How long is too long for a hack?

16 miles would take my admittedly not slow 13.2 4 hours at 95% walk or just over 2 hours at 90% trot. So 32 miles would take anywhere from 4 hours plus what you spend in the pub to all day!
 
I think, given the calibre of many riders today, its all about how much they can cope with, rather than the horse. I know plenty who take longer to groom and tack up than they actually spend In the saddle.
A totaly unfit horse can easily do hours and hours at walk, providing it has well fitting tack and has been wearing a saddle and carrying a human regularly prior to that. (I don't mean work) If its been brought in from months of doing nothing the biggest problem would be a sore back, not their ability to cover the miles.
 
So now that I'm not doing full on endurance anymore, I am having to learn to just go for a hack and not think "training". But a hack can be as long or as short as you want it to be. I hate walking for any length of time, I get a sore back and a sore bum, so I spend a lot of time trotting as long as the ground permits. As long as the horse is fit, I can ride all day (but not at a walk!), so a hack will be as long as I want it to be depending on the weather, and how much time I've got and ........
 
Nearly all my riding is hacking. I'm trying to train myself to do more schooling at the moment, get the dressage markers or little showjumps out more often.
Hacks 45 mins-1hr weekdays. 2-2.5 hours weekend.
Would love to ride longer but time-limited by dayjob.
 
"Following on from this how long do you think it would take to hack 32 miles in walk and trot? Obviously pony would have to be very fit but thinking of hacking the camel trail when I get to Cornwall."

The cavalry "standard" (so a very fit horse) is 9 miles per hour at a fairly smart trot. Obviously you would not be trotting continuously for the whole hour, it would be walk/trot.
 
The first group ride I did when I got Pinto, almost 9 years ago was 12 hours and we covered 60km (with a 2 hour break for lunch). Pain in knees doesn't begin to describe what I felt when I got back!

At my old yard, you could just keep adding loops on around the farms (and up and down the hills). My "normal" ride would take about 1h45 if done all in walk (if I was feeling wimpy or just wanted a saunter), I could do it all in trot and take it down to about 1h, but i don't know what the distance was.

If I wanted to do a "trotting" I would do almost 10km in just under an hour - and yes it was all roadwork (through three villages upto a main road roundabout and back again).

Pinto would go on a 4 day randonnée once a year with a friend, where they would go as a group and overnight in gîtes. They would do 40-80km per day each day. He'd come back a little thinner, and feet a little shorter (no shoes) but he wouldn't be overly tired.

At my new yard, with my new horse... 1 hour is too long. My nerves are shot to bits and after 40 minutes I just "need" to be home :(
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top