How many people when hacking.......

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stormox

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Stick to roads/bridleways within a 5 mile radius of their yard? I am convinced that long hacks, just you and your horse, and maybe a friend, are so beneficial.You can establish a real bond together exploring unknown territory with just a map, the horse gets interested too, not just the rider, on unknown ground and enjoys the experience. He learns to enoy, and go forward,whereas many horses on 'round the block' rides are thinking more of the feed theyl get when they get in than the hack.
And, now and again its lovely to get in the box and explore different places. The horse gets loading/unloading practice, experience in different places and sights...... Theres a whole world out there! Theres more to horses than schooling (though you can do that on a hack too)!. HAVE FUN as a pair, and get real experience, a fit horse and rider, and lots of enjoyment. :)
 
When we were kids we used to take off for the whole day with the ponies. Packed lunch and covered miles and miles.
As an adult I rarely hack for more than 2 hours. Time constraints are different to care free kids I guess. Shame though, riding pastures new is always lovely.
 
We are massively fortunate where we live so have lots of different routes to take and investigate, even our 'round the block' routes are rarely done more than once a fortnight. Both mares LOVE hacking and I think the variation they get is a big part of this.

Don't tend to box out that much, only because there is really no need so box is just for comp outings, school hire, lessons etc! Diesel is too bloomin expensive anyway!

Hacking is a massive part of having the horses for us, could never move somewhere we didn't have at least some off road hacking from the door - keeps us all sane!
 
Hi Stormox - hope you're keeping well :-)
I was musing this the other day when mooching about the countryside on The Big Grey One. It was not uncommon for me to do 10ish miles at weekends on my old boy but he loved exploring new places and was actually better behaved in strange/new areas.
TBGO has a very different view on new experiences and gets quite stressed in unfamiliar territory, even as a 12yo - he's very much a routine kind of chap.
Shame I sold my lovely horsebox to fund a kitchen extension - don't think I can quite squeeze him into my Polo for a day out.......................
 
To do long rides from the yard invloves too much road work, so all are log rides are done post a trip in the lorry. We usually do at least one 20 miler a week, although it would be under 3 hours.
 
I completely agree!! Before I moved to my new yard I hacked for hours and hours!! Now we have very limited hacking but I am picking up my new trailer this week and have SO many plans to get out and about. More excited about all the hacking opportunities than getting out to lessons and shows! :)
 
I don't stick within a 5 mile radius as I'll quite happily hack out for a few hours, when I have time in between the rest of my life. I used to do it a lot with my last horse - we only hacked and hunted (he was creaky and arthritic) so I would regularly get my OS map, pick a route and go out for hours. We both loved to explore, he loved going somewhere new and seeing new things. I'd find new bridleways and tracks, and just enjoy the scenery.

I've done less with the new one mainly due to time constraints now, and also because he's I'm schooling, jumping and competing much more. At the current yard we don't really have a "round the block" short ride, there is one of about 45 mins, and otherwise they're all over an hour or more. But, it's pretty hilly by us so I can achieve more in 1.5hrs than 3hrs of hacking somewhere flat. Two weeks ago I actually did get out my OS map and go exploring with the new boy. I think we did about 8 miles, and he'd have happily done another 8. He doesn't love it like the old boy did because he's still quite babyish and insecure. But... because of this, it's really good for him to go further away from home, see new things. Last time we had to do lots of bridleway gates, walk through cows and sheep, cross a ford, all sorts. It's all good experience for him.

I don't tend to box up to hack, mainly because ours is so good anyway. I occasionally do to meet up with friends, but TBH the pony is so good away from home and is easy to box, that I have no need to do it for those reasons. I actually think proper hacking is pretty underrated - you can school on hacks, teach your horse to be confident on uneven or bad ground, do hillwork, if you're lucky introduce them to water (we have various fords and rivers to cross), and even find logs and little hedges to pop :)
 
I kind of have the opposite problem.
Because I am on the west of the NF, you can hack for miles off road but everywhere is the same more or less.

I find myself looking longingly at bridal paths/byways when driving because you can actually get somewhere.
I can do 3 hour circular routes and never see anybody else other than the odd walker and except for crossing the odd small road, not do any roadwork either.

OK, I know it's not something to complain about, but you find yourself wanting a bit of variety for long rides and wondering why you don't just cut back to home cross country and so cutting the ride in half.

I hacked over to Burley a few times, under the main road (that was exciting, an underpass), and joy, found it pretty much the same as anywhere near me, just more traffic.

So you think, what about going off the NF on the roads and stuff. But nobody does, it's like the forbidden zone.:D

Edit.

Don't know why there's a smiley attached to the "re bit" and can't get rid of it. I'm not trying to be sarcastic
 
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I love going out for ages but we get hemmed in by roads and run out of bridleways in different directions.

I usually go out for an hour or so but I am getting bored of using the same routes over and over just in different directions etc or piecing shorter bits together so soon I'm going to have to get my map (if I can find it! We have two of the same map of the area and I can't find either!) and go out for a good long ride.

Just have to make sure my boy is fit enough as he hardly did any work between January and May when I was away.
 
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