Hacking

I think I was about 14, I wasn't allowed to before then (I'm 30 now). I think that's fair tbh - the roads round where we lived were quite busy.

As to whether there is a certain age you should be doing it by...well assuming you aren't a child/ teenager, in which case it's probably up to your parents, I really don't think it matters. Just whenever you feel comfortable and know your horse well enough. Some people never do, and that is fine.
 
HashRouge said:
I think I was about 14, I wasn't allowed to before then (I'm 30 now). I think that's fair tbh - the roads round where we lived were quite busy.

As to whether there is a certain age you should be doing it by...well assuming you aren't a child/ teenager, in which case it's probably up to your parents, I really don't think it matters. Just whenever you feel comfortable and know your horse well enough. Some people never do, and that is fine.
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Ye im 15 and very sensible
 
When you are competent, have experience in going out in ever-smaller groups of people, and leave word of where you're going and how long you plan to be gone - so, teen years (roughly.)
 
I was hacking alone to hunting when I was 8 - but that was back when God was a boy! When DD was growing up she was allowed to hack with freinds - as long as I knew the freinds and felt them sensible - from 11 or 12 I think. She hunted alone from 12 (she had designated "nannies" her first 2 seasons. The hunt is not a baby sitter. She didn't hunt without a designated adult until she had the Master's permission to do so.) and I think hacked alone from about 12 or 13 I think. Probably the summer after she was first allowed to hunt alone.

When she was younger she had a tracking app on her phone with a deadman alarm on it. We used osmodriod but there are plenty of them. That way we could see exactly where she was and if she fell the phone would send an emergency signal. The first couple of seasons hunting without a "nanny" the horse also had a GPS tag in his saddle so we could see they were together. But that was expensive and probably a bit paranoid!
 
I was 16 when I first started hacking alone, that was on a sensible horse. That did involved crossing a busy road to access the bridleways. I agree that it depends on the horse and type of hacking. Always remember tell someone where you are going and when you should be back. With smartphones, GPS and tracking apps hacking alone can be a lot safer than it used to be!
 
Thanks everyone for the tips theres not alot of hacking around the area so you can only do 3 routes and everybody on the yard knows those routes incase something happens there's no way you can get lost etc because it all loops back to the yard i have been on the hacks many times with one other person and my mum but sadly due to horses on the yard retiring there's not many people to ride out with and my mum can't walk long distances or run im going to look at tracking apps to give my mum an indication of where i am incase i dont return etc i always have ny phone on me and i have the what3words app incase of an emergency
 
I didn’t start riding till I was an adult. For years I loaned friends horses and always hacked alone. For some reason, now I have my own I’m more nervous. She’s bolted a couple of times so I wouldn’t hack alone at all for the minute, but I was nervous even before that. I would only recommend hacking alone if you have an extremely safe horse that you know well.
 
I think its down to the bond between you and the horse as well as the environment where you're riding. I'm on the other side of this spectrum being an older rider I decided to no longer ride on my own in spite of a quiet pony. There have been times in the past when I actually felt safer on my own so always make sure you're with responsible riding buddies.
 
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