Does anyone not

Greylegs said:
To not hack would be awful! I'm lucky to have direct access to several hundred acres of woodland with lots of tracks where we can hack safely for a couple of hours or so
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That's the kind of hacking I enjoy! Though we don't have that where we are unfortunately :(
 
MungoMadness said:
There's people at my yard who don't hack, we only can do road work here in the winter.

However, they are really fussy in what they do in the school, so it's always different and all the horses are happy enough. So I've come to the conclusion that if your horse is bored in the school you aren't doing it right!
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Id die of bordem confined to an arena, nothing like mooching on a hack on a long rein checking out different things, going for a hoon, hill work etc etc
 
I dont have access to a school so l have to exercise mine by either riding in the field or hacking out. We've a lovely estate to ride around with a main road that you have to walk down about 300 yards to reach some beautiful bridleways the only problem is the bit of road that you have to cross is on a blind bend. l tend to walk this part on foot only crossing when l cant hear any traffic & leg it. Thankfully we've survived so far but roads are getting so much busier & the standard of driving is declining. However, l am a firm believer that horses require a varied workload as they become bored otherwise.
 
Love hacking. Pleasure completely diminished by car drivers, motorbikers, dog walkers and cyclists that do not consider the panic/flight reaction of horses.

Horses and their riders nowadays are just another nuisance in others road use.

Then again, it really gets on my nerves when riders hack 2 a breast and don't even thanks for those who give all consideration.
 
A lot of you are very lucky with your hacking by the sounds of it, this is the only let down on our yard but the ponies have finally been moved and I shall take her out for a hack this weekend! Before moving all we did was hack (with occasional schooling as I had no discipline) her jumping and flatwork has come on heaps but I don't want her to become stale. Thanks for your comments.
 
I find schooling fascinating and hacking like watching paint dry in a minefield (Boring and stressful at the same time). I only 'hack' off road once a week for fitness reasons - and that is not because I want to... I'd school (in an arena) 6 horses everyday if I had the time and budget - and never ever get bored... I am an addict.
 
I love hacking as much as my horse does and would be miserable stuck in a school all the time. There are several people of my yard who only ever school and never hack, and their horse look as stale as can be :(.
 
blitznbobs said:
I find schooling fascinating and hacking like watching paint dry in a minefield (Boring and stressful at the same time). I only 'hack' off road once a week for fitness reasons - and that is not because I want to... I'd school (in an arena) 6 horses everyday if I had the time and budget - and never ever get bored... I am an addict.
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I'm very much with you! I'm lucky that I get paid to ride other peoples horses and I get so much enjoyment from bringing on horses schooling/jumping wise. I think because all I did for so long with previous pony and then horse was hack that I now find it a bit of a chore :-(
 
No way! Couldn't keep my horse at a yard where we couldn't hack, as others have said. I think it's an important part of a horse's ridden career to go out hacking; to chill out, to educate them and for a change of scenery!
 
I've done the 'where would you go if it was up to you' experiment with mine a few times. Straight past the arena and down to the little woods with the jumps and then on to the gallop stretch every time!
 
spotty_pony said:
No way! Couldn't keep my horse at a yard where we couldn't hack, as others have said. I think it's an important part of a horse's ridden career to go out hacking; to chill out, to educate them and for a change of scenery!
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This really...all my horses hack miles....youngsters learn so much....and my horses can cope with dodgy dressage arenas with inclines etc...horses always use to a surface (I think) depend on the surface. My instructor got a horse in.. a dressage horse who had always lived in and only schooled never ever hacked...hes 12 now and had an injury and sadly he absolutely freeks now when ridden outside the arena so unfortunately as hes no use as a dressage horse where does he go.... no-one wants him! God I cant imagine my horses not hacking and infact I am not sure id be interested in them anymore if all I did was schooling polework and jumping...theres no better feeling than a quick ride through the forrest jumping ditches etc !!
 
it is a good job we are all different as these days i only hack and, apart from driving where you cannot often get off-road, it is the very best thing you can do, seeing and smelling all the things you would otherwise miss. My filly is very nosey and loves hacking as she gets to see so much
 
I hack very rarely with my mare. She's a real handful to hack alone, gets super stressed and not safe, particularly on the narrow lanes around our yard. That aside though, I don't enjoy hacking these days due to the amount of traffic and dangers involved, so it really doesn't fuss me at all not to go.

I am happy to go on the odd farm ride etc off road but certainly would say my days of hacking out on the roads are long gone.
 
Moomin1 said:
I hack very rarely with my mare. She's a real handful to hack alone, gets super stressed and not safe, particularly on the narrow lanes around our yard. That aside though, I don't enjoy hacking these days due to the amount of traffic and dangers involved, so it really doesn't fuss me at all not to go.

I am happy to go on the odd farm ride etc off road but certainly would say my days of hacking out on the roads are long gone.
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Same as moomin - hacking where I am is all roadwork and not safe on a flighty horse like mine. I do it occasionally - never alone. More in summer (perhaps once or twice a week) but in winter i can go a month without. It's not that I don't want to. I just don't trust my horse in the traffic we have to go through to get to a short bridleway that ends in more roadwork. Luckily I enjoy schooling, pole work, bit of small jumping and she doesn't seem to get stale
 
Haven't read this thread in its entirety, but........I cannot imagine not hacking! I'm a YO but haven't ridden for a couple of years although daughter has four horses plus one out on loan. I have a pet "Pedigree Chum" pony (!) but am looking to buy a horse next year (my own horse went on loan many years ago - they love him- he's quirky - he's happy - he can stay with them, ha ha!). I have ridden since a very young child, in fact for fifty years now, but I cannot imagine riding round and round an arena....how boring! I'm lucky in that we have direct access to bridleways from my yard without touching a road. The riding here is amazing with lots of horse friendly farmers who have absolutely no problem with horses on their land regardless of bridlepaths.

Last year, we installed an arena at our yard; I thought EVERYONE wanted an arena, but only one or two liveries use it. Some turn their horses out in the arena whilst they muck out.....daughter uses it in lunge.......some liveries have moaned about the £30 per month increase in their rent since the arena was built, saying they'd never use it......

So, back to the subject in hand.......I cannot imagine not hacking. I cannot understand people who just go round and round an arena. I simply cannot understand what pleasure they get from schooling and schooling *prepares to be shot down*.......
 
I cannot understand people who just go round and round an arena. I simply cannot understand what pleasure they get from schooling and schooling *prepares to be shot down*.......[/QUOTE]
What's to understand.... Different people like different things - what's wrong with that! The world would be a very boring place if we all had the same interests and views
 
keeperscottage said:
Haven't read this thread in its entirety, but........I cannot imagine not hacking! I'm a YO but haven't ridden for a couple of years although daughter has four horses plus one out on loan. I have a pet "Pedigree Chum" pony (!) but am looking to buy a horse next year (my own horse went on loan many years ago - they love him- he's quirky - he's happy - he can stay with them, ha ha!). I have ridden since a very young child, in fact for fifty years now, but I cannot imagine riding round and round an arena....how boring! I'm lucky in that we have direct access to bridleways from my yard without touching a road. The riding here is amazing with lots of horse friendly farmers who have absolutely no problem with horses on their land regardless of bridlepaths.

Last year, we installed an arena at our yard; I thought EVERYONE wanted an arena, but only one or two liveries use it. Some turn their horses out in the arena whilst they muck out.....daughter uses it in lunge.......some liveries have moaned about the £30 per month increase in their rent since the arena was built, saying they'd never use it......

So, back to the subject in hand.......I cannot imagine not hacking. I cannot understand people who just go round and round an arena. I simply cannot understand what pleasure they get from schooling and schooling *prepares to be shot down*.......
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I simply cannot understand people who don't enjoy schooling....

There we have it. We are all different.
 
I guess I see hacking as akin to 'going for a walk.' Which to some is heavenly and to me is a waste of a part of my life ... And schooling to me is like dancing and choreography - something to work on, perfect and perform ... I guess I'm v goal orientated...
 
I would feel awful inflicting never ending schooling in an arena on my horses. I love hacking and do most of my schooling on hacks. I evented my mare without doing much in the arena. No training in the arena can teach them to pop over a stream or wall on a hack, nor teach them to read the land themselves. I'm lucky in that we have endless hacks on tiny lanes, bridleways and tracks, we never, ever have to touch a main road unless we want to, and the views are wonderful, so hacking is a pleasure.
 
Honey08 said:
I would feel awful inflicting never ending schooling in an arena on my horses. I love hacking and do most of my schooling on hacks. I evented my mare without doing much in the arena. No training in the arena can teach them to pop over a stream or wall on a hack, nor teach them to read the land themselves. I'm lucky in that we have endless hacks on tiny lanes, bridleways and tracks, we never, ever have to touch a main road unless we want to, and the views are wonderful, so hacking is a pleasure.
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Which is great if your horse enjoys hacking. Mine is petrified.
 
Why does your horse not enjoy hacking? I've never met one that didn't. Does it not get confidence from you? What makes it petrified? Is it where you hack, do you think?
 
Honey08 said:
Why does your horse not enjoy hacking? I've never met one that didn't. Does it not get confidence from you? What makes it petrified? Is it where you hack, do you think?
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She's an extremely spooky horse and gets more and more wound up to the point where she is foaming all over out on hacks. No, she doesn't get confidence from me or anyone else who hacks her as she really isn't a safe hack and I'm not willing to take the risk anymore of myself or anyone else taking her on the roads. She's ok with a groups of horses, but still, she doesn't particularly enjoy it and isn't the sort of horse to get soured doing other stuff only so it's just not worth the stress. I take her out and about to farm rides/shows/other places as much as possible so she isn't stuck in one place, but to be honest she really doesn't seem bothered if I just school or take her in the field - she's the same all the time, whether she's done something different or not
 
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Personally, I like hacking - both for fitness and down time. I also love schooling - but some days when I've been busy with work I just want to relax, and not be disciplined, hence hacking.

I've ridden horses who hate the arena, I've ridden some who are explosive outside of it, and find hacking traumatic. Some people like it, some don't.

Personally, I couldn't cope with NO hacking, but I changed yards a few months ago from a quiet yard with miles and miles of off road hacking and small floodlit sand school to a big yard with an indoor, jumping field, canter track and XC jumps, with minimal and not particularly great hacking.

I now school more, which is what we needed, but I still enjoy the odd hack. Mine is an angel on the roads though, and a lot of people think we're mad but he is unbothered by snowplows, lorries, bin lorries, knacker lorries, motorbikes, trailers etc... only road problem is not liking to stop at traffic lights, he gets bored ;)
 
I am very lucky to have fantastic hacking straight onto the North Downs Way and am able to hack for miles without touching a road. If I do go on the roads again I'm very lucky in that the drivers round here are very courteous and I have not had a problem with any of them.

PS - anyone who drives around Tillingdown Lane/Arthurs Seat/Lookout Point/Caterham School in Caterham, thank you for being so nice to us riders!!
 
I'm another one with a horse that hates hacking. Doesn't bother me too much as there isn't really anywhere to hack safely at my yard, but in future I would like to do much more hacking as I love it! Said horse works well in the school and seems to really enjoy it, he is a bit of a geek. He is very unsafe to ride outside, we have a schooling field but I would only risk riding in it on a very hot, still day as he is beyond spooky and very anxious about anything and everything. I love him to bits but next time I would definitely find a safe horse and some nice hacking to stop myself getting bored.
 
Took my girl for a short hack today to relax after a tricky grid work exercise that she did brilliantly at, thank god for Sunday drivers!
 
i couldnt live without hacking, unfortuantly we dont have great riding with no off road riding in a 5 mile radius which means that unless he is fit enough its all road work. my boy is usually great with traffic but hates the school. he is not "naughty" as such just doesnt feel his bouncy self that he is out on a hack. i gave him a couple of months off over winter due to personal reasons and then found that i had a very short amount of time to get him fit enough to do a racecourse gallop. because of my work i didnt have time to go on long hacks so ended up schooling him most of the time. he would always do what i asked but it was done in a "if i must" attitude. mixed things up for him as much as i could using the fields aswell but he hated it. when i took him out on a hack he was so excited i ended up having to get off and lead as he got a little silly on a busy road. (trying to do some illigal road racing with cars). he is never normally like this and i honestly think it was because he had been in the school alot and was very excited to be out hacking. i took him out yesterday and he was an absoloute gentleman like he normally is and didnt even mind the trains blasting right next to him. i would never stop his hacking as he loves it too much. (and so do i!)

as said though horses are all different some thrive of schooling and others hate it, just like us people do. theres a horse at my yard that hasnt hacked in years due to the fact his owner cant get him to leave the yard. he will plant himself and then rear up. he went over backwards and injured himself and they havent tried since.
 
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