Do you think it is acceptable never to hack out on the roads?

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ReefurG

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I am curious to know if any of you own horses but never hack out on the road? If so, what are your reasons and how do you keep your horse fit without him getting bored? I hate roadwork and avoid it at all costs, much to the annoyance and dismay of my YO who seems to think this is totally unacceptable!
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I was actually wondering this last night, as I also hate riding on the roads, so will be really interested to see replies.

I'm fortunate enough to be at a yard with 400 acres of off road hacking, but I do have to go 100m down the road to get to the hacking or to the school. I will go a short distance on the roads with another calm horse, but I can't relax and enjoy it really.
 
I don't hack out on roads any more. I used to, but we moved to a different part of the country and the roads round us are just not safe, sadly. I am very lucky to be at a yard which has off road hacking round their fields, with plenty for my horse to look at!
 
Perfectly! I used to hack out loads on the road but my latest horse is a bit of a napper when out hacking. I don't mind taking him off road but there is just too much traffic to risk taking him on the busy roads. He does a lot of schooling and now some jumping as well. When he is ready we'll hopefully be competing once or twice a fortnight so that should keep him happy
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If you can avoid going on the roads and have access to off road hacking then you are very lucky!

A major attraction to my current yard was being able to ride round the 90 acres of land plus the manege. W goes competing every couple of weeks and I have a small lorry to shove him in to take him to other friends yards for a change of scene so I don't think he's bored. We go for a hack up the lane now and then but TBH I just hate roadwork so 'no' I don't blame you at all.
 
Ive taken Archie out on the lanes a few times to see what he was like in traffic (he was a saint). Im not going to ride him on the lanes again tho as some people drive down them so fast i cant imagine what would happen if they met a horse
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We are also extremely lucky in that we have all off road hacking, so i never need to ride on the roads anyways.

I do take Bloss round the lanes, but she is 100% in every way, Archie is stil young and learning and as hes good in traffic anyways (and great with tractors/lorries) there is no need for me to take him on the road in case something really scares him.
 
I dont ride on the road at all. My horses go to the gallops and do a lot off boxing up to get to off road riding. They event in summer, and D/SJ over winter after a break. The traffic in my area is no longer safe to ride amongst.
 
Will add to my reply that if there were some nice quiet country lanes I could hack on I would do, but our yard goes straight out onto a busy main road with many cars doing 60 - 70mph. Not good if your horsey likes to spin round and bug**r off home!
 
I think it's good to keep horses accustomed to riding out on the roads as you never know when you may need to change yards or when/if you had to sell I imagine most buyers would want a horse good in traffic.
 
Yep totally
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I'm very lucky in the fact that the areas around me are relatively quiet and I also have the option of 400 acres of on site hacking so i'm spoilt! I try and get my lad on the road just to give him a bit of traffic experience in case we should ever move to a yard where we would need to do roadwork. So that would be my only reason for doing, that and i suppose if you should ever sell them - I would like to have a horse that had some road experience.
 
Totally acceptable. (although not according to some on my new yard!)

At our new yard there is so much off road hacking I have no need to go on the road. I will ride him on the road if necessary and he has ridden on the roads for the last 18 months with me but he is not great in traffic and really needs comapny on the roads.

I see no point in taking him out on roads, increasing the risk of accident and making him nervous when I don't have to.

I had his back shoes removed last night as he doesn't need them now........
 
Ifg I got to my instructors I ride on the roads quiet country lanes but not on the ones near my yard its too dangerous shame as they are lovely bridleways but I cant get to them.
 
I do not and will not hack on the roads, should i need to then i get someone else ie my instructor to take the horse for me, to keep my horses fit we use varied school work and off road hacking well my instructor does for me.. Cannot stand hacking in any form since my friends accident.
 
Dosnt bother me at all,my boy 100% with any traffic,including combines etc!Not lucky enough to have off road hacking,roadwork to all the bridleways,however the roads are not to busy!Did once have a mare that was a headcasae in traffic though which is scary to say the least,would have been of huge benefit to her to have off road hacking as she would have killed somebody!
 
I never need to ride on roads as we have direct access to thousands of acres of land which is criss-crossed with trails - some of the trails go for literally thousands of miles so the riding is pretty amazing around here.

I have taken some of my horses on the highway not far from my house though as I wanted them to get used to trucks and trailers; they were perfect and didn't bat an eyelid at even the huge American 18-wheelers. I occasionally go on the road at the end of my lane, but once again I really don't need to as there are trails which run alongside it.

I don't see anything at all wrong with staying off roads - and in fact I think you are very sensible not to if it can be avoided.
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I hate roadwork and my horse isn't safe in traffic anyway. I either box him to a friends yard/somewhere nice to ride, or I ride in the fields next to my yard. At weekends I sometimes hack out early but I literally cross a (busy) main road and then Im on a residential estate and a single track lane that is barred to traffic apart from access. Interestingly my riding position is far more defensive even on the lane as I always have the thought at the back of my mind that if I come off he has to get back across the busy road on his own ....There is no pleasure in it for me riding on busy roads and its just not worth the risk.
 
Never do anymore, fed up of taking my life in my hands and i worry about my daughter horse etc etc, we can hack on private land.

I think i value my life and my horses too much!!
 
I would say no on this one with regard to never hacking out on the roads. Only because a horse needs to be accustomed to traffic especially if it is a young or green horse.
If you are at a yard that has off road hacking then that is fantastic. But for many of us that is not possible and we have to cross roads-some very busy- in order to get to bridleways and so on.
Nothing is certain in life. You may have to move to a new yard. Your horse may be a loan horse any may go back to its original owner or you may decide to simply sell it.
If you have to move to a yard that has little or no off road hacking then it would take a great deal of time to get the horse accustomed to the roads again ( if it had been on them in the first place). Also a horse that has road experience should be easier to sell on that one that has none or is difficult in traffic.
Even if you have off road hacking I think it still does us good as riders and the horse some good to at least go on the road a few times a year. Even if it is just to reinforce what is required by both horse and rider in road riding situations.
It is personal choice though and some horses will probably never be safe enough to be on the roads.
That is my decision on the matter. However given a choice I would like to do as little riding on the roads as possible as my big lad is nappy on his own and because he is such a big horse it can be frightening as our main roads where we live are not very wide plus you get cars parked everywhere too
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Interesting question though.
Cazx
 
Wow! I am so relieved that there are so many of you that also avoid roadwork, I was starting to feel like a freak! I have been made to feel really guilty that I am letting my horse down in some way because of my attitude toward hacking out. Unfortunately there is no off-road riding at all where I live and the roads are full of nutcase drivers who have no regard for horses. They do not seem to understand that horses can move sideways as well as forwards and that there might be a "monster" lurking behind the wall that they cannot see! Maybe I should think about re-locating, any suggestions for places with miles of off-road hacking and nice sympathetic horse-owners who also share my feelings?!!!
 
I went to a motorcycle meet in a village near Evesham last night (on my bike). there was about 400 bikes lining both sides of the road, and about 600 people wandering around.

As I saw walking to the pub, A lady drove a coloured cob right through the middle of this, and it didn't look fazed at all
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I hack on roads every time we go out, we also have lots of off road riding through woods and on the moor, and on bridleways and byways. It's not unusual to be out for over an hour and not meet any vehicles though in our quiet lanes, but I've kept my horse at busier yards and hacked along 60 mile an hour roads with no problems.

I used to keep my horse next to a dual carriageway (A38 in Devon) and he was often seen car watching over the fence, we also had to ride the bridges over the dual carriageway too, all with low fences but if we met any traffic it just had to wait for me, as I would ride down the centre of the bridge where the visability was good.

As an aside, I always wear flourescent gear. It has been proven that a driver may see you 3 seconds earlier with you being bright, 3 seconds = 135 feet at 30mph, which is enough time to slow down or stop...
 
Doesn't bother me or my horse at all, he has always been fine in traffic, in fact the biggest problem I have is stopping him putting his head in stationery car or tractor windows to check for food. Bikes, runners, cyclists, lorries no problem at all. We hack on roads, bridleways, woods and the moor.

I always wear flourescent gear, drivers will see you up to 3 seconds earlier than if you had been in 'plain' clothes. 3 seconds at 30 miles an hour is 135 feet, that's 135 feet more stopping distance for the driver to avoid you.
 
I would love to be somewhere with the option of no roadwork, but sadly we HAVE to use the lanes to get to the hacking, although these lanes are quiet you do get the odd complete nutter and it's VERY scary.
 
Would not dream of taking P out on the roads!
Too much building around our area in the past couple of years and the road is just too busy! Not heavy traffic more people using it as a shortcut and therefore tearing around the corners!

It must about 3 years since I last walked out our gates
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i do not hack out i hate the traffic and so does my horse she would kill us both if i did hack out i avoid it at all costs with our other horse too who isnt too bad with traffic but its the idiot drivers i worry about i hav ehad soo many near misses i am sure next time i will be hit by a car , i am a very confident rider i just dont trust todays drivers and i would rather stay alive thanks
 
We are quite lucky at our yard in that we can get to the bridleways on the huge country park by just crossing a couple of quiet roads, although to reach other bridleways we need to hack along quiet country lanes. George is great and I always wear hi-viz gear but some of the drivers are lunatics. Having said that, if we had onsite hacking I think I would still take George on the road now and then to make sure he was still traffic safe as you never know when you might need it.
 
I do hack on roads but choose quiet ones and quiet times, modern drivers are not aware of how horses react and there are so many varied distractions to deal with even in the country from tampolines to the sluaghterman's truck. Unfortunately, I think this means that it is increasingly difficult to find horses that are genuinely good in traffic / road conditions as the seller may not hack out and also difficult to introduce young riders or young horses to traffic in a safe way.
 
i would love never to have to hack on the roads, up here tin the borders tho to get to any hacking you have to use the roads then once your on the big hills its all stoney and rocky, so jealous of people that have lovely rolling fields to hack on lol!
 
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