Can you over hack your horse?

[Orangehorse]

Anyone remember Priceless, event horse that never had a cross country fault in the whole of its career? He was broken at 4 and went stag hunting for the winter, leaping over ditches, water, up and down rough terrain and when Ginny bought him she didn't have an arena, people didn't in those days.

You can do some schooling on hacks, what is opening and closing a gate other than turn on the forehand, change of paces, sideways and back along the lane, shoulder in, all sorts of things.

 

[PeterNatt]

I was also told that I 'Over-Hacked' my horse. I used to take him out for up to 7 hour rides at a time which included riding him by himself through central London. I bought him as an 8 year old and he was sadly was put down at 26 years old due to colic. He was ridden to the end and remained sound and happy. I strongly believe that young horses should be hacked out as it exposes them to so many different things. Also if a horse is recovering from an injury it is useful to be able to be able to hack it outas part of the recuperation programme.

 

[Summit]

I don’t have access to a school so all we do is hack. Different sights and sounds each time....neither of us get bored

 

[Gloi]

I probably over hacked my pony as a teenager
Every day I wasn't at school we were out from dawn to dusk. It's a wonder I didn't wear lis legs off.

 

[blitznbobs]

In the first year? Hell no - what you have done is taught them that every environment is ok — so if the horse is destined to be a ‘hacker or hunter’ than you’ve taught it all it will ever need to know — If destined to be a competition horse , you’ve taught it to go sensibly in any environment which is a huge lesson in and of itself... if only all horses were started like this - some it is not safe to do so but if you can there is no better start imo

 

[Apercrumbie]

Hacking is the best way to teach a young horse to go forwards and balance themselves. Long straight lines are best for this. I also think it is far easier to teach a young horse to balance themselves in canter hacking - when they are weak babies they need to go a bit faster to keep their balance. Once they are stronger, they can learn collection and then canter in circles.

 

[McFluff]

Sounds to me that you’ve given your horse the best start to working life. if I was a horse that’s what I’d choose!

 

[Desert_rider]

A lot of people look down on hacking and the term 'Happy hacker' is sometimes used in not always a positive way when applied to both horse and rider. I think hacking however can make a brave horse and confident rider in a way an arena never can. Think of all the different things, situations and types of terrain a horse and rider has to contend with out hacking.
It is often also one big schooling session without even realising it and also more natural for the horse than an arena.
You can never do too much hacking.

 

[Antw23uk]

I think your friend is more likely to ruin and break a horse doing it her way than you are doing it your way!

 

[pansymouse]

Hacking is all I do; if I feel the need to remind her of her education I'll do a few schooling exercises whilst we are out and about. My horse is a fit active 26 yo and I attribute a lot of her good health to the fact she gets out and moves about in a unrestricted space on a regular basis.

I've seen plenty of schooling stale horse and very few hacking stale ones.

 

[abbijay]

I have just taken a horse on loan, he's 7 (and very big) but was only backed 4 months ago and was never taken in an arena throughout the process. I took him in an arena last week for the first time - we did about 5 minutes of starting, stopping and turning. He has had 4 excellent months hacking under his belt and this meant we could do our 2nd ride out solo, on roads he's never been down before without him flinching at anything. He is an absolute pleasure to hack.
Due to my job he will have to go in the school a bit this winter but whenever we have day light I have every intention of getting him out and about. I want to do a bit of dressage with him but so much of his training can be covered on fields and roads.

 

[electric_circus]

Absolute crap. My competition horse hunts but also competes successfully BD and, apart from the dark winter nights after work when we are obviously more restricted in what we can do, he spends as much time out of the arena as in it! When I take him back in the arena after hacking I find that he is noticeably stronger and also retains his enthusiasm for his schooling. I attribute this to his varied work, which means life stays interesting, and also all the hill, road, and fast work that we do which helps him to build his strength and topline. My veterans also do plenty of hacking and are sound, fit and happy - they do go in the school from time to time, but I find it is much better for them at their present stage of life than drilling relentlessly in circles on the lunge in terms of their long-term soundness and general sanity.