Loisirs de pleine nature et utilisation des territoires : le cas des activités équestres diffuses

The development of equestrian leisure in France is partly due to individual horse owners, who take care of their horses themselves, outside any professional equestrian structure. Besides, little is known about the growth of their number in rural and suburban areas. Our methodology, which combines exhaustive inventories and econometric modeling, highlights first features and determining factors of this new use of the territories. Thus, the presence of these horses and their access to land is explained by a combination of different factors that are related to the current transformations of the horse industry and of the French countryside. A projection test of the results at the national level highlights first elements about areas that could offer the highest opportunities or threats to the development of this equestrian activity. This work underlines the importance of taking into account the development of outdoor activities in land management. Moreover, it offers an original methodology to understand these diffuse activities, which often develop on the fringe of professional institutions.