How far have you/would you hack to a show??

MontyandZoom

MontyandZoom

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I am going to do two rounds of mini SJ (like 2'3-2'6 MAX) on Saturday at a local show. However it is a fair trek so I would like to know time-wise, what is the furthest you have/would hack to a show.

eg 1 hour, 2 hours

Thankies :D
 
When I was a kid (about 11 years old) a whole gang of us would hack to gymkhanas. We would get up at about 5am and hack anything up to 5 miles. Always going at a steady walk and allowing for a few breathers. Dash around likes loonies at the show and then hack home, often leading/riding depending on how tired the pony was. Oh the good old days!!
 
The past couple of shows I've been to we've ridden about 6 miles, which has taken around 1hr 1/2 (we'll tend to go at a plod if we're riding to a show). I'd be willing to go slightly further than that depending on the route; the first show we went to involved about 30mins of 'nice' hacking then 45 mins on busy 60mph roads which was not fun (particularly as the weather was appalling), whereas the second one, although the ride was longer felt much easier as we could go along a guided busway bridlepath and chill the entire way!

So long as horse is relatively fit, you get there with enough time to give them a rest before classes and you're only doing a couple of 'high-energy' classes I think I'd go up to a 2hr ride (if we didn't ride we'd never go anywhere as can't afford transport!).
 
I regularly hack to and from hunt meets in the winter and have also hacked to a couple of shows in the past. I will hack to anything within the distance of an hour's steady hack (mainly walk and a bit of trot) If you are taking it steady and your pony is fit, you should be fine. Hacking to a show is a good way to warm up! :)
 
OH and I regularly hack for an hour to go hunting. Mostly in walk or trot, means you cover 6 or 7 miles.

I agree with SJ_S that its a good way to warm up, and if you're nrevous or horse is excitable its a good way to settle them down.
 
Me and my friend years ago hacked 5 miles there and 5 miles back, although the back was quicker than we thought as they'd been frightened by a donkey ! that wasn't there on the way
 
Thanks for the comments. I'm not sure on the mileage.....i think it is about 7?? Most of it is a hack that we do fairly regularly. I am going to allow 2 hours but realistically it will probably take 1 1/2 hours even if we take it very easy.

I feel better now since others hack quite far too. She's only doing a few minutes of local jumping and dad is going to meet us there with water etc. Whoop!! Excited now :) We are leaving mega early (6am eek!) so that the horses will have a nice rest before jumping. The home journey usually takes half the time since Zoom marches! :D

Thanks for the replies!
 
Have fun, sounds like a grand day out! When I was a kid a trillion years ago we used to hack up to 2 hours to a show, spend the day there and hack home, but the ponies were fit and well looked after riding school ponies. Your plan sounds spot on, good luck!
 
I can remember hacking 6 miles to a show, doing 2 jumping classes and a bit of showing and hacking home again. Obviously you would want to make sure your horse is fit enough, but it never did my boy any harm (quite the opposite as it meant he arrived chilled out and nicely warmed up ;))
 
I used to hack for about 45 minutes in walk and a bit of trot to do some dressage on my youngster. Only took so long as I wanted to avoid the busy roads so took a long back route.

Once i hacked my loan mare for about 8/9 miles to a fun ride, then did 15 miles at the fun ride, then hacked back. Luckily she was a very fit arab so it was nothing for her.
 
We hacked two ponies to a little local show 8 miles away and my husband drove our Section A with all the food, water etc. Great fun - and caused quite a stir on the showground amongst all the lorries and trailers as most people hadn't come as far as we had.
 
I used to hack to Pony Club rallies and shows, roughly 5 miles or so. You just have to give yourself plenty of time so you're not rushing and you've got time to get off when you get there and rest a bit. Then you can have a bite to eat while your horse has a breather, get back on and warm up and on with the show!
 
I wouldn't worry :) we used to hack 2 hours to our show to meet the box there (if they couldnt transport us too) and be there most of the day doing about 2 - 3 classes (inc. WH) then hack the 2 hours back and it was mostly along busy roads including a one way system :)
good luck!!
 
I used to hack Lucy everywhere The poor pony. :o One venue was over 2 hrs away and we used to trot most of the way with a few canters on verges :) Once we went and did 3 showjumping classes won two of them and got placed in the third :D :D Then we had to hack home.
Maybe i'm just crule :(;):p:D:D
 
I'm currently thinking of hacking 10 miles to a hunter pace. This depend on us keeping our fitness up and I'm going to talk to farrier as to whether she'll be okay doing this barefoot.

Last night we hacked 5 miles to a show jumping competition. (This took just over an hour).
 
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