Riding to sustainable rural development? Promising elements of sustainable practices in equine tourism in rural areas

Rural places have long relied on tourism as a source of potential economic sustainability and recent innovations in the field have also promoted the potential social, economic and cultural sustainability elements of tourism in cultural landscapes and other socio-natural constructions (Lønning & Evans 2010, Ray 2000, Cawley et al 2008). This includes the use of cultural heritage designation and community-based tourism, and focuses on the economic potential and sustainability of public and private goods where landscape and heritage is a factor in attracting tourists. One growing element of this phenomenon is Equine Tourism.  Over the last 20 years equine tourism and leisure have been dramatically increasing, both in Europe and in the wider world (Horse, tourism and leisure, Equimeeting Tourisme, 2012, Saumur, France; Pickel-Chevalier & Evans, 2014). As much of these equestrian activities are delivered in rural areas (horse riding tourism, but also festival and other forms of equine tourism), we explore whether their development has the potential to support sustainable development in the countryside. We ask whether equine tourism can be one of a range of positive responses to the challenge of sustainability, in terms of the sustainability triangle -- social, economic and environmental – and how? What are the policies, strategies and actors (public/private) involved? Also, what might be the difficulties and limitations for equine tourism as an agent of sustainable tourism development? To begin, we need to clarify the definition of ‘equine tourism”