Horse riding in the North York Moors

Where you may ride: the legal position

The National Park's horse riding page states that riders must stick to bridleways, byways and restricted byways, and ride carefully around livestock to avoid spooking animals.

Those definitions come from GOV.UK's Rights of way and accessing landguidance. The practical line is clear: a horse may not use a public footpath. Ordnance Survey words two categories differently. It defines a footpath as a route the public may use by foot, while GOV.UK expressly includes running, mobility scooters and powered wheelchairs. Ordnance Survey's bridleway definition mentions travel on foot and horseback, then adds cycling as commentary, while GOV.UK includes bicycles in the definition itself. The full local network is on the National Park's rights of way pages.

Section 30 of the Countryside Act 1968, published on legislation.gov.uk, gives the public the right to ride a bicycle on a bridleway, but says that cyclists shall give way to pedestrians and people on horseback. The National Park restates the same point: cyclists give way to horse riders on shared trails.

Open access land, and the mistake people make

GOV.UK's Use your right to roam guidance says access land may be used for walking, running, watching wildlife and climbing. It lists horse riding among the activities that cannot usually be done there, alongside cycling, camping and driving a vehicle. Riding is permitted where a landowner allows it, where a public bridleway or byway crosses the land, or where local traditions or access rights exist. GOV.UK's land-management guidance adds that pre-existing public access rights, which may include horse riding, can apply instead of Countryside and Rights of Way rights.

The National Park's open access land page puts the local position plainly: you cannot cycle or ride a horse except on a bridleway, and you cannot drive a vehicle or motorbike on it. It also says Forestry England allows cyclists and horse riders to use the main tracks over its access land. That is landowner permission, not a general right. Open moor is not open to horses; the bridleway network is.

The named routes

Four routes can be named with confidence, because the National Park or the British Horse Society publishes each of them.

St Aelred's Pilgrim Trail links 12 churches in Helmsley and Upper Ryedale with Rievaulx Abbey, but its published length conflicts. The National Park's horse riding page says 50 miles. Its other walks and trails page and its launch press release both say 41 miles; Faith in the North, the organising body, and the British Pilgrimage Trust also say 41 miles. The 41-mile figure is therefore corroborated four times, including twice by the National Park, while 50 miles appears once. Faith in the North says the trail launched in September 2024 in nine stages, each beginning and ending at a church where a pilgrim passport can be stamped. The British Pilgrimage Trust describes the same 41 miles as three to four days, split into nine stages of 1.5 to 7 miles.

The North York Moors and Dales Ride is a 55-mile circular, four-day route published by the British Horse Society. The Rosedale Loop requires a free annual permit from the Spaunton Estate. The National Park's horse riding page says only: access via a free annual permit, contact Spaunton Estate Office for details. The National Park page and Spaunton Estate publish no route definition, seasonal closure for grouse shooting or nesting, rider limit, insurance requirement or application process. No permit conditions are published.

The Cinder Track, the former Scarborough to Whitby railway, is a riding route as well as a walking and cycling one, and it is the gentlest 21 miles on this list. Our Cinder Track guide covers the surface, the access points and the tea rooms along it.

Forest riding

The National Park says Forestry England welcomes riders to tracks in Dalby, Cropton, Harwood Dale, Broxa and Langdale. Forestry England announced that from May 2025 riders could use 49 more woodlands without a permit. Its national scheme retained paid permits at only Bramshill and Hodgemoor Woods, both SSSIs and both outside Yorkshire. Forestry England also says public rights of way, including bridleways, may be used for horse riding without permission. As far as the published material establishes, no permit is required for the five forests here.

Forestry England publishes no horse-riding rules for any of those individual forests: no designated routes and no seasonal or time restrictions. Harwood Dale and Langdale have no visitor pages, only forest management plans. An absence of published rules is not the same as an absence of rules. Forestry England advises riders: before getting in the saddle, check with the local woodland or forest about the best places to ride. Our Dalby Forest guide covers the wider visit.

Forestry England's Broxa page says parking charges are being introduced at Broxa Forest: one hour £1.50, half a day £3 and a full day £5, with members parking free. Those figures were published by Forestry England and checked in September 2026, because charges change.

Beach riding

The National Park says the beaches at Saltburn and Sandsend are open to horse riders and tells riders to check tide times beforehand. That is the whole of its published detail. North Yorkshire Council's beach and beach-location pages, Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, and GOV.UK's byelaws topic publish no online byelaw governing horse riding at either beach.

The British Horse Society's June 2025 Riding on beaches and estuariesguidance says riding is not necessarily permitted on beaches and riders should always check locally. It says access may be limited by time, day or area, and that byelaws commonly prohibit breaking-in or training horses, or riding so as to cause danger or annoyance. Its Yorkshire list includes Filey and Scarborough, but not Saltburn or Sandsend. For Filey it gives West Avenue parking and the Martins Ravine beach path, with restrictions from 1 May to 30 September and no riding beside the promenade from 9am to 6pm.

The honest conclusion is that the National Park says both beaches are open to riders, no published byelaw could be found for either, and anyone who needs certainty should contact the relevant council directly. Our Whitby to Sandsend walk covers the coast at Sandsend.

Trekking and riding centres

Four centres are named by the National Park: Bilsdale Riding Centre at Hawnby, Boltby Pony Trekking and Trail Riding Centre, Borrowby Equestrian Centre near Staithes, and Friars Hill Riding Stables at Sinnington. No detail beyond their names and places has been established, so there are no prices, opening times or claims about what they offer. The National Park's page carries the listings. Friars Hill also appears on our guide to accessible days out, because the National Park lists it under accessible outdoor activities.

Horseboxes and trailers: the gap we are working on

The National Park publishes no horsebox or trailer parking anywhere in the park. No car park is named here as horsebox-suitable until it has been checked on the ground.

What we can say is that the road constraints that stop a caravan apply to anything long and heavy, and a towed horsebox is both. Sutton Bank is prohibited to caravans and trailers, Rosedale Chimney Bank is around one in three with hairpins, and the old-town streets at Whitby, Robin Hood's Bay and Staithes are hopeless in anything long. The full picture, the prohibited roads, the punishing ones and the places you cannot turn round, is on our caravans and motorhomes page.

If you know a horsebox or trailer parking arrangement on the ground, please tell us.

What we do not know yet

Five gaps remain after checking the published material: horsebox and trailer parking anywhere in the park; whether horse-drawn vehicles may use a public bridleway, because GOV.UK does not mention them in its bridleway definition and Ordnance Survey lists them for restricted byways but not bridleways; any published conditions on the Rosedale Loop permit; whether the long routes have off-road stabling or overnight arrangements; and anything about the four riding centres beyond their names and places.

The National Park's pages, GOV.UK, Ordnance Survey, Forestry England, the British Horse Society and the named trail publishers answer the points above, but not those five. If you find something here wrong on the ground, please tell us. Corrections are wanted and will be credited.