Am I too young to hack without an adult?

056775 said:
I 100% think you are old enough....Is there a pub within a few miles of the stables...

Suggest they drive there for Sunday lunch/a drink and you hack to meet them. Trot up to meet them and then back you go...

They will be able to drive past as you go, see how much you enjoy it and also gets them involved a little. You can then hack back and every one has had a nice afternoon

Also might be worth saving up for as much reflective gear than you can shake a stick at to show the rents how much you are concerned for you and ponies safety... And never give them a hard time for making you wear your BP!!!
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This ^

Build it up, little steps, show that you are responsible. They worry. It's what parents do.
 
Has Binky actually been back on this thread since she started it? 60 replies, and not a comment from her!! It would be interesting to know how things are going.
 
As long as you feel competent enough to hack out by yourselves then go for it!! I starting hacking out without an adult when I was 12 with a 13yr old friend on a 4yr old so I'm sure you'll be fine :)
 
I was hacking out from 9/10 years old with friends of a similar age, pre-mobile phones, quite often for hours. We had one or two complicated incidents, but always coped and came home safe.
 
Does it mean I have bad parents...i was riding my whizzy dartmoor out by myself or with a 12 year old when I was 7+....off road but we went everywhere! I was very mature though and have been riding all my life...
 
Honey8 I thought the same thing. Haven't actually replied to the thread in the first instance - user name Blinky and mention of going off to the circus comment put me off.. :-)
 
I was hacking on my own on my TB at the age of 13 so I don't see why not, just Make sure someone knows your route and you take a mobile phone
 
I am 17 now and am only now being allowed to hack out with my friend without my mum or instructor. I am still not allowed to go out completely by myself and I wouldn't want to so if no one on a horse can come with my my mum walks on foot.
 
My mum used to accompany me on her bike, with the deal that I could go out on my own when I passed my ride and road safety test. I passed that when I was 14-15 (about 10 years ago!). I can't remember whether she let me go out with friends on my own before I passed it (only happened about two times, as the nearest friends with horses were about 3 miles away anyway). I think my dad would've let me go out on my own when I was about your age, but didn't dare in case my mum found out. You could say she's a worrier... :rolleyes:

I enjoy my own company, so was very happy to go out on my own, but in later years would get her to come out with me, mainly to act as photographer/gate keeper.

I didn't know there was a lower age limit on taking your ride and road safety. When I took mine (through the pony club) there was a boy who was at primary school taking it. Although he did fail...

edit to say: she used to make me send her a text to say I'd got across the main road when I went on the one route that required crossing it. My friends (two sisters) used to ring their mum to say they'd crossed it, whenever it was on their route. Worth offering to do that.
 
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My (then) 12yo used to hack out with a friend the same age. Now, at 14, she hacks with her 10yo sister. The ponies are sensible on the roads, they always take a phone & we agree a route in advance. Also, 14yo has passed her PC riding & road safety test.
 
I'd love to say yes as I was hacking by myself then, on what you'd describe as not to saintly ponies.

However, with how the hacking and traffic is today [basing on my hacking routes anyway], I would be inclined to say no just from the stupidity of drivers and the difference in traffic compared to 10 years ago.
 
madmav said:
Olden times....I was 13, hacking down the Finchley Road (it is a mega busy road, many lanes of traffic in London) with friends to get to Hampstead Heath. We did it, there and back. Several times. We once even hacked over to Highgate to look for Rod Stewart (really showing my age now). Also got chased all over Kenwood by wardens as we definitely weren't meant to be there.
Not condoning any of the above, and I wouldn't do it all now. But it was fun. My parent (just the one) had no idea what I was up to.
This isn't helping, is it? Times have changed. I am now a parent and would go ballistic if I knew a child of mine was doing the same. But I survived. Sometimes it's just better not to know and hope for the best..
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Yes, the "olden days" ;) when life was so different... it was a more nurturing world, that we were privileged to experience. But even I know Finchley Road and you must have been brave!

I hacked out alone at an abominably early age, so young that it may reflect badly on my parents! However we live in Africa, and had lots of open space and areas to ride that were almost without traffic.
In fairness to my parents they were very stringent about wearing my hat (which I plopped on the gatepost as I exited and put on again as I came home: too hot and sweaty to wear on a decent outride when you're a kid in a hot climate). Safety stirrups were the one thing we absolutely adhered to, though.

The OP could maybe accept the parents offer to run with them, and use the opportunity to reassure her parents as to her responsible approach. As all parties gain confidence, independent hacking will inevitably follow.
 
Oh dear . . . I have been wondering whether I ought to reply to this thread. I learnt to ride a long time ago before the nanny state and was out hacking alone before I was 8 years old. This pic was taken a month after my 8th birthday (the pony was 13.2hh to give you an idea of how little I was)
March_1957_2.jpg
 
I have a 9 yr old who regularly hacks out with me but there is no way I would let her out on her own. I think at the OPs age, I as a parent, would stipulate
1) I know where she is going
2) she goes with someone else
3) know the pony is 100%
4) she has attended a riding and road safety course
5) she has a mobile phone
6) she has high viz on

That may be over protective but the world we live in today isn't like it used to be and it's not necessarily how old, mature, sensible the rider/pony is, it's often the case of how stupid other road users can be.

If the route involved no roads whatsoever then would probably be much less cautious.
 
I can't remember when I went out by myself - before 12 I expect, but my parents weren't horsey at all, so they didn't appreciate what can go wrong, and as everyone says, there was a lot less traffic around in those days.

OP,your parents are thinking about worst case - what if the ponies got frightened by something and you both fell off - could you cope? I think if you did what Jericho suggests you should then be OK,

My ponies weren't that angelic, but I can only remember falling off once when out by myself and that was when my pony shied at a sheep in the hedge and her hindlegs slipped and we both ended up rolling on the road. So if you are sensible and don't try to go racing round fields or jumping over hedges then the main danger is other road users.
 
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