How far do you hack?

RubysGold

RubysGold

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Just wondering really. Ive been doing hacks about an hour long, only a couple of miles really with my two.
Ive now got nothing to ride over winter (one lame, one turned away)
but next year there are a few FANTASTIC rides Id like to do, the longest being about 10 miles.
Does anybody do a long hack on weekends or whatever, and how far do you go?
 
Hi, its me , Bob the "nota"cob, Mike takes me out for bloody miles !. Plus I seem to be training for some sort of assault on Everest:eek:Whilst I must admit it is nice to go for a stroll, I dont envisage having to show my passport on a hack. :eek:
 
The most i've done is ten miles, and that was accidential, got lost up the mountain. Mostly about 6 miles, build it up to that. I'm a bit freaky, so always drive it first to see how far it is. dont want to be doing too much/too little!!!
10 miles isnt that far, once the horse is fit, (thankfully, the mare was fit, when I got lost). xx
 
Well, "hounds pace" is a walk/trot of 6 miles/hour. When I was growing up on our ponies we used to be out for several hours on a regular basis, with an all day ride - hack to hunt, hunt all day, hack home - and that would have been around 9 hours riding.....on 12.2hh or 14.2hh ponies.....You do need to increase the mileage in increments but I do think todays horses don't do anything like what they need for health or fitness. Wild horses walk/trot around 20 miles a day...... I should adds they got very little in the way of extra feed. This work was done on grass/hay with no added extras!!
 
Well one regular road ride I do as fitness training is 7 miles and another 10. When out on tracks and trails a good two - three hours would take us a lot further.
If you are taking an hour to ride a couple of miles than your horses are not really working! I walk faster than that and I have a gammy leg!
 
Anything from an hour to three or four hours, depending on whether have company - I only like to do the long ones with someone to chat to! All of it includes hill work as am in Cairngorm, so gets pony fit pretty soon! Pony is 14,2 barefoot Haflinger, fed on soaked hay and oat straw and vit/min/mag ox :-))
 
RubysGold said:
Just wondering really. Ive been doing hacks about an hour long, only a couple of miles really with my two.
Ive now got nothing to ride over winter (one lame, one turned away)
but next year there are a few FANTASTIC rides Id like to do, the longest being about 10 miles.
Does anybody do a long hack on weekends or whatever, and how far do you go?
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Are you sure thats only a coulpe of miles? We do about 5 miles in an hour and that doesn't seem like we're going fast. Hacks are anything from 1-3 hours usually, depending on time available( 4 kids, elderly parent, so times precious!!).
 
hollybear said:
Are you sure thats only a coulpe of miles? We do about 5 miles in an hour and that doesn't seem like we're going fast. Hacks are anything from 1-3 hours usually, depending on time available( 4 kids, elderly parent, so times precious!!).
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5 miles an hour is quite fast. I regularly hack my TB and we track the hacks on endomondo, with lots of gallops and canters our long hacks still average out to nearer to 4.5 miles per hour.

We hack between 4 and 8 miles regularly and occasionally do 16 miles long hack and we hack up to 5 miles to hunt meets (and back).
 
Im not sure my exact mileage but its definitely not far because we have mostly walked with short trots and very rarely canter because the hack we do doesnt have a good canter place. My old girl cant do more then that any more, we just mooch. And my 4yo has been learning the ropes this year.
Next year we can do further, faster :)
 
I hack at least 5 miles, that is the standard loop that I use. Today I rode 7.5 miles, but I would not consider that to be a long way by any means. 10 miles really is not that far, I run further on a sunday morning!!
My old horse, when she was fit, would do at least two 15 mile rides a week, at a good pace. We would often go further, upto 30 miles at times, again at a good pace. I am lucky that I have access to great offroad riding and that really gets the miles in.
My current horse is not upto that level of fitness yet, but once she is, then I will think nothing of doing 20 miles on her.
I do believe that walking miles is the foundation to any fitness program, and this takes time to impliment. The horse will have no problem with the miles though, I think that it's the rider's brain (and arse!!) which does!!
 
Sorry to hijack yr thread can't find the new thread button, my cob has been ridden daily for 2 months walk and trot for 20 to 30mins with a bit of cantering, do you knowledgeable peeps think he is fit enough to go on a 10mile steady walk and trot hack, I have been invited.
 
Short hack route is probably about 1 and a quarter hours which is about 2.5-3 miles (some trot)
Medium hack route 3.5-4 miles
Slightly longer routes - 5 miles

Used to go for regular 3 hour+ hacks a few years ago but don't have that hacking partner any more and I really miss the longer ones. Longest I've hacked is to a show which was round trip of 12 miles.
 
My routes are 7, 10, 14, 20, and 25 miles. It takes up to 3 1/2 hours for the long one. The 7 miler is our slow route, takes just over an hour, but our 14 miler is one of our quick routes, takes under an hour.
 
putasocinit said:
Sorry to hijack yr thread can't find the new thread button, my cob has been ridden daily for 2 months walk and trot for 20 to 30mins with a bit of cantering, do you knowledgeable peeps think he is fit enough to go on a 10mile steady walk and trot hack, I have been invited.
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Yes, and I'm sure you will both enjoy it!
 
Alyth said:
Well, "hounds pace" is a walk/trot of 6 miles/hour. When I was growing up on our ponies we used to be out for several hours on a regular basis, with an all day ride - hack to hunt, hunt all day, hack home - and that would have been around 9 hours riding.....on 12.2hh or 14.2hh ponies.....You do need to increase the mileage in increments but I do think todays horses don't do anything like what they need for health or fitness. Wild horses walk/trot around 20 miles a day...... I should adds they got very little in the way of extra feed. This work was done on grass/hay with no added extras!!
Click to expand...

*nods in agreement*

I was brought up with driving horses and ponies being used as a mode of transport to get Dad & Granddad to & from the pub, my horses and ponies always earned their keep. At the moment I am really busy with work but my average hack at the moment is 4.5 miles which I do riding and leading (to save time). Obviously I can only walk and trot but the fitter they get the faster I can work them and I will probably do 30 mins cantering (if the rain ever stops!) a couple of times a week instead of slow work.
 
I'm not too good with miles but have just got endomondo so hopefully will get a better idea of what we do!
So far the minimum we've hacked has been 8 miles, the maximum 12 over the last 2 weeks - but we used to go out for all-day-long-rides up and down hills at our old house (at a fair speed!) - had very fit neddies then and must have covered a lot of ground. Fingers crossed we'll get to move back there sometime!
 
Thanks for all your replies :D
We're very lucky, a new bridle path has opened today that cuts straight across to a lot of FAB hacks, that I will now be able to reach in half an hour instead of an hour+ :D

Will definitely build Jimmy up next year for really good long hacks :D

Do any of you do long rides alone?
 
I think Idiotpony and me are out from 2-3 hours on our usual route. Am trying to figure out the route to Esher Common though so we can ride forever!

Is the Endomodo app on blackberry or is there an equivalent do you know? Knowing exactly how far we're going would be interesting!
 
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