I'm moving .. Hack or box to new yard? Thoughts please ...

Antw23uk

Antw23uk

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Hi All
I am moving to a new yard at the end of this month and its within hacking distance so my question is are there any benefits to hacking or boxing to the new yard?
(actually it might take longer to put travel boots on, load him and start the lorry and drive rather than hack fifteen odd minutes up the road!)

If I hack would he always think he 'should' be going 'home' sooner or later? or if I box him will he recognise that we have actually hacked over the land we are going to livery on before and therefore not worry about hacking out alone which he is normally good at because he knows the area?

Any thoughts on this or stories about how you moved to a yard close by and what method you used and why, would be much appreciated :)

I'm really excited about moving. I've enjoyed the private yard and we have had such a laugh but the weather and flooding has got me down recently and I like things neat and tidy (not ruined) and ... well I'm the only one who does! :p Plus all the stables at my new place are under cover in a barn with an indoor school and its so clean and tidy ... I'm so excited to be moving, he better ruddy like it as well, lol :D
 
I have hacked to a new yard and my horse preferred it to being boxed over. He definitely settled more quickly and our hack was about an hour.
 
I think you are over thinking this.
Hack over then horse will be more relaxed and ready to just settle to eating. Everything else you are over thinking just forget about.
 
Do you know anyone at your new yard? When my friend moved to the yard I was at, I hacked over to meet them halfway made everything less stressful for both new horse and rider - never easy being a newbie. Hope everything goes well and enjoy our new yard - envy the indoor school!
 
I think you are over-thinking this.
Do whatever is easiest.
Personally I would box because I'd fill the lorry with junk + horse and do it in one trip!
 
Spot on, I am over thinking it arent I? Im just so excited and want him to like it as much as I do :)
I think I will hack ... Why use the new travel boots when you can keep them clean hey? ;)

I wont know anyone who is there but ive been a couple of times and everyone seems nice. I even met a couple of well known (but old) stallions yesterday which made my sharer really happy as one of them was her mares Sire :eek:

My friend who I liveried with last year and pretty much the first person I met when I got back into riding a couple of years ago is also moving there the same weekend as she loved it as well so Im really looking forward to being with her again :)
 
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When i loaned, we moved a few times within hacking distance and always hacked.

Owners rented a van and we loaded it up took all the stuff to new yard and got it ready.
Then returned and hacked the horses over and never had a problem!

Good luck with your move!
 
rudolph_bum said:
Moving is stressful, you are over thinking things.

I hacked my mare when I moved yards, because she'd had some exercise she settled into her stable nicely and tucked into her haynet :)
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Thats how he arrived on our current yard and then I brought him a couple of days later and stayed there with him. He settled in within about five minutes of arriving which was just another reason to gush over how great he was :o I had forgotten that .... well not thought of it that way I suppose so hacking sounds like it will be better for him and as you say he can tuck into a nice haynet in his new big stable with massive straw bed :D
 
I hacked when I moved, no choice really but it was really close, around 15 minutes like you. Never had an issue, the only thing she's done is yesterday we hacked out and when we were at our nearest point to her old mates and field she let out a huge neigh, it surprsed me as its been 5 weeks and she loves the new place but I guess they have good memories and she must have sensed we were close although I had never hacked where we were yesterday ( rode out in the opposite direction) . We must have been about 600 metres away along the same stretch of road. She moved on happily enough with no drama though.
 
If you hack to the new yard then your horse will settle in far more quickly as it will know were it is. One reason why horses become unsettled is when they are moved in a lorry/trailer this disorientates them. Horses sense of smell is very much more acute and they map an area by smell so moving them gently from one yard to another by hacking them there will mean that they will not become disorientated.
 
OWLIE185 said:
If you hack to the new yard then your horse will settle in far more quickly as it will know were it is. One reason why horses become unsettled is when they are moved in a lorry/trailer this disorientates them. Horses sense of smell is very much more acute and they map an area by smell so moving them gently from one yard to another by hacking them there will mean that they will not become disorientated.
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Thank you and thanks everyone for there input, very much appreciated. Cant wait to go now, lol (not because i dont like my current yard, Im just excited to get settled into the new one) :o
 
I usually hack when I move yards if it's close enough (if not then obviously box) but my boy is more relaxed arriving to a new yard being ridden as he doesn't travel particularly well.
 
I would rather hack if possible, I have travelled them and they get out all wide eyed and have to suddenly take in a load of new information- hacked to a new yard and they were settled and calm
 
This brings back memories - I left a local area to move away, borrowed a trailer. When I later returned to the same area I had to also transport a carriage somehow as I had started driving my girl in the time away and had no easy access to transport for both. So, we ended up driving her, from Barnet to Bushey, along the A41 among other roads, it was amazing! We chose the safest route obviously, and stopped frequently to let traffic past, but it was a real highlight of her life with me, she loved it (she was a working rag and bone pony in her days before me so well used to the traffic) and we got loads of cheers from cars on the way!
Given the chance I would always hack to move them, I think it helps them settle because they can see where they are stopping and are pleasantly tired after the ride as well, so ready to just head into a stable/field for tea.
 
Well I am going to go against the grain here the only time I have ever hacked a horse anywhere to move him he was so stressed at leaving his field mates he jumped a 6 ft fence and set off back he was killed by a car, the driver of the car was killed so now even to move fields mine go on transport everywhere even if it is just up the road. We even drove them half a mile to a fresh field drove them around a bit first and then after about 10 minutes drove back to the field and let them out Never had one stress again by doing this and we have moved them singly and in pairs or threes when we had the lorry
 
I have previously moved yards before and we hacked one of my ponies a good distance to get to the new yard. He coped really well.
However, we have also used our trailer and both methods seemed to have worked well. Whichever method of travel, they have always become comfortable with their surroundings and settled in quickly.

Hope your move is for the best and fingers crossed for you that everything goes well for you! :) x
 
I have moved a few times over the years, all within hacking distance, I therefore always hacked as my late mare Seren was nervous of travelling, though she would get on without any trouble at all I just knew she was doing is because I asked and given the choice, and if she could speak I expect her answer would have been hacking over :)
 
Nice to have the choice! When we moved to our current yard (10years ago) about an hour hack from th old one, we loaded all the gear on the lorry, and my BF's 3yr old, but when it came to my 'been there, done it all' loan horse he refused point blank to load' rearing so violently that he damaged the ramp. In the endI went home , fetched his tack (and as much hi viz as I could lay my hands on)and rode him over. At 4 pm. In the rain.On Christmas Eve. He never put a foot wrong and when we got there he looked round, saw that his mate was already there, marched into his new bo and settled immediately. We thinkhe thought we'd sold him, and he wasn't going!!! (He'd been throgh a number of hands befoe we got him.) It was the only time in the eight years we had him that he had not loaded perfectly.
 
I've done both - for me it always depends on the distance! Once we moved five minutes down the road so I took her on a nice hack then finished up at new yard. I did the same move a few years later (long story) and just led her down the road while also pushing a wheelbarrow full of stuff :p. But when we moved to our current yard we boxed there. It's actually only 4 miles from the old yard and we used to hack round there all the time when my mare was younger, but when we moved she had been out of work for about 18 months and the ride would have meant a steep uphill climb for about 3 miles, so didn't think it was fair to her!
 
windand rain said:
Well I am going to go against the grain here the only time I have ever hacked a horse anywhere to move him he was so stressed at leaving his field mates he jumped a 6 ft fence and set off back he was killed by a car, the driver of the car was killed so now even to move fields mine go on transport everywhere even if it is just up the road. We even drove them half a mile to a fresh field drove them around a bit first and then after about 10 minutes drove back to the field and let them out Never had one stress again by doing this and we have moved them singly and in pairs or threes when we had the lorry
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Gosh that is horrific, so sorry to hear that. It must have been awful.

We make a point of not letting them get too attached to each other otherwise it can often mean tricky hacks or someone has to lose out on riding because one cant be left etc although a new horse my YO brought a few weeks ago (post was Horse bolted) was scary as he went over and through fences, got on the road and headed in the direction he came from although he was boxed but it was terrifying!
 
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