Apply for a licence to hire out horses

You need a licence if your business provides horses for riding, or riding lessons.

Please read the guidance carefully before submitting your application.

For a full list of criteria and to find out if this applies to you please see:

• Hiring out horses licensing: statutory guidance for local authorities - on the GOV.UK website

To apply for a licence please complete one of the forms below:

• Application for an Animal Activity Licence - to type into (313KB)
• Application for an Animal Activity Licence - to hand write (259KB)

Licence costs:

For details of the charges please see:

• Licensing Fees & Charges 2025/26 - Adur District Council (181KB)
• Licensing Fees & Charges 2025/26 - Worthing Borough Council (181KB)

View our public register of animal licences

You may also be interested in our public register of licences:

This link below takes you to our public registers online portal:

• select 'Licence Register'
• then in the 'Licence Description' field
• then select 'Animal licensing'
• then click 'search'
• then scroll down the page to see the list, which is split up into the different types of animal licences:

View our public register of licences

Please note: The councils' public register data is in the public domain. It is the user's responsibility to ensure they are compliant with any relevant legislation when sharing or using data.

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