How long do you normally hack for?

Casey76

Casey76

Well-Known Member
Joined
16 July 2011
Messages
3,651
Location
North East, UK
Visit site
how long do you normally hack for, and what would you consider to be a short or long hack?

The routes I know beside my yard (and I don't know many as I'm still getting over my hacking nerves), are about 1-1.5 hours, and that is what we would consider average.

A couple of weeks ago I went out with a friend, and was out for almost 3 hours, which my poor back complained about!
 
Winter and on own 1-1.5 hrs. Summer and or with friends up to 4 hrs, more normally 2-2.5. Moved so need to find the new long routes and new chums.
 
Through the week 45mins - 1hr, but it is an active hack. Lots of trotting and canters, school movements such as shoulder in, leg yield, travers etc not ambling along in walk.
Weekend will go out up to 2 hours but there will be a lot more walking and much less 'work' for the horse.
 
Generally during the winter working week between an hour - hour & a half as I have to be ridden and done by 8.30 a.m. I am trying to get one trip to the gallops done once a week. Hunting on Saturdays generally all day. But if no hunting then 2 proper long rides on Sat & Sun with a lot of cantering.
 
Winter time hacks can be a short 40 mins round the block walking and trotting. Summer time we go out for 2 -3 hours. That includes lots of fast work. Sea wall gallops etc. Love the summer.:)
 
30-40mins quick village roadwork
1.5-3 hours for offroad work woodlands/beacon

We aren't plods so roadwork involves a decent amount of trot and hills, as does offroad but also includes cantering and gallops where possible :)
 
Winter or summer its around 45mins-hour & half of active stuff unless boxing out, in which case is going to be a couple of hours + (I box out at least once a week in summer, and weather permitting once a fortnight in winter).
I ride 4 days a week in winter, 6 days from spring to autumn.
My ankle/back wont stand more than 2 hours on board usually.
 
Winter is about an hour at most! We don't have lots of different routes without going down a fast 50mph road which can be quite hairy!
Summer can be up to 2-3 hours though :)
 
2-5 hours. Anything 3hrs plus I consider a ' proper hack' for me as I call it lol . I have tried in the past to do 1hr when strapped for time but I just can't do it (no short routes really). I have a friend who does those 'turn round halfway' rides for about 30mins- for me not even worth putting my boots on for that lol I like to feel like I went somewhere
 
My shorter circular route is around 1.5 hours with canters. My longer circular route can be 2.5 hours as a meander or 2 hours with a bit of faster work, but the longer route doesn't have as many opportunities for a bit of speed. Then there are the wandering hacks linking up a few different routes, these can be up to 3 hours. I also pick up friends when out hacking so these are at least 2 hours long. I am blessed with quite a few options and a horse that likes to explore.
 
In winter during the week, round the block is 1/2 hour to 45 minute hack. We have good hacking but have to go through an industrial estate so we only go that way at weekends when there is less lorries and the quickest hack is 1.5hours, people tend to be out 2.5hours maximum. But I don't think it matters how long you're out for. As opposed to what you're doing? Sometimes I prefer a shorter but faster paced hack and other time I fancy a long jolly.
 
In my mind it's not worth the faff of getting ready for less than an hour (I find grooming a bore). On average I would probably be out 1.5 to 2 hours in the winter and 2 hours plus in the summer.
 
I used to endurance ride, so anything under an hour and a half seems short. My current ride is only four and not an endurance horse, but old habits die hard and I still can't go out and walk for an hour. So her hacks are around 45 minutes to an hour, but will always include lots of trotting and cantering where I can.

I took her to her first competitive trail ride in November and it took us an hour and a half to ride 10 km 'cos we had to keep looking at stuff and it was her first time on hills - I can't remember when I last rode so slowly.
 
on our own normally about 1.5 to 2 hours in the summer, because of the dark nights my hacks in the winter are probably about 30 mins - 1 hour if it doesn't drop dark quick. when out with others, it ranges from about 2-4 hours
 
From 1hour to whenever we get home, no one worries if I am still out 4 hours after leaving, although that usually means I have met up with friends and stopped for lunch. I am incredibly fortunate to have great riding on my door step, very little road work on stupidly quiet country lanes
.
 
Just thinking, do you all have an idea of the mileage you do when hacking out?
My usual 45min middle of winter route is 6 and a half miles. I tend to ride pretty briskly....

If i ride with a lady up the lane (once a month I escort her out) and we go for a hours walk with 1 trot, we do 2.5 miles!

Big difference in time/distance :)
 
Casey76 said:
how long do you normally hack for, and what would you consider to be a short or long hack?

The routes I know beside my yard (and I don't know many as I'm still getting over my hacking nerves), are about 1-1.5 hours, and that is what we would consider average.

A couple of weeks ago I went out with a friend, and was out for almost 3 hours, which my poor back complained about!
Click to expand...

Depends really on the horse or the circumstances, one is coming back into work and is on 15 minutes the other is unlimited but we do a bout 1hr at the moment. We are quite lucky here to have a real variety of hacks from road to trails.
 
The Fuzzy Furry said:
Just thinking, do you all have an idea of the mileage you do when hacking out?
My usual 45min middle of winter route is 6 and a half miles. I tend to ride pretty briskly....

If i ride with a lady up the lane (once a month I escort her out) and we go for a hours walk with 1 trot, we do 2.5 miles!

Big difference in time/distance :)
Click to expand...

I'm another who covers very little distance in a comparatively long time. We do trot quite a lot but my horse has a very poor, and therefore very slow walk. Our average speed is rather embarrassing!

ETA I'm wondering if this is why I rarely go out for very long hacks, it just takes so long to get anywhere!
 
its only been about 45 mins road work recently and about an hour around the farm! but a couple of weeks ago we did our first 1.5 hour hack since having his shoes removed in july
 
I either hack for about an hour, or go our for 3-4 hours. We only have short and long routes, nothing inbetween. Would love to just go out for a couple of hours but it always turns into a marathon.
 
1.5hrs minimum unless very pushed for time, in winter. In summer we are usually out for 3 hours minimum and have been out for a lot longer or gone home and got another one each lol
 
The Fuzzy Furry said:
Just thinking, do you all have an idea of the mileage you do when hacking out?
My usual 45min middle of winter route is 6 and a half miles. I tend to ride pretty briskly....

If i ride with a lady up the lane (once a month I escort her out) and we go for a hours walk with 1 trot, we do 2.5 miles!

Big difference in time/distance :)
Click to expand...

Not sure on my milleage but I tend to go to places that take 20mins in my car, so I recon I usually do 10miles or something like that? I once hacked out with someone who had a cool tracker app on their phone and it said we did 18miles. My pony is extremely hyper and trots everywhere non-stop so I recon we do clock up a few miles. I would love to get that app and see- but phone to ancient!
 
In the week it's an hour - we cant really do any more than that because a) it gets dark and b) all the long routes involve a really busy road, which isn't a good idea at rush hour!
At the weekend sometimes I go for a long hack, but again this involves the busy road
 
Last edited:
It's a bit dependent on the weather as to which routes are sensible, but we've got a good half-hour circular route, two or three that take about an hour, and then a variety of longer routes that cover the 2-4 hour zone. There's not a lot that are longer than that round my yard because of big roads (really big roads, that is - one of the best 3 hour routes goes over a flyover across the A19 and requires fairly bombproof horses). About an hour is a 'normal' hack; the half-hour route is a 'short' one; and the other lot are varying degrees of 'long' hacks for us, but it depends what you have access to, I suppose.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top