Hacking alone

Mozlar-like I say I wasn't offering schooling advice & I apologise to the op if thats what it came across as, I was responding to a remark that all horses flee from danger. Like I say I was pointing out the difference between a normal desire to flee & a bolter, which the op has said her horse is. I therefore feel quite strongly it shouldn't be hacked alone if it is.
 
I do a lot of hacking both in my immediate area and also other parts of Great Britain.

I do not put all my trust in a mobile phone as they can become damaged, out of power or be out of range.

I have a round metal dog tag attached to my saddle and bridle which on one side has my name and my various telephone numbers (including that of a relative/friend) and the other side the telephone numbers of my vets and other vets in the area. (You can get 5lines on each side of the dog tag).

I wear long sleeved high viz so that I can be seen and found.

My horse is freezemarked and micro-chipped and I have placed the details on the www.nedonline.co.uk database so that they can be identified.

I also carry on me on a single sheet of paper with a list of names and telephone numbers of contacts (and also if they have horseboxes/trailers - just in case).

I carry a mobile phone, hoofpick, bandage and biro as well.
 
Tbh i get fed up of this forum sometimes. I can appreciate people may be concerned but you dont know the horse or me.
If i felt he was truly dangerous i wouldnt hack.him out.

I just stated about him.bolting as it may mean iv got more chance of coming..

I simply asked for opinions on devices/where to put phone etc but as usual people feel the need to comment.
Im addressing his issues so thankyou for your concern but its not neccessary!

Thankyou for saying that i can get the app on.an android phone too as that means i can get it!! :)
 
We'll have to agree to disagree then. Having been truly bolted with once & witnessed one bolt on a seperate occasion I am never going to accept a bolter isn't a danger. I truly hope he doesn't bolt again.
 
Just to add I would be careful regarding your insurance if anything happened regarding your horse bolting on a ride

My friend bought a little cob that was known to bolt sometimes when hacking, we all went out for a lovely hack when my friends horse took flight and flat out bolted, through fields, over a cattle grid and onto a main road. Her horse ran into a car an and she fell off. Her insurance wouldn't pay out and she was left with a huge vet bill and £3000 bill for the car.
 
We'll have to agree to disagree then. Having been truly bolted with once & witnessed one bolt on a seperate occasion I am never going to accept a bolter isn't a danger. I truly hope he doesn't bolt again.

So she's done all the schooling etc (as we dont actually know what stage she is at) at what point do you deem it appropriate she can hack out alone?
 
So she's done all the schooling etc (as we dont actually know what stage she is at) at what point do you deem it appropriate she can hack out alone?

Hang on, littlelegs and OP have agreed to disagree. You told LitteLegs off for veering off topic.

Pot? Kettle? jeez
 
We'll have to agree to disagree then. Having been truly bolted with once & witnessed one bolt on a seperate occasion I am never going to accept a bolter isn't a danger. I truly hope he doesn't bolt again.


Same...


As for ID, I have tags on the tack.
 
Imo when its been discovered what causes the bolting in the first place. Wouldn't be hacking alone till I was confident it wouldn't be anymore likely to bolt than any other horse. Which wasn't the impression I got from the op.
 
Just to add I would be careful regarding your insurance if anything happened regarding your horse bolting on a ride

My friend bought a little cob that was known to bolt sometimes when hacking, we all went out for a lovely hack when my friends horse took flight and flat out bolted, through fields, over a cattle grid and onto a main road. Her horse ran into a car an and she fell off. Her insurance wouldn't pay out and she was left with a huge vet bill and £3000 bill for the car.

That's just what I was thinking.

Not to mention how much trouble you'd be in if someone in the car was critically injured.

True bolters are very rare, but also incredibly dangerous and I think it would be negligent to hack one out.
 
Well my pony is very difficult and is known to bolt so whilst we don't have any problems getting out and hacking i do worry what would happen if i came off.. Often ride in woods which are huge & all look the same so very hard to be found.
I try to take my phone but don't always have pockets & it wouldn't survive if i fell off anyway (screens already smashed!) so is there anything around that would help people find me?

If your horse is a bolter - don't hack out on your own, or probably at all for that matter.
 
First Aid Training teaches you that:

1. Anything in your jacket/jodphur pockets or bumbag (keys, phone, coins) has the potential to kill you if you fall off. If you fall off and horse kicks you in torso at pocket-point/bumbag, or if you land pocket-point/bumbag first onto a tree/fence/concrete, then you will get a key/phone/coin shaped indentation in your flesh/bone/organ, or even the key/phone/coin embedded in your flesh/bone/organ.
And torso contains heart, main arteries, so loads of potential for bleeding to death very quickly.

eg. if you severe the femoral artery (top inside of your leg/groin), you will bleed to death in just THIRTY FIVE seconds.

2. As the femoral artery goes into the thigh, this makes it a fairly bad idea to put the phone/keys/coin into a pocket on your thigh/leg or to wear a lowslung bumbag.

3. Which leaves the arm. First Aid Training recommends the arm as the place to carry your mobile phone. You can chop your arm off but not bleed to death (apparently), so it's fine to risk getting a phone embedded into any arteries on your arm.


So...

Phone in phone holder on your arm. (You can buy velcro-wrap phone holders for your arm from phoneshops, saddlers, online).

Keys, coins, hoofpicks and anything else in bag on horse's saddle. (An endurance drinks bottle holder that attaches to your saddle's front girth flap and d-ring is ideal for this, use the "space" to squidge in a rolled-up bag containing keys, coin, hoofpick, vetwrap, triangular bandage).

Basic first aid kit: a triangular bandage is soft enough to go in a pocket on your torso, thigh or bumbag and can be used as a dressing, as a bandage, as a sling, on human, on horse, as a wodge to stem bleeding, as a splint dressing holder, etc.


In addition:
1. Plastic key tag on your riding hat (mine's on the lace-up strings at the back) and on horse's saddle (not on bridle as they lose bridles too easily when running riderless) with your emergency phone numbers on it.

Most of my hacking is alone and like most other riders, I'm guilty of carrying keys and mobile phone in my pocket or bumbag...
 
I'm not convinced about the mobile phone on the arm thing..... I can see the reasoning behind it to an extent, but I feel, the way I taught myself to fall, that I am less likely to sustain injury from my phone if it is on my tummy in a bum bag (especially over a body protector which is underneath it..... though am guilty of not wearing said body protector most of the time...).
 
Most phones these days have big screens/touch screen etc (like mine) & would be damaged in a fall... So not really sure were to put it... Dont fancy something embedded in me!
Also just to carify i didnt agree to disagree.
And for everyone else... His old owner said he bolted.. Since iv had him he gets strong & wont stop.& has tanked off.. Working on that in.schooling but nothing happens overnight & i think.its wrong to school every day so we do hack! However he has also bolted with me twice (over same thing), this was a proper bolt - i know the difference- but im.not going to let him bolting once (twice but at same time) stop me hacking him out as he was genuinely scared & hes okay most of the time...
 
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