Hacking Out

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Taffieboy1

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If you had the choice & option for a happy hacker,
would you stick to Bridleways & off road hacking, woods,
gallops ect or still hack on roads ?

Its just an opinion am interested in thats all peeps.
 
I would never willingly spend any more time on a road than I absolutely had to. Thankfully, where I am currently, I don't have to spend a lot of time on roads, though my daughter keeps threatening to take me to a village which sounds like it involves roads
 
(Squidsin)

Is that just a personal pref or due to the Horse you ride ?

What if the Bridleway was also a quiet road to a handfull of houses & a few farms, so would be cars an tractors on it, or would you steer clear of it ?

Really like hearing the mixed views on this topic
 
We've just bought a place 90 minutes outside of NYC and nobody hacks out on the roads here (apart from a few isolated towns with dirt tracks). Luckily there's a four-mile riding/walking trail in the woods behind the house and a 900-acre reserve a ten-minute trailer ride away that has jumps and plenty of places for a good canter.
 
Taffieboy1 said:
(Squidsin)

Is that just a personal pref or due to the Horse you ride ?

What if the Bridleway was also a quiet road to a handfull of houses & a few farms, so would be cars an tractors on it, or would you steer clear of it ?

Really like hearing the mixed views on this topic
Click to expand...

That wouldn't bother me - I just don't like the way cars on the roads seem to drive like total nutters and barely slow down for horses. Even on the lanes round here - they seem to think it's OK to overtake a group of riders, including children on ponies, at 40mph!
 
Yea thats what its like here to Squid,
Even on the Bridleway road, pick up trucks
racing between farms like nutters & tractors, jcb's
ect running up & down, then ya have the dogs bouncing
off the fence lines at a few properties, one dog is fine
but 3 or 4 at a time, scares the Ponies, but a pack of
dogs would do naturally x
 
If i had the option to avoid roads I would, only because off road hacking is more peaceful and more opportunity for a canter.

Don't mind having to use roads though, ned is excellent in traffic - wouldn't have it any other way.
 
Taffieboy1 said:
prosefullstop

Sounds like absolute heaven to us here in the UK
Click to expand...

I don't know, I miss a good trot along the road :)

Lots of places here have riding groups that work with private landowners to get access, as there are no public bridleways. The upside is that in certain areas you get AMAZING co-operative efforts, such as this one http://www.nsbta.org/NSBTA_Site/Welcome.html which has lovely trails and tons of well-maintained XC jumps en route, but in many places such efforts don't exist.

Courtesy of Martha Stewart's blog, here are some great pictures of the trail network I posted above: http://www.themarthablog.com/2011/11/another-great-horseback-ride-in-north-salem-ny.html
 
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Taffieboy1 said:
If you had the choice & option for a happy hacker, would you stick to Bridleways & off road hacking, woods,
gallops ect or still hack on roads ?

Its just an opinion am interested in thats all peeps.
Click to expand...

For me hacking on the roads is an important part of any horses fitness regime, so I'm more than happy to ride on them - especially on the way to the mountain for a good old blast!
 
I'm lucky that I dont need to see a road unless I want too. My boyo is good in slow traffic (most routes are access only) and so far I've not tested him in heavier traffic but I do have the option once I'm feeling braver.

So I have the best of both - hours of off road hacking or many hours of on road if I want - I do pay for the priviledge tho. In regards to livery prices.

But to try and answer your question road hacking has its place but I personally prefer to have the choice and not have too. Xx
 
If the bridleways were good ones it would be great. If they have awkward gates every 50 yards and bits where you sink in bogs then it's not so good.
 
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