Does anyone else feel braver out hacking than schooling?

[Chestnut mare]

I hope I'm not the only wierdo.......I hack a lot and the horse spooks and plays up I tell her to get a grip of we go!
Get in the safety of the enclosed school, she spooks and plays up I tense up and tip forward
Once I get busy with the schooling we both relax and have a good session lol

 

[Dizzle]

Thing is, out hacking you go past the scary thing once and then it's forgotten, in the school if your spooking at something you've got to spend the next half an hour at least within about 60m of it.

I find in the school my horse likes to save his really 'interesting' behaviour, he has never bucked out hacking but has thrown in the odd handstand in the school, oddly enough I feel a lot happier in the school at my new yard, despite it being three times the size of the school at my old yard (more chance of brake failure) and it doesn't actually have a gate on it!

 

[goneshowjumping]

now im the opposite! i prefer being in the school than out hacking, to be honest hacking is not my fav thing in the world! i think i always fear i might fall off, horse runs off and will never be seen again!!! (its never happened just a fear i have!)
so for me i feel braver in the school!

 

[loverly]

now im the opposite! i prefer being in the school than out hacking, to be honest hacking is not my fav thing in the world! i think i always fear i might fall off, horse runs off and will never be seen again!!! (its never happened just a fear i have!)
so for me i feel braver in the school!

I'm exactly the same as you... I would always choose the school over hacking, any day - well unless a group of us are going for a gallop!

 

[indie999]

Now I will be controversial but I have people look down at me for being a happy hacker where I live of course as they prefer to go round in the school. As if they are doing something more complicated and technical than me the happy hacker. Perhaps they are.

I think hacking personally is lovely freedom to go sightseeing on horse back and you never know whats going to crop up ie farm tractors being refuelled and blocking bridleways as they are supersize tractors they dont spot you BUT i find that a challenge and when I have got past feel quite proud of my riding skills not to have ended up in another field.

Bravery when I asked someone why they never hacked their horses they were really shocked and said I could never do that. Seems a shame to me, as all I see is lots of lunging, dressagey stuff that yes I dont understand but I think wouldnt it be nice to take them out for a good gallop!

My horse never liked the school or thats the impression he gave me and I found it boring too.

I have been going for lessons at a dressage centre and its quite funny we had the horse who was crossing its legs(cant remember what its called)? one in front of the other....it was wierd...I didnt think it was a normal move for a horse to make?? ! Circus? Dancing on horses?

Always went prepared hacking pocket full of pony nuts or carrot/mobile phone/drink/fold up hoof pick. Always let someone know roughly where I was going...hi vis even for hacking. Ithink its braver to be a hacker!

 

[Meowy Catkin]

I always choose hacking over schooling. Dizzle is right, once you are past the scary object when you are hacking, it's over and you can then enjoy your potter around the rest of the route.

I was once having a jumping lesson that turned into a huge battle of wills between me and my mare because the farmer had put some cows in the field at the C end of the school. She is not scared of cows as she lived on a farm with them for three years.

The following lesson, a bird spooked her at the A end. So she would now happily go to the C end (as the cows were so last week ) but wouldn't go near A without frantically rushing by. *sigh*

When I brought her back into work, everyone said 'just walk her around the school to begin with'. I thought about it and then took her for a short hack.

 

[Supertrooper]

That's so funny, I was just thinking this!! Yes I'm much more confident out hacking than schooling, horse is much naughtier in school. However if my instructor is there teaching me I'm ok then xxx

 

[ColandMe]

Much prefer hacking to schooling. We don't have a school but I've often made a fenced off area in field to work in, but it makes me nervous, and friends have offered me use of thier school but I politely decline. Hacking though, doesn't worry me at all. Opposite to most of my friends who turn in to nervous wrecks on a hack, yet ride very well at home.

 

[Fransurrey]

Yup, I can deal with anything out on a hack (and do!). Put me in a school and I'm a right baby!

 

[Dizzle]

ETA: I love both hacking and schooling although I won't hack any other horse than my own!

 

[Stacey6897]

Definitely braver hacking, probably as he's much less naughty, in the arena he'll launch without warning, big horse, confined spaces, airs above the ground, not my idea of fun, but out hacking if he sees something spooky he'll just stick his ears in my face and slow down a bit

Oddly, I'm also braver riding bareback with a headcollar than fully kitted out, what's that about?

 

[spotty_pony]

Yup, I can deal with anything out on a hack (and do!). Put me in a school and I'm a right baby!

Me too! The amount of times I have started off in the school and my horse has been spooking and playing up so I have decided to go hacking instead!

 

[L&M]

I have a good friend who thinks nothing of jumping a 1m10 sj course but is terrified of hacking - I am definitely the other way round!!!

I also find I much prefer jumping fixed xc and hunt style jumps, and think nothing of jumping gorse bushes, fallen trees etc when out on hacks, but find pretty painted knock-downable poles in an arena scary.

Weird.....!

 

[jomax]

Give me schooling any day, luckily i have the use of both an indoor and outdoor paddock and she is good to ride in both. But the minute we get out onto the road her eyes become radar and i have to have eyes in the back of my head to try and spot the 'danger', and when she does spook, well, all four feet come off the ground and she bolts!!! And its usually over, just about anything from carrier bags blowing about to lorries with tailgates open with loose items in the back. Scary.

So give me the school and paddock any day!

 

[Peanot]

I dont mind either way as they both good doing either. I love the schooling and on a nice sunny day, I enjoy a hack on the roads and a good canter thro the fields.

 

[FairyLights]

Yes me, I hate riding in a menage. Give me country lanes and bridleways anytime.

 

[Snowysadude]

I am much better hacking than schooling too! For some odd reason I trust my boy more out hacking than in the school (hes not spooky or stupid I just do!)

 

[Django Pony]

A few months ago I would have said a resounding "YES!", but things have started to change!
I was lucky enough to have Sue Palmer come and do some work with Jasper and I, and she made a massive difference to my confidence. In the past, if Jasper played up in the "spooky corner" of the school, I would stay away from it or if it was really bad even get off!! Now I have some tools to use and I've found that instead of running away from the spooky bits, we can face them head on! (Turns out he wasn't so scared and more like trying it on! )
I'm not naive enough to think "I'm cured!", but I'm also having regular lessons now, and we're both coming on leaps and bounds.
I still prefer to hack, but I don't shy away from schooling any more

 

[shorexhorse]

I may be wrong but I think out hacking it is more relaxed because you're enjoying a nice walk in the country, and seeing the view and nature or whatever, whereas in the school, people are more likely to be watching, and there is more of a purpose to it - you're actually schooling to achieve something, which can be nerve wracking for some people,because they might not know what to do with themselves.

I'm a nervous rider who wont hack on her own (more scared of traffic than anything else) but I prefer not to be in the school.

 

[tabithakat64]

I'm the smae. For me you have to deal with things out hacking, then they're over with, it's not the same with schooling which is much more pressurised.

 

[Chestnut mare]

That's all so true out hacking spook, recover carry on. In the arena spook once spool every single time they get to that exact spot

 

[Chestnut mare]

Agree with Sidney I won't jump in the school but if a log or branch happens to be there will hop over it .

 

[fidleyspromise]

I'm more confident out hacking but I think it also has to do with lack of motivation in school. If pony is fresh then she has to trot/canter and its easier/faster to let her move her feet and then once thats out the way she settles down nicely.
I cope far better with this hacking than schooling. Even as a 6-7 yr old, she was the most confident and led the other horses past scary objects. She babysits 2 friends horses on regular hacks. One sits nearly on my knee.

To the person that prefers bareback. Eeeeeep. I've only just started to go bareback again after being thrown on concrete last time.

 

[Toffee44]

Prefer hacking I seem to ride better buck out hacking have a laugh about it. Buck un school.....splat just suppose I know what I'm doing hacking rather than in the school thinking too much.