JFTDWS
Well-Known Member
I know a few people who literally leave their horse to their own devices when hacking - it's terrifying. Horse knobs off randomly because "we always canter here", or walks in the middle of the road because "he likes to be in the middle" - and all sorts of bat guano crazy nonsense like that.
I school on hacks. I don't micro-manage - I want them to think for themselves, but I do take a contact sometimes, lateral work, etc - other times I'm on a loose rein, but if I ask for something, I expect it. If I don't get it immediately, we work on schooling the response till I do, every time. I'm quite happy to leave them to it - but if I ask them to do something, or not to do it, I expect it to happen as I want it to, and I rarely have a hack where I don't check up on some aspect of their training and build on it.
Unlike MP, I do have set periods of consistent focus during most, if not all, hacks, and I do repeat exercises - if I get a duff transition, we stop and repeat. If that means doubling back and repeating a line down a track, I will do that (I did that today actually, duff canter transition as mare was gawping at a fallen tree...). If it means going back and forth down a track repeatedly, I've done that too. Mostly, it doesn't and repetition and focus occurs during linear progress around a hack. That said, I don't have an arena at the moment, and prefer hacking to schooling in the field, so that's probably a bit influential in my decisions.
I school on hacks. I don't micro-manage - I want them to think for themselves, but I do take a contact sometimes, lateral work, etc - other times I'm on a loose rein, but if I ask for something, I expect it. If I don't get it immediately, we work on schooling the response till I do, every time. I'm quite happy to leave them to it - but if I ask them to do something, or not to do it, I expect it to happen as I want it to, and I rarely have a hack where I don't check up on some aspect of their training and build on it.
Unlike MP, I do have set periods of consistent focus during most, if not all, hacks, and I do repeat exercises - if I get a duff transition, we stop and repeat. If that means doubling back and repeating a line down a track, I will do that (I did that today actually, duff canter transition as mare was gawping at a fallen tree...). If it means going back and forth down a track repeatedly, I've done that too. Mostly, it doesn't and repetition and focus occurs during linear progress around a hack. That said, I don't have an arena at the moment, and prefer hacking to schooling in the field, so that's probably a bit influential in my decisions.
Last edited: