to other users of the hill, and in fact enjoyed seeing horses - many stated that they are part of the heritage of this area.

One of the orders at Cwm Dale dealt with linking the end of a cul-de-sac bridle path to another bridle path in order to avoid an accident blackspot for horses on the B4370.  This order was not confirmed.  The order at Hurstwood, to avoid bad bends on the B road, was passed but this did not involve land managed by the National Trust.

There are over 3000 horse-related accidents on the busy roads in the UK each year.  Most of the horse fatalities on the roads which I have attended professionally were not the fault of horse or rider. The British Horse Society has launched a road safety 2000 campaign and in liaison with the Department of Transport a new leaflet "Horse Sense when Driving" is available to motorists.  The Highway Code now includes a specific section on horses to inform motorists how to treat horses as road users. Where it is possible, more off-road paths should be made available for horse riders.  Where the number of routes is reduced the existing bridle paths will obviously have increased use.

At the Inquiry there was concern about the wear and tear on pathways created by riders.  As no-one knew the actual number of horses, cyclists, walkers etc using the Longmynd it was decided to conduct a simple census.  Eleven access routes onto the Eastern side of the Longmynd were manned on Saturday 31st August from 10am until 12 noon. The results were as follows.

234 motorised vehicles with 422 occupants (potential walkers)
18 bicycles (10 ridden, 8 transported)
142 walkers
39 dogs

17 horses - Four were privately owned and 13 from the riding stables on the Mynd.  In the summer months this largely caters for tourists who enjoy riding on the Hills.  Many are novice riders and therefore only capable of riding very sedately at walk.

During this two-hour period on a Saturday morning (which is not the busiest time at a weekend) 83 cars crossed the cattle grid into Cardingmill Valley, 70 on the Burway and 32 at Castle Hill, thus making these routes hazardous for horse and rider.  Surely this vast volume must be contributing to wear and tear on the hill.
Who knows what the future of the horse will be?  No doubt when the supply of fossil fuels dries out the horse will, once again, be called upon to help sustain society as we know it.
I would like to thank all those taking part in the petition and the Census, and those who provided the historic and factual information for this article, in particular

Lesley McIntyre
Donagh O’Neill
David Ian Hyslop
Norma Edge
Donald Pearse
Jennifer O’Shea

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Last updated: 3 February, 2010
Copyright Long Mynd Bridleways, Shropshire 2008