An attractive activity

Equestrian tourism emerged in the 1950s in Europe, and especially in France, at a time when machines were taking over from animal-drawn vehicles. Since then it has moved from being a potentially pleasant activity to become a very concrete reality and one of the surest ways of developing horse riding.

In the space of forty years, and in a society where more and more time is being devoted to leisure, equestrian tourism has gone from being a marginal and little-thought-of activity, to today becoming undoubtedly the best means of gaining and retaining the interest of the largest number of horse riders and attracting the general public through the values that are linked to it.

The particularity of this activity is that anyone can do it. Whether a champion or a beginner, every horse rider has immediate access; this guarantees a vast source of potential riders. Those wishing to turn this activity into the easiest or the most difficult personal challenge can easily go on trail rides needing them to remain in the saddle for hours, go on long distance trails and participate in or organise very long journeys on horseback. Every rider must know and understand the fact that equestrian tourism offers a world full of knowledge, skill and experience. It is also possible to achieve a high technical level and merit the same dignity as other equestrian disciplines.

The meaning of equestrian tourism, previously only encompassing trail riding or journeys on horseback, has today widened to also include "all equestrian activities undertaken by tourists outside their normal place of residence", i.e. training courses, improvement courses and other aspects or diverse types of vacation principally revolving around the horse.