I WAS recently asked by someone about to return to horse ownership where all the good bridlepath routes were. She had been out of the loop following several years bringing up children, and had no idea where to start looking.

Fortunately, help was at hand and I was able to point her in the direction of the Ride Yorkshire website, which details several circular routes in Craven - and many more across the rest of Yorkshire and mainly in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Ride Yorkshire was set up three years ago by horse riding friends with expertise in tourism and horses, who wanted to encourage people to get the most out of riding in the wonderful countryside Yorkshire has to offer. Their rides are easy to understand, have very straightforward maps and include helpful hints, such as the number of gates you are likely to come across, where to park the trailer, where the horse friendly refreshment stops are, and whether you are likely to encounter livestock, such as sheep and cattle. I tackled a ten mile ride that set off from and finished in Stainforth and apart from a small section of road, it was all quiet country lanes, grassy tracks and old drovers' routes. My only concern was that for the entire ride I did not encounter a single other rider - I saw plenty of cyclists and evidence of cycle tracks, but no one solitary hoof print, which was a great shame, as much of the route was on the Pennine Bridleway in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. The national park is very keen on promoting its horse riding opportunities and has recently put out a poster telling cyclists how to act around horse riders.

The website includes five wonderful bridlepath routes included in and around Craven, also including Ingleton to Chapel-le-dale and moors of the Southern Dales.

As well as circular rides, it also has a riding diary, of organised day rides and special events, such as fun rides with the hounds, with the York and Ainsty Hunt, and competitions. There are also lists of trekking centres and stables and even horse-friendly bed and breakfasts. It also organises riding holidays and guided day rides, including for inner city children and vulnerable adults. It even carries out training days for trailer towing, which has got to be popular, bearing in mind the number of trailers about which appear to have scrape damage. Janet Cochrane, a founder member, lives in West Yorkshire and three years ago was herself returning to riding. At the time, she was a senior research fellow at Leeds Metropolitan University - now Leeds Beckett - working in the School of Events, Tourism and Hospitality. "I didn't have a horse myself at the time and when I started looking for good places to ride, I found it almost impossible," she says. "There was no central directory of riding centres and very little information from the centres themselves, or what sort of services they provided, such as instruction, riding out, beginners hacks, or riding for experienced people." Many did not have a website or Facebook page, and many still don't.

What she also discovered was that even those with their own horses didn't know where to ride - even within their own particular area.

"Many people's map reading skills were not strong, and many bridleways were unusable."

Janet set up Ride Yorkshire with retired solicitor, John Yeomans who at the time was chairman of VisitYork, and they were later joined by North Yorkshire farmer, Catherine Fairburn, and horsewoman, Kate Dashper. Nowadays, it is mostly Janet who runs the organisation.

"Ride Yorkshire is a not for profit company with charitable aims," she says. "We have received set-up funding from a number of sources, including the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust and others, which paid for initially establishing the website, the maps, some administrative expenses and some project management, although most of our time has been for free."

There is occasional sponsorship, and proceeds from pleasure rides are used to fund outreach work.

All the rides promoted on the website were carefully researched, with input from the Yorkshire Dales National Park. and when she didn't have a horse to hand, Janet took to her bike - or legs - to get the instructions just right. She also re-visits them regularly to make sure nothing needs changing.

Those wanting to go on on a riding holiday and don' t have their own horse can trust the organisation to sort out a horse for them - as it works closely with trekking centres.

"We know there's a demand from competent riders who don't happen to own a horse at the moment for the more interesting rides.

"Fortunately, many of the trekking centres - even though they have fabulous country on their doorsteps - are a little more conservative when it comes to product development."

Janet says she is very keen to work with other organisations and has organised pleasure rides to raise money for other charities.

"Generally, we hope individual riders, riding clubs and bridleways groups make good use of the services we offer."

To find out more about the organisation and to download riding maps, visit rideyorkshire.org