Places to hack in Edinburgh/West Lothian area?

FigJam

FigJam

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West Lothian, Scotland
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Good evening all,

I have just today picked up a trailer, so now my horse and I have wheels!
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I am SO excited! She is just coming back into work from an injury, but I was wondering if anyone knew of any hidden gems in the Edinburgh/West Lothian area that would be good to take her to for nice hacks?

So far on my list I know of Dalkeith, Almondell and Beecraigs country parks which all have nice riding and good parking. Are there other similar places- country parks, forest areas that are happy to allow horse riders etc? Don't want to trek too far, but will be nice to have the option to go to a few places for something a little different.

Also looking forward to getting down to SNEC for a few dressage/SJ things in the future once she's fittened up.
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Cheers!
 
in west lothian you have the murieston trails, miles of paths and no roads. it goes all round livinston, you will meet dog walkers and the odd cyclist. but here are fields and tracks.
there is also almondell park.
in edinburgh there are the pentland hills.
also portobello beach or yellowcraigs
where are you based?
 
Where are the muirston trails? And more importantly, how do I get on them? How come I didn't know about them!

Pentland hills are well worth visiting. You can wander about aimless for hours though (been there, done that, got the saddle sores) so planning where you're going is useful!
 
Thanks for all the replies. Will look up contact details and pester Anne Taylor for ideas, thanks for that Measles! I am desperate to go to the beach, but at the moment my mare is coming back into work from injury and so only allowed an hour and a bit walk/trot just now, we're saving the beach for when we're allowed to gallop!
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Do you know where there are good/safe/horses allowed beaches in the Lothian/Fife area?

Pentland hills and Muirston trails sound fab- do you know where there is safe places to park and unload/load? Dog walkers and cyclists aren't a problem as she used to be stabled at Dalkeith country park, and so came across a few of those! I really took the hacking for granted when we were there.

We're now near South Queensferry and have some lovely hacking, but it'll be nice to know of places for weekend treats now we have wheels!
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I guess Ms Taylor will be able to help me with the above, but first hand experience from you guys is also appreciated!

Thanks!
 
The best beach is at the John Muir Country Park near Dunbar. You'll need a permit (they've had problems with parking etc) but can get one free from East Lothian council. The beach itself must be a mile or more long, there are trails all round it - and except for weekends and holidays there are just a few walkers on it.

Pentland Hills - I know you can park near the Flotterstone Inn. There are other places too - if you look at the Pentland Hills Park website there's a good map.

Just over the Forth Bridge there's Blairadam forest - take the Kelty turnoff and follow the signs.

Happy hacking!
 
Brilliant, thank you very much! From the look of your avatar, you are an endurance/TREC rider? You must enjoy some great rides! I will google all of these this evening and have a look, I'm so excited at the thought of getting out and about for an explore, my girl and I love going for long hacks!

I've never taken her to a beach, but in her head she's a racehorse, (she's a 15.2h cobX, but I don't think anyone's ever told her that!
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) so I reckon she'd love it!
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It is definitely on the list of things to do once she's fit and well enough.
 
lol kallibear. the murieston trails are all the tracks that go all round livingston. you can go on to them from various places. a good bit is if you go in from kirkton campus, near wher sky is. they all link up tho. you can go for miles. another good bit is just down from my house, there is a dead end at a little housing estate called east and west crofts where you could park a trailer. to get into almondell park, the best way in is from the broxburn end. up past roman camps and past entrance to well known dressage riders yard, if you know where i mean. it is sign posted i think. or for you kallibear if you hack down past the footie pitches you can get in through the village although that way you have to go over the viaduct.i am sure you know that way in anyway. well scary. i just used to shut my eyes and go for it
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I had my horse at the dressage yard and I'm sure after leaving almondell and going onto the viaduct, the track just takes you back up to Roman Camps?

Another good place to go is still technically Almondell country park, but in the actual park you can only ride on the road tht goes through it and to be honest I won't box up to go over just for that. However if you park in the car park at Mid Calder, just next to the river and hack up to the T junction you'll see a way into the woods. The hill down is pretty steep but once you've past that you can go for miles and end up on the Murieston tracks.
 
Thanks for all the further replies. I have a big list of "places to go" now!
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asbo- was that last post for me? If so, that is really kind of you and I would love to take you up on that sometime! If you are interested in playing tour guide, I'm always happy for company?!
 
Was hoping it was a QR! (sorry Marsden!
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That would be fab, I would love to take you up on that sometime, although not sure when yet. Still have lots of practicing to do before I drive the trailer myself and so still need to check in with my husband before organising trips!

Plus, we're stuck to doing an hour and a bit at the moment and only walk with a little trot, so we're very boring hacking companions!
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Hopefully after our next check up at Dick vet at the end of the month we'll get the go ahead to up the work level- fingers crossed!

Thanks for that and expect a PM in the future!
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well jays been off for over 3 months now so will only be walking for a while, but please do pm me when you fancy a visit
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Oh no, what was his problem? My mare was off all last summer with a tendon sheath/annular ligament injury, we plugged away all winter getting her fit again and then in May she went lame again!
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Vets reckon it was a hairline fracture of her pelvis, no idea how. So three months field rest and we're now in month two of bringing back into work <u>again</u>!

I'm crossing my fingers she's improved again when we go back for next check up, but I'm now so paranoid about it that I don't really know if she feels 100% sound or not! Am I imagining lameness/soundness?! Both injuries were on same leg/side as well, so don't even know if the old injury's also an underlying factor or not!

I'm really looking forward to getting her fit and now having the opportunity to get out and about with her, she's such a fun horse and we love big long hacks. We are heading to Beecraigs on Sunday for our first outing, I'm so excited and have told my husband we're coming come rain, snow or sunshine!
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ill fitting saddle caused him to have back problems, hes now about to be shod and start to bring him back into work
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hope your show goes well
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It's not a show, just a plod around Beecraigs country park! (just because we can!
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That's terrible taht a bad fitting saddle caused him three months off, shows how important picking fit over name/colour is. (I should know, I ended up with a "Tango" saddle- it's actually an Ideal in their "Ranch" colour, check it out on their website and you'll see why I call it Tango!- rather than a nice havana because it was the best fit!) Had he changed shape suddenly?

Good luck bringing him back into work, it's boring (this is the second summer I've had to do it, although at least my sharer has done some of it this time around!) but worth it!
 
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