Hacking on hard ground

[KJ94]

The ground has been so hard at the moment, I don’t have an arena/can’t box up anywhere so all I have is hacking which has never been a problem until the last year where the ground has become unbelievable and rock solid.

My horse is barefoot and wears hoof boots, my question is, is it okay to still hack on hard ground 5/6 days a week in a walk only?

She’s a native, am really struggling to ride enough to keep her fit and not get too fat, so have been doing lots of long walks/up and down hills in walk but also trying to not over do it on the hard ground and am paranoid of doing harm.

Any advice would be helpful!

 

[ChipsChaps]

Only walk, she will be fine! In the wild, she'd still be moving, hard ground or no, I say crack on.

 

[Sossigpoker]

Walking on roads /hard ground doesn't cause damage the same way trotting does so there's no need to limit it as long as your horse is comfortable.

 

[SEL]

I'm walking everywhere too. Boring but better for their legs - although the flies are driving us all mad

 

[KJ94]

Thank you this helps! Can ride without feeling guilty now! Never had ground this hard before where it’s actually cracking!

 

[claracanter]

We don’t have an arena either. Put my jumps out once it stopped raining however many weeks ago, was all ready to have some fun and now it’s too hard. No cantering on hacks either now. You are doing a great job looking after your native girl by just walking

 

[Boulty]

As long as your horse doesn’t have any medical issues that would be aggravated by the hard ground you’ll be absolutely fine hacking sensibly on it (& tbh a steady trot / canter on hard, level ground isn’t the end of the world either as long as you’re not hammering them). I did 50 miles in 3 days on rock hard chalk (hadn’t rained for a few months, similar conditions to how it is right now) several years ago on the Welsh creature I used to have travelling in all 3 paces (plus a lot of jogging) with no ill effects. Sadly hard, uneven ground is the enemy of my current horse, as I was reminded of at the weekend (he’s got sidebone that seems easier to aggravate than I’d like).

 

[PSD]

I have a native who I’m transitioning to barefoot - or rather he decided to do it as he kept pulling shoes. Ground is so hard at the minute, so we’re only hacking in walk too which I find is helping harden up his feet. He seemed a little short yesterday behind and I think it’s down to being silly in the field and the ground being solid.

As much as I don’t want grass growing in my fields, it’ll be nice for the ground to soften up so we can do more than just walk about!

 

[J&S]

I ride and lead at walk, with occasional trotting up hills, around our lanes, my friend gives the pony a good canter round the fields of her daughter's farm where she knows the ground is good.

 

[2 Dragons]

KJ94 I share your pain. I 'm struggling to keep my 2 natives fit and lean at the moment. 1 has hock arthritis and other can be a bit stiff so don't want to hurt them .We don't have a school and our riding paddock is hard and cracked as is most of the hacking. We have 1 good local track where we can trot and do a bit canter on the softest bit but otherwise its walking.

 

[Annagain]

We're lucky that out local woodland hacking has two main tracks we use. One is too wet in winter but perfect at this time of year, it never dries up completely and the other is rock hard at the moment but great for a canter in the winter. It is taking us longer to get there though as we have to walk the whole way there whereas we can trot / canter on some of the wider verges when they're softer.

 

[maya2008]

Shaded paths with long grass stay soft longer. We stick to those and hire an arena once/twice a week if the ground is completely rock hard. Wooded areas are good too. We had some rain this week and can still find canter spots. The more exposed tracks are walk/trot only now though!

 

[ameeyal]

All my horses don’t wear shoes, I still trot on the roads, and canter on grass when the ground is hard,I have never had a problem, one wears boots, the others don’t.

 

[bouncing_ball]

I find if you can fit them pads in the hoof boots help lessen the concussion when ground is hard. I have a barefoot horse, I trot on roads all year round. I do sometimes find roads are better ground than hard baked earth.

I listen to the foot sounds, to decide how much impact there is and what pace I want to proceed at. I am lucky as there is a fair amount of longer grass / old spongy turf near me.

 

[TheHairyOne]

Im still cantering on the flat on the grass we have this year and my horse is shod all round. I dont do more than walk on the more well worn tracks as they are hard, have stones poking up all over the place and are not flat.

Last year with no gass cover anywhere I spend months just walking everywhere.

Our arena gets VERY deep without rain so I stay out of that.

 

[AntiPuck]

Walking alone is good exercise if you keep the pace up, but trotting up hills is also possible without doing as much damage as on the flat.

I'm doing in-hand trot intervals with my horse at the moment to try and get her weight down, it's useful partly because she isn't ridden at the moment, and partly because my pace puts a natural limit on it and we're trotting up inclines, so it's not as hard on her legs as it would be on flat roads.

 

[Flowerofthefen]

Walking everywhere at the moment. I don't trot on roads anyway and off road us solid and rutty. School at home is dry and deep now so only gently lunging in it. I've increased hack lengths so he is still fit enough for our various clinics at the weekends!!

 

[Suechoccy]

walking everywhere at the moment and mainly on roads and tracks because the "grassy" ground has deep cracks and craters in it and dried out ruts from the lack of rain. Mine is barefoot. I sometimes boot him. Depends on his hoof growth and recency of trim.

 

[vam]

Mine is barefoot and i boot all round anyway but i am coming to the trot part of her rehab so a bit stuck. The school is too dry and deep so i'm not risking it so i'm carrying on with the walking, increasing hill work and putting is small amounts of trot on the road or tracks, mainly working on the transitions. The only problem is she wants to 'go' in the trot so thats fun....