Keeping Fit without Hacking - advice and feedback

D

DressageDiva1962

Well-Known Member
Joined
19 August 2007
Messages
339
Location
North Yorkshire
Visit site
I've recently moved house to a new area and onto a really nice livery yard but after riding out from there only three times my nerves are shot to pieces due to the dangerous and irresponsible behaviour of the majority of car drivers on the road !! its been a huge culture shock after having spent the last 11 years with access to safe off road riding and very quiet country lanes. There is no going back I cannot move, I've now found myself in an impossible situation and unless I give up riding altogether I'm confined to riding in the school, not a prospect I'm looking forward to as I absolutely love hacking....so I'm looking for alternative methods of keeping my horse fit enough to still enjoy regular organised pleasure rides of up to 15 miles...is it possible to keep up fitness levels with only a school to work in ??? I'd probably, in time, be happy to walk my horse out in hand around the village where I keep her but the long care free hacks that I crave and enjoy are now just a distant memory !!

I can't believe the impatient attitude of some drivers, don't they realise if they hit you, not only are they likely to fatally injury a horse and rider but they'll hurt themselves into the bargain and the journey that they are so keen to complete at speed will be delayed !! the livery yard that I've moved to is in a semi rural area, surrounded by lovely open fields, but not one bridleway within reasonable hacking distance, I did my research and naively thought being in the countryside we'd be safe, how wrong can you be ?? so the choice is do I hack on the roads and put my life and that of my horse into a potentially dangerous situation or get bored to death riding round a school...hence why I need some practical suggestions and to find out if other people are faced with the same dilema and if so how you deal with it.

Any feedback and suggestions would be most gratefully appreciated. Thank you for reading.
 
Last edited:
Can you really not move? If hacking is your thing then its just not worth being somewhere where that is impossible. You'll both be miserable.
If moving really is not an option then I'm sure you could keep fit enough by schooling. Is there a field you can use to do some canter work?
 
I'm a happy hacker and my yard is about 35 mins from where I live as the travel is worth it to me to me able to 'roam free'. I'd consider moving I'm afraid :(
 
Oh you poor thing :( Is there absolutely no way you can move elsewhere? If hacking is what you and your horse both love then you will be driven mad in a school.
Do you have access to transport? Is there any way you could box your horse out somewhere at the weekends for a change of scenery? x
 
One of my liveries does most of her riding in the arena, she is young and very nervous out hacking, her horse does BE and has no problems with fitness but I do take him out myself a bit to harden his legs after a break, I encourage riding in the fields and he gets out to a competition most weeks for variety.
I would not want to do the basic hardening up without hacking but once they are ready to do more it is possible to get them fit enough especially if you can do some polework and jumping, we cool off the horses by walking round the fields after most schooling sessions or have a good canter once or twice a week.
 
This may seem like a dumb question but are you wearing any hi viz when you go out! Also have you tried riding at different times?

Where we are I have to ride on the roads. Our horses are pretty damn traffic proof now! I go out decked in hi viz and mostly choose the quieter times. It is a risk and some cars do pass faster than I like but the boys take no notice. I go out anyway! They and I love hacking.
 
Alphamare said:
This may seem like a dumb question but are you wearing any hi viz when you go out! Also have you tried riding at different times?

Where we are I have to ride on the roads. Our horses are pretty damn traffic proof now! I go out decked in hi viz and mostly choose the quieter times. It is a risk and some cars do pass faster than I like but the boys take no notice. I go out anyway! They and I love hacking.
Click to expand...


It has been said on several occassions that I look like a "Christmas Tree" ... people that hack out without Hi Viz are asking for trouble !! thankfully my horse is absolutely bombproof but after not hacked out on a busy road for the last 10 years it's been a complete shock as to just how fast and close they get to you and being on the wrong side of 50 its made very nervous and apprenhesive and I don't want the stress of it all which in turn passes down to my horse.
 
I completely understand where you're coming from OP. At my previous yard the only option for hacking was along a very busy main road and I eventually refused to go out anymore. I had too many near misses, including nearly being hit my a motorbike that stupidly attempted to overtake a car which had slowed down for me. I was riding and leading at the time and got such a fright that was the last time I hacked out whilst on that yard. I did most of my riding in the school and boxed to safe hacking regularly. I just varied the work I did with poles etc. and tried to get out and about as much as possible to add interest. I moved not long after to a yard with excellent, safe hacking. It might be worth shopping around as if hacking is your main activity it's going to be a real wrench to be so limited. I travel further than I would like to my current yard, but it's worth it to have more options.
 
Are you able to ride in the fields at the yard? or find out who the neighbouring land owners are and have a little chat with them to explain your problem and see if they would let you hack around the PERIMETER of their fields (if they get visions of you charging about across their fields they will be quite rightly less inclined to help you!) OR hack out V early in the mornings...

If not, lots of variety. flat work, pole work, schooling, lunging, jumping...

I am in a similar predicament, although I can get out safely at the weekends and I am very fortunate in that I can ride in resting fields which is working wonders for us so in the week I have flatwork in the arena, 'hack' round the field and lunging on a 3 day rota...then the treat of a hack on sundays! works for us!
 
What do the other liveries do, how do they manage on the roads?

Also is there any access from the livery yard's fields onto quieter roads, gateways that they aren't currently using?
 
Aarrghimpossiblepony said:
What do the other liveries do, how do they manage on the roads?

Also is there any access from the livery yard's fields onto quieter roads, gateways that they aren't currently using?
Click to expand...

I was going to ask the same thing. Perhaps they know quieter routes or the best times to hack or could just hack out with you to make it a little less scary.

If there really is no other option I too would move.
 
I used to hack out early - as in off the roads by 7 or 7.30am depending on the route, or in summer hack out after 7pm when light allows it, those times of the day there seems to be less drivers & those that there are seem to be in less of a hurry.
If very early starts aren't possible and there is no routes that avoid the main roads you don't know about & no-one else to possibly go out with then I'm afraid to say I would look to inconvenience myself by moving (the hassle of moving and possibly having to move somewhere more expensive or further away) for better hacking.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top