Anyone like to see H&H do more for happy hackers?

F

FairyLights

Well-Known Member
Joined
3 August 2010
Messages
4,070
Location
UK
Visit site
H&H seems good for show results,dressage,evening and other disciplines
and competitive stuff but there isn't much for happy hackers;there isnt much about bridleways, such as a report on how good [or otherwise] a national ride is,for example the Pennine Bridleway. What do you think?
 
Tbh, I don't see it really as a great part of H&H's specific purpose and there are mags out there that do cater more for hackers. I don't see a particular need for H&H to diversify in that way - it's just not their primary purpose. Not all the equestrian world is the same and wouldn't it get boring if the mags were? ;) I hardly ever buy H&H bc other mags suit me better but they're the first l turn to for day to day equestrian news and I'm sure if I showed or hunted then I'd pick up the mag more often. Horses for courses, innit? :)
 
H&H is a news/competiton reporting mag & covers latest vet findings etc.

There are plenty of other mags - horse and rider, horse etc.
 
I think you will find that IPC who own H&H publish 'Horse' magazine that is aimed at the leisure riders. H&H is aimed more at what you see as the competitive people so they have the 2 magazines aimed at 2 different markets.
 
No,not at all. I am a happy hacker and I read H&H to read about the competition stuff. I do enjoy a couple of the publications aimed at the leisure rider, but find most of them pretty condesending to be honest.
 
Horsesforever1 said:
H&H seems good for show results,dressage,evening and other disciplines
and competitive stuff but there isn't much for happy hackers;there isnt much about bridleways, such as a report on how good [or otherwise] a national ride is,for example the Pennine Bridleway. What do you think?
Click to expand...

Bloodyhell OP I bet you didn't expect the rather curt replies you got on this thread.
mmmm if this is the consensus of competition type people ever likey horsey folk are perceived as rather abrupt, opinionated women by the public :)
Actually OP I would rather see H&H cover a few more subjects in their magazines. After all many happy hackers could actually end up competing in the future and many happy hackers were previously competitive folks ( or their horses were).
A thread like this sure shows the divide between horsey folk don't it. So horse snobbery does exist then after all ;)
FWIW I don't tend to read many copies of the other horsey magazines as most of them contain the same articles/subjects recycled over and over again, come to think of it a bit like this forum :)
They are also advertiser based and I get sick of seeing all the latest rugs or bling you can accessorise your ponio with.
I think H&H should include articles on bridleways at the very least, I mean after all not all of us can afford to ( or want to) join a hunt to ride over the countryside.
Horse magazines should be about bringing riders together and not about putting up barriers between classes of riders.
TBH most of the best information I have received over the years about horses and care has been from happy hackers. In fact when out riding or seeing people out riding many of the comp types have had little control either over their horses or situations and haven't coped that well. So maybe instead of looking down upon or having a little sneer at a happy hacker's expense you may do well to remember that one day you may need help from one of these laid back and very capable people next time your £......... horse decides to throw a wobbly on a main road!!
 
Fantasy_World said:
A thread like this sure shows the divide between horsey folk don't it. So horse snobbery does exist then after all ;)
Click to expand...

But reverse snobbery is obviously acceptable :rolleyes:

If there weren't any adverts I think you would find that the cost of the magazine would go up considerably :rolleyes:

No-one here has been snobby, they were asked their opinions and answered. I agree, there are other magazines (including other IPC publications) which I feel are better targeted at the happy hackers :)
 
What I think would be better is if the magazines aimed at happy hackers actually featured more about the national trails, where's worth going and such, or covered big organised rides, rather than their usual stock of condescending nonsense about de-spooking or "how to be a confident hacker" rubbish. I don't buy them, I can't see why anyone would - but I might reconsider if they actually contained potentially useful information (which is often difficult to find / nonexistent on the net).

That's not H&H's job, it has a completely different market.
 
Fantasy_World said:
Bloodyhell OP I bet you didn't expect the rather curt replies you got on this thread.
mmmm if this is the consensus of competition type people ever likey horsey folk are perceived as rather abrupt, opinionated women by the public :)
Actually OP I would rather see H&H cover a few more subjects in their magazines. After all many happy hackers could actually end up competing in the future and many happy hackers were previously competitive folks ( or their horses were).
A thread like this sure shows the divide between horsey folk don't it. So horse snobbery does exist then after all ;)
FWIW I don't tend to read many copies of the other horsey magazines as most of them contain the same articles/subjects recycled over and over again, come to think of it a bit like this forum :)
They are also advertiser based and I get sick of seeing all the latest rugs or bling you can accessorise your ponio with.
I think H&H should include articles on bridleways at the very least, I mean after all not all of us can afford to ( or want to) join a hunt to ride over the countryside.
Horse magazines should be about bringing riders together and not about putting up barriers between classes of riders.
TBH most of the best information I have received over the years about horses and care has been from happy hackers. In fact when out riding or seeing people out riding many of the comp types have had little control either over their horses or situations and haven't coped that well. So maybe instead of looking down upon or having a little sneer at a happy hacker's expense you may do well to remember that one day you may need help from one of these laid back and very capable people next time your £......... horse decides to throw a wobbly on a main road!!
Click to expand...

No they shouldn't be about bringing riders together, it is a product and should therefore have a clear target market and it should cater to that Market. It shouldnt be a jack of all trades, master of none.
I don't sneer at happy hackers at all and I have no doubt there horses could teach mine a few things about hacking but that doesnt mean we need to be "brought together"we don't have the same goals so don't have the same type of horses, equipment or read the same magazines. No one is better just different, Simple
 
rhino said:
But reverse snobbery is obviously acceptable :rolleyes:

If there weren't any adverts I think you would find that the cost of the magazine would go up considerably :rolleyes:

No-one here has been snobby, they were asked their opinions and answered. I agree, there are other magazines (including other IPC publications) which I feel are better targeted at the happy hackers :)
Click to expand...

Rhino as I used to work in media I am well aware of how the press operates and magazines in particular are largely funded by advertising.
I suppose I should have re-phrased what I meant, I meant the reviews that you see. It is as though you must buy this that and tother. Luckily I ignore most of it and just buy what my horses need and I am not governed by trends. My point is that I would rather see some of those pages used to cover more in depth information about horses and riding.
Just because we may be happy hackers it does not mean we are intellectually challenged :)
JFTD I agree with some of the points you are making and I think the magazines should grow up a bit and not just seem like an extension of pony magazines for kids.
I think articles of regaining confidence though are good as I lost mine some years ago and found that reading books as well as getting on the damned horse and taking it out alone cured me.
Maybe some people are a bit scared of being shunned for saying they lack confidence and so buy magazines like this to read in private to try and over come it.
As for articles about how to de-spook horses or even to play I think are good too. Some horses may be just field ornaments so if owners read articles like this and realise that they can actually do something with their horse other than ride it, then surely that is good for both parties?
I think more horses are in need of de spooking tbh judging by scenes I witness when out riding. I think if more people took time to understand their horse rather than just a quick brush, tack up and ride out they would enjoy a better relationship with their horse and have improved control of them.
I do agree about the patronising tone though as some articles I have read have seemed that way.
Perhaps there is an opening in the market for riders who are in between such as myself. I am a happy hacker but only due to lack of funds and transport. I often read the competition reports. A magazine which is aimed at the happy hackers who are in the transition period, or else like to do both and want to read articles with which they can identify with. Many of the hacking articles are just basic riding and basic common sense. I would welcome more news about bridleways and lower end competitions in them :)
 
Fantasy_World said:
Rhino as I used to work in media I am well aware of how the press operates and magazines in particular are largely funded by advertising.

Perhaps there is an opening in the market for riders who are in between such as myself. I am a happy hacker but only due to lack of funds and transport. I often read the competition reports. A magazine which is aimed at the happy hackers who are in the transition period, or else like to do both and want to read articles with which they can identify with. Many of the hacking articles are just basic riding and basic common sense. I would welcome more news about bridleways and lower end competitions in them :)
Click to expand...

Well you're the one with the media background, fancy a new project ;) :p

No, I don't take much notice of rider endorsed products either..
 
No there is already Your Horse, Horse and Rider and Horse that cover the leisure rider market although probably the Novice leisure rider rather than the experienced. I find them quite banal these days and I'm not really even a competition rider. Most articles are aimed at the lowest common denominator with dull pictures of "me and Timmy at the beach" who cares!

I would relish something that really got into more detail latest veterinary treatments and other studies or training articles that don't talk to you like an imbecile.
 
I'd like to see more hunting in the horse and hound, if it were filled with bridleway crap and arguments about what to feed your pony like on here I wouldn't buy it. Enough of those mags around.
 
rhino said:
Well you're the one with the media background, fancy a new project ;) :p

No, I don't take much notice of rider endorsed products either..
Click to expand...

Lol I wish :) Don't have the funds tbh or else I would have considered it having been an editor of a riding based newsletter in the past and a horse journalist for nearly 4 years.
It is clearly an area I enjoy, reading and writing about horse pursuits but to start a magazine in a saturated market against big publishers like IPC for instance would be suicide lol.
It would just be nice if one of them could tweak their target audience a tad and have a magazine that sits firmly between competition riders and happy hackers. I know of quite a few happy hacker types that do endurance pleasure rides for instance. Now they are not competition as they don't do the competitive rides, however they do more mileage and hours than a lot of happy hackers I know who just ride a few miles around the block or less.
To me I feel these people are in between as some could quite easily switch over to competition rides. I just feel there is a market for the riders who want to do a bit more with their horse but don't want to go to events every weekend if you follow me?
 
Fantasy_World said:
To me I feel these people are in between as some could quite easily switch over to competition rides. I just feel there is a market for the riders who want to do a bit more with their horse but don't want to go to events every weekend if you follow me?
Click to expand...

I do follow. I think people will always want something targeted towards 'them' though; my main sport is BHS Trec and there's next to no coverage of that either. Why don't you contact Horse or one of the others and put your ideas to them - I have been asked to contribute articles in the past which have been published :)
 
Fantasy_World said:
I think articles of regaining confidence though are good as I lost mine some years ago and found that reading books as well as getting on the damned horse and taking it out alone cured me.
Maybe some people are a bit scared of being shunned for saying they lack confidence and so buy magazines like this to read in private to try and over come it.
As for articles about how to de-spook horses or even to play I think are good too. Some horses may be just field ornaments so if owners read articles like this and realise that they can actually do something with their horse other than ride it, then surely that is good for both parties?
Click to expand...

My "beef" isn't with the existence of such articles, it's with the facile, platitudinous manner in which they are approached, and with such frequency. My problem is that they repeatedly approach certain subjects (virtually every month in one or two of the magazines there will be an article about de-spooking, which is almost word-for-word with every previous article).

I think Orchardbeck's "horsey tourism" suggestion is closer to what I was thinking. I'd be interested in a magazine which, for example, went around the UK doing reports on major riding areas (the sort you might travel to for a riding holiday) and discuss the access / the quality of the routes / the availability of places to stay with horses / horses for hire with photos and the like. It's the sort of info you should be able to get off t'internet - tourist info, really - but often isn't good quality / informative as not compiled by riders.

It would be logical for it to cover things like sponsored rides / endurance / TREC to some level and to include informative articles on hacking / improving performance in TREC / endurance, rather than the dull articles found in mainstream mags which seem to regard hacking as a wee walk round the road wearing your hivis and signalling appropriately :rolleyes:

Actually, I think I may just have described an endurance magazine. Maybe it exists???!

As for lack of coverage - I started playing horseball last year, now that has ZERO coverage :D


eta - such a magazine would be completely unrelated to H&H though, not a diversification of H&H into that sort of stuff :eek:
 
I think a lot of the hacking stuff would be better in regional horsey mags anyway; while it would be amazing to go and hack all over the UK it's hardly practical when you have your own horse :(

One of the Scottish based papers did a 'Borders' feature last year which included information on riding events/hacks

http://edition.pagesuite-profession...ID=8d11f96e-0500-4611-bd8a-962d6137c6e6&skip=

Ooh, look at the pretty little ginger horse on the front :rolleyes: :o :D
 
rhino said:
I do follow. I think people will always want something targeted towards 'them' though; my main sport is BHS Trec and there's next to no coverage of that either. Why don't you contact Horse or one of the others and put your ideas to them - I have been asked to contribute articles in the past which have been published :)
Click to expand...

I might actually do that Rhino thanks x Yes Trec looks a good sport from what I have seen of it. I would actually like to do something 'proper' with my horses at some point. At the moment I do endurance but only pleasure as can't get to enough rides to go competitive. I enjoy it though and like following routes and maps even though I have got lost in the past.
I do think that horse magazines should be a bit more diverse. Especially when there is cross over, for instance some people that happy hack, may also jump or go to shows. Some people I know that do endurance have also done jumping and dressage. I think equestrianism is a multi user industry and it is not one size fits all, but rather many different sizes fit a great many people. But it is about time that horse magazines acknowledged this.
 
JFTD said:
I think Orchardbeck's "horsey tourism" suggestion is closer to what I was thinking. I'd be interested in a magazine which, for example, went around the UK doing reports on major riding areas (the sort you might travel to for a riding holiday) and discuss the access / the quality of the routes / the availability of places to stay with horses / horses for hire with photos and the like. It's the sort of info you should be able to get off t'internet - tourist info, really - but often isn't good quality / informative as not compiled by riders.
Click to expand...


That ^ is a v good suggestion.

I've read nag & dog for years - used to pour over the showing write-ups in the summer, then the hunting reports in the winter, then we were showing 12 months a year & I was stuck to the results & write ups weekly :D I still read them now :)

Now am retired from National comps, I have a horse that I brought specifically so I didn't go back to competing (anyone who has seen will agree ;):D ) BUT I have been trying to find info about places to take said horse for a bit of fun, either as a day trip or longer.

I've looked in the other mags mentioned, but not wanting to be talked down to or suffer from repetitive narrative clearly aimed at a different market, I have saved my money :)
 
No I can check locally places out for myself - I was thinking about taking them further afield, which I would like to do! But a regional coverage would be better than nothing. round here the only regional magazine contain rubbishy local show coverage and pointless columns and diaries by people who are neither expert in their field nor entertaining enough to maintain a non-expert column. And they NEVER proof read the damn things.

What a pretty ginger horse... I've never seen him before :D
 
Yes JFTD I have seen the same as I often browse in the shops and don't buy because I see repeated articles or read things that I am already aware of and don't need a reminder in black and white lol
I know there is a book available which has some of the tourist and ride information in that you are referring to. I will ask a friend next time I see them as they mentioned it and I have forgotten its name. I have seen a website though that includes some rides and bridleway info. There is this one, unless you have already seen it? http://www.bridleways.co.uk/users/login.asp
There is also this which I saw a while ago when in creation but is now up and running
http://www.emagin.org/Routes_by_Region.aspx
Have posted them because even if you are aware of them others on here may not be and I think HHO is a good place to share information like this.
I know my organisation produces a newsletter for endurance and I think I have seen an endurance magazine in a shop once? But the latter seemed to be aimed more at the competitive side of it and I think there are a great number of people who would enjoy it at a pleasure level in order to get out and about with their horse and meet new people and explore new places.
I don't think Horse and Hound would ever diversify however if hunting were ever to become completely outlawed then they may have to have a re-think on the hound side of things lol :)
 
Some of the replies are hilarious. How do you get your eventer/hunter fit if it isn't being exercised around bridlepaths? Just because you take your horse for a hack doesn't mean you are a Parelli devotee.

However, I agree that H & H is a weekly magazine for news, reports, gossip, what is going on in the competition world, not to forget hunting of course.

I agree that there are other magazines that are better suited. I ALSO agree that some of the content of those magazines is quite dire, and why I hardly ever buy them now.
 
I think the point is the competition reports are also at the upper levels on the whole- you rarely get people who happy hack who then just pop round an Intermediate event... People who hack their horses to keep them properly comp fit are probably less bothered about spook-stopping and the likes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top