Hacking alone - good or bad?

cblover

cblover

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Hi folks, what do you all think to hacking alone? Do you feel safe enough to do it?

I'm just back from a solo hack with Kinzzy and I have to admit I never feel 100% safe. Not sure if it's the accident I had, the increased traffic, being alone etc. I always have my phone with me and wear hi-viz gear. I still much prefer it with company but as I have moved to my own place, if I want to ride (particularly in the week) then I have to go it alone!
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Kinz was great, we had a little canter on the spot which felt great I have to say!!!, but apart from that she was chilled. Bless her, I do love her! I just couldn't resist going out in the sun - could be the last day we get any!
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On the plus side - I really concentrated on my position. I've just finished reading Heath Moffett's Enlightened Equitation, so I was putting her theory to the test! T'was cool!
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so, what do you all think?
 
Hacking alone is now unavoidable for me. Because of that I can only take one of mine out, Flynn just isn't confident with the very heavy machinery and odd large combinations of tractors and implements and I'm just too old to find it fun trying to sort his head out about them.
 
I love it. I went out for about two hours on my own yesterday, trying a new route and ended up having a lovely long canter and popping a few ditches. My last yard were a bunch of a*seholes so I decided I'd rather hack alone than with any of them. I started small and built up slowly and love it now.
 
I hack on my own all the time - I also have my horses at home so no choice. You get used to it and so do they. I trailer my horse over to friends sometimes just so she gets out in company.
It doesn't worry me - I take my mobile but it doesn't work where I live so if I have a problem it better be on top of a hill!
 
I never ever hacked alone up until 4 or 5 months ago, as I didn't fully trust my old share horse!

However the new horses I ride needed to be exercised and there were some days when I had to ride out alone- interesting on a cob that didn't hack on his own... but we got through it and had some fab hacks alone, albeit in fields and tracks and not on the road.

I'd only hack alone if I knew where I was going and had ridden the route a few times with someone else, as I have a utterly useless sense of direction and always get lost (despite being a geography student haha)
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I prefur going out on my own. It means I can dictate everything, pace, route etc. It's nice to go out with someone else sometimes for a bit of company, but generally, if I had a choice, I would go out on my own.
It's nice 'bonding' time for me and Fella, although if he had his own way, he would have someone walking out with us, as he seems to enjoy someone being on foot beside him. Odd horse... but I love him!
 
i really like going out by myself- very peaceful and i can vary the route/pace to match my horse's exercise and needs.

i always have my phone and lots of high viz.
 
Yep another lone hacker here too! i take my 4yr old out all the time on my own, normally we go out for an hour or so, mainly road work. The other week we were out for 2.5 hours!! shes a star though in traffic, sometimes she gets worried at sily things such as water (loads of bridges around here) but talking does the trick
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I do go out once a week with others normally on a friday for up to 2 hrs, we have lots of fun but its not always possible to go with them as they all work
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I hack alone as don't have anyone to ride with (at a private yard) so don't really have an option.
I never feel 100% safe, but I trust pony as she's very well behaved and there is a road not so far away that is very quiet so don't encouter much traffic. Always wear hi-viz too.
 
I like going out on my own as it means I can go where I want and do things at the pace I want. Its nice to have company sometimes, but my horse is quite competitive so its more relaxing on my own.
 
i hack on my own nearly every day - i school on hacks too in stubble fields etc...
last night i was our from 4.30 till 5.30 doing canter work by moon/mist light lol!
uesd to hack on own bareback a lot too when i had no saddle

ETA- always have hi-viz on and phone with me
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I tend to hack alone as I have my own place so have no company through the week when my daughters at school. I too spend a lot of the time talking to my horse, not sure she always listens but I feel better. I always take my mobile phone and wear plenty of hi viz, fortunately she is very good on the roads, not sure I'd ride a nutter out on my own anymore, I'm too old and decrepid for all that.
 
If don't really prefer either way tbh. Sometimes I want some company, sometimes I want to go where I want to go, at my speed, and be out as long as I want.

I worry about going out on my own as my mare lacks confidence in herself and is very spooky, but I have ridden her through some major naps, stopping traffic if necessary (quite a few times now!) and as soon as I get on usually I'm fine and pretty confident, and I nearly always end up telling myself I'll not go far so I don't get too nervous, then when I'm out I'm fine so usually go much further than I intended. The more I ride out alone, the more confident she seems to be getting so I'm tempted to do it more now.

Once upon a time if I didn't have company I wouldn't have gone out, but now I'm more confident, she's more confident, I' much more willing to go out on my own, and we both absolutely love it now!
 
I've had new horse for 2 months and have started hacking alone with him having made sure when out in company that he is good in traffic, that we can do most of the gates and that if I have to get off I can manage to get back on again! So far so good, apart from exciting incident with cows leaning over fence into road! Will do that hack again in company me thinks. Self preservation top priority
 
I like hacking alone. But I have nothing to ride at the moment.

Having been in a riding school for so long the first time I did it was nerve wracking, and on an ex-racer that I'd never ridden before too!

But we only ever had a couple of issues and nothing big, just problematic gates, spookiness and brake failure. She was nervous about traffic but never actually did anything, just flinched everytime something went past. Bless. I shared her for about six months and we never had company to ride with.

The section D I shared I also used to hack alone. Again it was nice going out alone, but we enjoyed going out in company too. Really nice to be alone with the horse and your thoughts.
 
I'm another at home alone. Mine can be a bit nappy, although nothing that is an issue (most of the time), but I have to do a lot of roadwork, on narrow lanes and I hate it. I do not trust drivers at all.
 
I enjoy hacking alone, i then concentrate on what the horses is doing and try to bring some schooling into rides.
I find if i ride out with others i am always waiting for them to catch up, and it is just loads of chatting, and the horses tend to end up ambling along
 
I prefer to hack alone as like others have said you can do what you want, when you want and at the pace you want. Its my time just to chill and relax and bond with the horse. Also D can be a knob at times, not a problem to me, but if i ride with the woman that shares my fields, it frightens her and then i cant do what i want with D to sort that situation out, also in turn that make him worse, then her etc...
 
Wish i could go out alone, but my boy doesn't like it. We built up walking out in hand and riding home until he took off with me one day and i hit the (concrete) deck. We haven't tried since.

I want to start again next year when the worst of the weather is out of the way. Hopefully by then he will have bit more confidence in me and the route we go on. Who knows, maybe we never will.
 
I always hack on my own, and on the roads. I have my phone with me but I cant always hack with other people as I hate waiting for other people and hacking at the times they can do! I want to hack my horse when I want to, usually early morning when on the roads.
 
I have been enjoying hacking alone, as I find it hard to get to the yard at sociable hours so I have had to get my mare used to it, and over her nappiness, I was very pleased with our progress until this weekend.

Funny spook at a log half hidden in a hedge, I fell off, unhurt but she waited til I was stood up, then seeing I was fine, then decided to canter home, the last 300yds of Bridleway not a problem, but then nearly a mile of roads, I had no hope of catching her and ran whilst feebly calling her name.

Thankfully a couple of girls at the nearby stables (Cross lane, Blidworth) heard her on the road and came out to grab her as she was passing them. Angels!!

It was one of those moments when I thanked them got back on and rode her past the damn thing and finished the hack as normal. (mainly trot and canter as keeping fit for hunting) but after I got home and untacked I was wobbly all day, and have been worried all week about the "what if's".

We have a choice of hacking routes from our yard, and that one was the quietest, but still terrifies me, as even the most carefull driver on a narrow lane would be doing 20 or 30 and an oncoming horse would have no chance
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I was so proud of our progress and the fact we could now hack alone but now I'm reconsidering..

Not many people at our yard want to be up and out at 8.30am, and those that do, don't want to trot and canter the whole hour or so! I do enjoy the odd hack in company but these tend to be later in the day and much slower, and chattier. Not ideal for our purposes really.

Got a show this weekend and working the one after so will be sticking with evening schooling for probably the next 2 weeks anyway, but I'm not sure how I'll be going out on my own again.
 
I hack alone when I have too, I get bored on my own lol! I dont mind it now and again, I'll have a good old whinge to Gimley or Bear!
Im not worried about being on my own, as I never go more than 1 1/2 to 2 hours any way
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I used to go alone in the south when I only had FB. I can't now as one of my two will go ape if left on their own. No problem as OH will always come with me - and does what he is told, or else! He is actually good at finding routes when he is out running so a bonus really.
 
Love being out on my own
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Went for hours and hours when my girly was ok- think 4 hours sometimes!! Now I still go out on my own, on my own or other horses. Feels no different to company to me in terms of safeness, but I suppose I am lucky having a very good horse to hack
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