Hacking to arena hire/shows - how far?

[Gloi]

I used to go to a monthly riding club show about 13 miles away, do a bunch of classes and ride home. I was young then and pony was fit from bring ridden every moment I wasn't at school.
One Sunday morning I was on my way and going up the A6 and there was a bike race on and pony scuttered, which he never did. I looked round and there was a cyclist sprawled on the road. He'd had his head down and ridden straight into my pony. He was a bit shocked. Pony was ok apart from a bit of a scratch on his leg, not bad enough to stop us doing the show.
I wish I had that energy now.

 

[Leandy]

5 miles away shouldn't be more than an hour or so. If it would really take you 2 hours you need to get your horse walking out properly! In the olden days we did more than that to shows, PC rallies etc etc with no problems at all. In the even older days they would easily do twice that to a meet, do a day's hunting and then hack back again. The animal does need to be fit for what you are asking though but from what you say about current workload, I wouldn't see a particular problem. It may be helpful at the event for a young horse to be a bit tired! It will be heavy on the shoes though.

 

[Follysmum]

As a kid 50 odd years ago we regularly rode 10 miles to a show on a Sunday do gymkana games and jumping all day then ride home.
Ponies had Mondays off then ridden the rest of week.
We definitely did a lot more with our ponies and horses and there were a lot less problems / issues with them.

 

[Gloi]

As a kid 50 odd years ago we regularly rode 10 miles to a show on a Sunday do gymkana games and jumping all day then ride home.
Ponies had Mondays off then ridden the rest of week.
We definitely did a lot more with our ponies and horses and there were a lot less problems / issues with them.

It was a different world then. My friends and I went for full day rides at weekends and summer holidays, when I look back where we went we frequently did over 30 miles taking our picnic lunch tied to the saddle. None of us had trailers or parents willing to transport us though there was a local farmer who would occasionally pack his cattle wagon with ponies and kids and take us to the beach for a small fee.

 

[lozloz1]

I used to always ride my connemara x 3 miles each way from the age of 10-20 to local shows, and sometimes he did showcross. In fact I think it helped take the edge off a bit!!

 

[Orangehorse]

As a kid 50 odd years ago we regularly rode 10 miles to a show on a Sunday do gymkana games and jumping all day then ride home.
Ponies had Mondays off then ridden the rest of week.
We definitely did a lot more with our ponies and horses and there were a lot less problems / issues with them.

Yes, that's true. Never heard of laminitis apart from fat unridden ponies. They were well behaved and just used to go and do what ever and when ever without too much thought - shows, pony club, hunting.

But, as we all know, the roads are not the same now. I remember hacking through the city to get to a show. We had to cross a large river bridge as well, right through the middle. Got the show, did our classes and back home again the same way. We could use some back streets but we still had to ride across the river bridge! But it was nearer 60 years ago than 50.