Long hacks and horses backs.

[Christmas Magic]

Hi everyone. Just a question,after today rather long hack(got lost) i was thinking,how long can you hack in dressage saddle without hurting horses back? Maybe stupid question,but i never thought about it before,we not using any thick pads/numnhas,just thin one. Do you use any thicker pads if you planning longer hacks/rides? Does anyone hack out in their dressage saddle? How long do you hack-hour,two,three? Thanks.

 

[PoniesRock]

I hack my pony in a GP saddle for up to 4 hours. Dressage saddles are better for spending hours in the saddle than jump or close contact saddles so as long as your dressage saddle fits I'd imagine horse is fine

 

[spookypony]

I sometimes hack out in my dressage saddle. I think as long as it fits the horse well, it shouldn't be a problem, especially if you take care to get off his back! Just off the top of my head, I don't think I'd want to be out longer than 3 hours, but I have no real evidence or reasoning to back this up.

 

[Oberon]

Hi everyone. Just a question,after today rather long hack(got lost) i was thinking,how long can you hack in dressage saddle without hurting horses back? Maybe stupid question,but i never thought about it before,we not using any thick pads/numnhas,just thin one. Do you use any thicker pads if you planning longer hacks/rides? Does anyone hack out in their dressage saddle? How long do you hack-hour,two,three? Thanks.

Endurance riders seem to manage

The biggest risks to a horse are a poorly fitting saddle, unbalanced rider and excess heat build up.

 

[winkles]

I sometimes hack in the DR saddle, usually because we've just finished schooling. I wouldn't make our hacks any shorter or longer because of it, unless I saw research that I thought I should follow for his wellbeing

 

[rhino]

However long the horse is fit enough to do... Although due to injuries (mine, not horse!) I do tend to get off, loosen girth and lead for a bit every so often; can't really cope with staying on for more than 1 1/2 to 2 hours continuously

 

[spookypony]

Endurance riders seem to manage

As I understand it, though, although endurance saddles tend to have long straight flaps, there are usually some design differences that are intended to aid weight distribution somehow?? Don't know enough about endurance saddles, really; I use a GP for endurance, atm.

 

[Oberon]

Unless they have the cash to buy a new saddle, most riders use their normal saddle. When they get to doing more miles (50) then they tend to shop for a specialist saddle if they feel the need.

 

[trojanpony]

You should be fine for a couple of hours in a well fitting dressage saddle. As someone said, endurance saddles tend to have a large weight bearing area (usually panels) to reduce the pressure pet square inch. One saddler reckons that in a normal saddle the pressure will be enough to cause blood supply to be limited and therefore potential damage (white hairs etc) after about two hours. I'm sure you could do longer rides occasionally but if you are doing many hours on a regular basis an endurance saddle is the way forward.

 

[La Fiaba]

We do hacks of up to 6 hours with GP/VSD saddles as well as western. The main issue is the saddle fits the horse properly, that is more important than the style of the saddle. If you are regularly doing long hacks than saddle weight is something to consider as of course the heavier weight to horse has to carry the more the horse has to work. Specialist endurance or trekking saddles will be lighter (to give the competitive edge) as well as distributing weight over a larger area over the back. We also use thick pads under our saddles but we fit our saddles with this in mind, so if your saddle fits best without a thick pad then don't use one .

 

[darkhorse123]

what about endurance riders who ride treeless?

My boy is treeless and i worry about hacking times - but am reassured that endurance riders ride treeless

 

[JenTaz]

as long as your saddle fits you should be fine, i spend the summers common riding and can be in the saddle for 5 + hours a day, think the longest one i have done takes about 7 hours good fun, as long as the horse is fit enough for it