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A Shared Forest

As the weather improves and more people head out to enjoy our shared forests and wild spaces, we’d like to highlight our educational film A Shared Forest. This short film showcases best practice for both horse riders and mountain bikers, helping to raise awareness and encourage responsible behaviour so everyone can enjoy the outdoors together - safely.

A Shared Forest

Background

With the number of both mountain bikers and horse riders on the rise, there’s a growing need for these groups to better understand how to share spaces responsibly and coexist safely. As narrow trails often lead onto shared forest roads, and with more frequent interactions on multi-use paths and across the wider countryside, it became clear that guidance was needed to help all riders navigate these situations considerately.

In response to an increase in incidents between horse riders and mountain bikers, this film was commissioned in 2020 by ourselves in partnership with the British Horse Society to promote awareness and encourage positive, respectful behaviour in shared environments.

The video features professional mountain bikers, Reece Wilson and Jessie-May Morgan, and expert horse riders, Persia Bhatia and Lesley Walker, demonstrates how each body of riders should interact with the other responsibly.

Quotes from original press release

Head of DMBinS, Graeme McLean, explains the need for the film,

It has been fantastic to see the growing number of mountain bikers exploring the forests across Scotland but we recognise that there have been incidents where perhaps mountain bikers are unsure how to react to, or safely pass, horses in shared areas.

We hope that by showing the perspective from both the mountain biker and the horse rider that we can all learn something and go on enjoying what we love to do – safer and for the benefit of all concerned.

Helene Mauchlen British Horse Society said,

We were very pleased to be involved with the making of this short educational film and applaud Developing Mountain Biking in Scotland for taking a proactive approach to something that could have become a major issue for our members.

We hope that both our members and the mountain bike community are able to share this video and help educate everyone on how we can all responsibly enjoy the outdoors together.

Behind the scenes

We were really grateful to Reece and Jessie for giving up their time to make this short film and to Tommy Wilkinson DWAgency for the banter (and the finished article) on an absolutely baltic day at Cademuir Forest., Peebles. We hope you enjoy the film and can share to help riders better appreciate how to act around horses.

A Shared Forest
A shared forest behind the scenes jpg

Further information

For more information on responsible mountain biking see - Do The Ride Thing - DMBinS.com/dotheridething

For more information on responsible horse riding see - British Horse Society - Scotland - bhs.org.uk/bhs-in-your-area/scotland

For more information on Scottish Outdoor Access Code visit - outdooraccess-scotland.scot/

Do The Ride Thing

Good practice guidance and advise on how to behave when riding in Scotland’s outdoor spaces.

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