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When he was a jockey, life was simple.
All Joe Loveridge had to worry about was keeping his weight down, getting the rides and not killing himself.

Now he's a trainer, things are a million times worse. He's got no end of problems. Whether he is entitled to ride along tow paths. Whether bridleways that used to be bridleways are still bridleways. Whether walkers and dog owners who shout and wave their walking sticks at him and his horse telling him he's not allowed to ride on common land are telling him the truth or not. Whether they are entitled to prevent him from riding on land on which he is perfectly entitled to ride upon.

"I don't know where I am," he says. "All I know is whatever you do, wherever you want to ride nowadays seems to be a problem. There are obviously rules. Trouble is nobody seems to know what the rules are."

Part of the problem, of course, is that he lives and trains in Staines, Middlesex, part of Spelthorne Borough Council, which includes Ashford, Laleham, Shepperton, and Sunbury, which is not exactly the most horse-friendly part of the country.

In fact, because of its almost negative attitude to horses, many local riders stick to the roads, private fields or have given up riding altogether.

But life for riders wasn't always like that.

Joe, 26, who was born in Staines, remembers as a child being able to ride virtually everywhere. His first pony was Blue, a New Forest pony. He even broke her in himself.

"She knew even less than I did," he says. "She didn't know what to do or anything. She even went down on her knees the first time I rode her."

Joe has still got her. She is now 22-years-old. His own children, Alisha, 8 and Skarlett, 3, now ride her.

"As a child, I was forced to ride a lot. So I went off it a bit as I got older," he says. "But about 15 I went back to it again. But on my own terms."

But riding was obviously in his blood.

At 17-years-old he was taking the standard jockey's course at the British Racing School at Newmarket alongside Adam Kirby and James Boyle, two of today's bunch of up-and-coming young jockeys.

From there he went to Roger Ingram's yard at Epsom. His first race was on Guy Fawkes day, November 5, at Wolverhampton in 2004.He came third at 25 - 1 on a horse called My Maite, which he says was notorious for being a dog.

Three-years later, however, he was forced to quit. Not because of a racing accident. But because of a freak accident in a racing yard. A horse shied and fell on top of him. He broke his leg very badly in four places. He was out of action for six-weeks. He couldn't walk properly for a year.

He decided to become a trainer.

He took over Penton Hook Farm in Staines. Today with help from Jane Chappell-Hyams and John Gosden, both legendary trainers for whom he used to be a work rider, he has 16 horses under pre-training , one of which he is confident could be an early winner.

"We are the only pre-training yard in the South East," he says. "Today, largely because of the costs, more and more owners are now thinking twice about putting their horses into a training yard straightaway. They want a preliminary assessment first. They want to know whether the horse is any good, whether it's worth investing the money in sending them to a proper training yard. We help them make that assessment."

The problem, of course, is getting and keeping the horses fit.

Which is where the non-horse friendly policies of Spelthorne Borough Council come in. For, in spite of an estimated 50 livery yards and maybe over 500 horses based in their area generating around £1 million of business, they don't seem to be interested in them or their requirements at all.

Joe explains.

"I come out of my yard. If I turn right all along the road there is one speed bump after another. How can you ride over speed bumps? Why couldn't they leave a gap for a horse to get through? It's no big deal."

"Instead I turn left. Hundred yards, I'm facing the River Thames. There's sign I can't see because of a branch of a tree keeps flapping away in front of it. Does it say I can ride along the footpath? Does it say I can't? The lock-keeper further along tells me I can."

"If I turn right, I immediately face a string of low over-hanging branches that even a Shetland pony would struggle to get under. This takes me to Silversands, a 200-metre wide open stretch on a bend on the river. But this is dog-walking territory. Dog walkers are forever telling me I'm not allowed to ride there.

They are very rude and allow their dogs to be aggressive towards the horses and me as a rider. I have to sit and smile and try to be polite and explain that by laws allow us to use the paths. It invariably falls on deaf ears.

But there are no signs there. There's nothing telling me I can't ride there. They're also forever telling me I'm not allowed to gallop on the grass. But you can't gallop there. There's not enough space. It's just nice hacking ground."

"If I turn left I end up in Laleham Park. I know Laleham Park. I used to go there as a kid. There are designated areas for horses. There are open ways. There are tracks where you can gallop. But riders don't use it any more. All the signs saying it's OK to ride there are hidden. All the tracks are over grown. What tracks there are for horses are very narrow and covered in moss. There are official bridlepaths with gates at the end that are impossible to open either on or off a horse."

"In Laleham park itself they have various signs stating rules for horses/riders, one of the main ones being that horses must stick to the route given to them, however its anyone's guess where that route is."

"As I'm from the area though I do have an idea of where they mean. However when I attempted to use it, it was so overgrown it was dangerous. So the obvious thing to do would be to go around the first bushes and try to get on the path further up. This is what I did. It was still dense with overgrown trees but I managed to get through some way until I started meeting dog walkers and their owners and also joggers."

"Its flipping crazy that the route designated to us is over used by pedestrians."

"Since my attempt I make my own way round, sticking closely to the area of the path. However I regularly see one of several old people who feel its their right to shout and scream and try to make their dogs get in our way as they feel we shouldn't be on the path!"

"I am very careful to always be polite regardless and explain we cannot get through these areas as they are overgrown. But it would seem that with certain people who understand what the old laws are, they accept that if you are responsible for yourself and your horse and you do not affect them they are happy."

"But there does need to be clarification for anyone who is unsure though as everyone seems to have a different interpretation of these rules."

"I would also like to mention that Laleham Park has a no galloping or jumping rule. Again this is a very vague rule because most non horse people would say that I gallop over there but I am merely in a canter."

"No wonder riders have stopped going there."

Faced with all these problems, how does Joe manage to keep all his horses fit?

"I go there at 5 o'clock in the morning," he says. "Before anybody else is there."

But, of course, that's not the answer.

The answer is that Spelthorne Borough Council abides by its statutory duty and ensures that riders are provided with the facilities to which they are legally entitled.