A bridle path (also bridleway, bridle road) is a thoroughfare originally made for horses, but which these days serves a wide range of interests, including hikers, walkers and cyclists as well as equestrians. The laws relating to permissions vary from country to country.[1][2] Bridle paths were transport routes where the country was so steep that the route was impassable by wheeled traffic.[3] In industrialized countries, bridle paths are now primarily used for recreation. However, they are still important transportation routes in some areas. For example, they are the main method of traveling to mountain villages in Lesotho.[4]
In England and Wales a public bridleway is a legally protected right of way over privately owned land, over which the public has the right to travel on horseback or leading a horse, with or without a right to drive animals of any description along the way. The public also has the right to travel on foot on public bridleways. The public is permitted to ride bicycles on public bridleways, but that right is not absolute because the law provides that it "shall not create any obligation to facilitate the use of the bridleway by cyclists".[5]
Public bridleways are shown as long green dashes on Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 maps, or long pink dashes on 1:50,000 maps. In addition, permissive bridleways are shown as dashed orange lines on the 1:25,000 maps where there is no statutory right of way but where the landowner permits use, for the time being, as a bridleway.
A public bridleway is sometimes waymarked using a blue arrow on a metal or plastic disc or by blue paint dots on posts and trees.
In Scotland there is no legal distinction between footpaths and bridleways, though it is generally accepted that horseriders (and cyclists) may follow rights of way with suitable surfaces.