Two riders cross open grassland beneath a sunset sky
Equine Land Conservation Resource

Protect the land where horses live, work, and inspire.

Every day, open land disappears. ELCR equips communities with the tools, knowledge, and advocacy to conserve the places horses and people depend on.

0acres conserved with our help
0states with active projects
Since 1997advancing equine land conservation
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01 Our Purpose

The land horses need is vanishing, acre by acre, every single day.

Across the country, the open spaces where horses are ridden, raised, and rehabilitated are being lost to development. Once that land is gone, it rarely comes back.

ELCR is the only national nonprofit dedicated entirely to keeping that land intact, equipping landowners, communities, and decision-makers with the resources to act before it's too late.

0 acres of open land lost to development every day in the U.S.

Wherever horses meet the land, we're there.

From backcountry trails to working ranches, family farms to competition grounds, public parks to private easements. No single kind of horse country; all of it worth protecting.

Trail view between a horse's ears
RecreationRiding Trails
A woman with her horse at golden hour
StewardshipFarms & Ranches
Horse and rider clearing a jump
SportCompetition Grounds
Rider on a wooded public trail
AccessPublic Lands
Riders on wide open prairie
Working landOpen Range
02 What We Offer

A field guide to protecting equine land.

Whatever your role (landowner, advocate, official, or volunteer), start here. Hover a topic to preview.

01 Private Lands

Conservation easements, estate planning, and tax benefits that let landowners protect their property, and their way of life, for generations.

Landowner with her horse
02 Public Lands

Secure and expand equine access on parks, forests, and shared public spaces so the next generation can ride where we ride today.

Public lands trail
03 Trails & Access

Plan, build, and defend the trail systems that connect communities to the land and keep horses welcome on them.

Trail between horse ears
04 Planning & Zoning

Show up where land-use decisions are made. We help communities shape zoning, ordinances, and comprehensive plans that keep horse country intact.

Community planning
05 Conservation Tools

Free, practical toolkits, templates, and step-by-step guides: everything you need to take the first action toward protecting land.

Conservation tools
03 Conservation, On the Ground

Real places, protected for good.

Wooded riding trail
Trails · Pacific Northwest

1,200 acres of trail saved from the auction block

When a beloved network of riding trails faced sale and subdivision, a county coalition used ELCR's planning toolkit to keep every mile open to the public.

1,200 acres27 trail miles
Landowner with horse
Easement · Bluegrass Region

A fifth-generation farm, protected forever

A Kentucky family placed a permanent conservation easement on their pasture, securing tax relief today and open land for the horses of tomorrow.

340 acres5 generations
Open prairie with riders
Public Access · Mountain West

Reopening the range to responsible riders

Working with land managers, a local advocacy group restored equine access to 9,000 acres of public range that had been closed for a decade.

9,000 acres1 decade reopened
Community planning meeting
Planning · Mid-Atlantic

Writing horses into the comprehensive plan

Residents used ELCR's model ordinance language to add equine-land protections to their township's 20-year growth plan.

20-year plan6 townships
Forest trail
Trails · Southeast

A volunteer corps that rebuilt 40 miles of trail

Trained with ELCR resources, local volunteers cleared, mapped, and reopened a long-neglected trail network for riders and hikers alike.

40 miles120 volunteers
Horse and rider
Easement · New England

Keeping a competition venue in the community

A regional equestrian center secured its future with a conservation easement that protects both the land and the events it hosts.

210 acres30+ events / yr
Riders crossing open grassland
The Long View
0+

acres of equine land that landowners, communities, and advocates have helped conserve with ELCR's resources, and counting.

04 How You Can Help

Two ways to keep
horse country whole.

Make a gift

Every donation funds the toolkits, advocacy, and expertise communities use to protect land before it's lost. Give once, monthly, or in honor of someone, and put your support to work in the places horses love.

Donate Now

Protect your land

If you own land where horses live or ride, you have options. Explore conservation easements, tax benefits, and stewardship planning, then talk to someone who's helped hundreds of landowners do exactly this.

Start the Conversation
Voices from the Field
“We thought losing the farm to development was inevitable. ELCR showed us a path we didn't know existed, and our pasture will be open land long after we're gone.”
Margaret EllisonLandowner · Woodford County, KY
“The planning toolkit gave a handful of volunteers the language to stand up at a zoning hearing and win. Twelve hundred acres of trails are still open because of it.”
David ReyesTrail Coalition Chair · Pacific Northwest
“ELCR is the connective tissue of equine land conservation. No one else is doing this work at a national scale, and every community organizer I know leans on their resources.”
Dr. Susan HollowayPartner Organization · National Land Trust
05 Stay Connected

Conservation news, straight to your inbox.

Join our monthly digest for stories from the field, new toolkits, webinar invites, and ways to act in your own community.

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