Is 6.5 miles too far to hack on roads?

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Gorgeous George

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I may soon need to make a one way hack of approx 6.5 miles on quiet roads, would this be ok for a fit-ish horse? This sounds silly as I read it as I'm sure it will be ok, but I just wanted to check. Also any idea how long it will take? it will mostly be done at walk.

Thanks
 
go for it as long as he is fit enough and dont use the roads for cantering haha! we do miles together most days..........and a sponsored ride coming up (first one eek). enjoy.
 
If he is used to doing a reasonable amount of roadwork you'll be fine. The only way there could be a problem is if you normally only ride on soft surfaces - I'd say it was a bit far to go as a one off. If you regularly do roadwork though you should be fine
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I do a reasonable amount of roadwork each week, I can't really say why but it is possible I will need to take him somewhere soon and as I don't have any transport (or much money for any), there will be a lovely warm bed and stable when he arrives and a day off after!

As I said it will be pretty much done at walk, any ideas how long it will take me to cover the distance?
 
Yes it's fine. Patches hacks out on roads for 2.5 or 3 hours sometimes I think. Think about how long endurance horses are ridden for.

At the end of the day horses are work animals. Also, you'd be surprised at how short 6.5 miles actually is. I used to regularly do fun rides on mine and they can be 12 miles long - I'd expect to do a good percentage of that in canter with jumping efforts too.
 
allow about 4 mph at walk, so it'll take about an hour and a half, i'd guess. don't trot for more than 10 mins absolutely maximum per day on roads unless you want concussion problems (navicular etc etc) though... i was taught to only ever trot up hills on roads.
 
when Saph was coming back into work from her suspensory damage we did daily walking out and worked up to 2 hours a day of walking. I did that every day for 2 weeks and it was an average of 8/9 miles a day.
 
our vertically challenged pony does about that on hacks. usually takes us about an hour to two hours dependant on how ploddy he's feeling. And he's unfit!
 
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Yep, is he is relativly fit he will find it a doddle! I often take my horse out for 10 - 15 mile hacks at the weekends!

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Ditto!
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Shouldn't be any trouble to him at all.
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Absolutely no problem, we do a 7 mile round trip on road frequently on our middle-fit horses; we do approx half of it in trot with a little canter (150 yards) on a wide part of verge away from the road, it takes us 1 hour and 20 minutes. if the horse is not that fit, then take a bit longer, trot less.

So an hour and 45 min max. I think he shouldn't even need a day off afterwards, unless he is really unused to having a rider on board.

In fact if (which I doubt very much) he is stiff next day in his muscles then he'll need a gentle hack out or walk schooling to loosen up. Or turn out would do.

You really needn't worry about him, I think transport would be a waste in this case! I bet he'll enjoy it thoroughly!

Just think how much they have to leg it about in the wild, often being chased by predators at the same time! Much of the time in search of food, and water.....
 
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