The value of hacking...

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maya2008

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Was thinking about this today. I noticed some time ago that leisure riders without a school at home often have more consistent dressage scores (up to medium at least) despite the opposite being expected logically.

Today, a lightbulb moment hit little coblet- directing the energy upwards instead of forwards gives you a better canter for dodgier just-defrosted ground, so you can have fun safely. He was SO proud of himself for being able to do it, and was v cute in his excitement at being able to use his schooling in the real world! So I guess hacking teaches them that schooling has value, and that makes the schooling more interesting for them.

And I guess it keeps them sane, and fit, and provides variety.

What else?
 
I regularly use the stuff we learn in dressage when out in the wild.

Things like lateral movement to move to the side away from low branches, or to approach a big, heavy sliding gate so I can open or close it.

Or keeping the front legs still and pivoting the haunches around, to get out of a tight spot.
 
legs. I only really hack mine for the good of their legs these days, as both the current ridden horses are fairly awful hacks. I used to enjoy riding Millie all over the place but I currently have one that is scared and nappy and one that is scared and boggy-offy :rolleyes:

Current issues mean that one does in hand hacks only and the other is banned from hacking until summer turnout commences. In the meantime I just try not to work the same exercises too often and I'm fussy about the surfaces they work on.
 
maya2008 said:
Was thinking about this today. I noticed some time ago that leisure riders without a school at home often have more consistent dressage scores (up to medium at least) despite the opposite being expected logically.
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I think that is possibly a bit of a generalisation. We can't hack from home as the roads are a nightmare, but when my horse is at my trainer's yard, we hack from there. She's no different at all to school/compete whether she has hacked recently or not. Taking them out to different places and giving them a variety of work is the key I think. I have a friend who I often compete against at Area Festivals etc.. She hacks loads. Her mare still has meltdowns at the 'atmosphere' at a big show. Just my ha'penny worth. :)

ETA obviously my mare and my friend's mare are very different, but used as an example that hacking doesn't necessarily help improve their performance.

ETA again! I also take my mare to the treadmill once a week to get a good straightline work out as I do appreciate it's not good for them to totally work in circles etc.
 
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I use my dressage schooling out hacking to assist with any unwanted behaviour! Have to confess I don't love hacking due to my own confidence issues but like milliepops says, it's really important for their legs (and brains provided you have one that enjoys it) so I go out 2x a week anyway and hope for the best! Shoulder in and leg yield are useful for spooking!
 
I was thinking today, as I trotted through the village, that if I could keep my mare round, soft in her neck, attentive and through as we trotted down the road with a child's touch rugby game going on loudly behind the hedge on one side and an angry peacock peering out of the driveway on the other side, that there's probably not going to be any issues keeping her attention in a dressage arena :cool:

I also think that routine, fast hacking has dramatically improved Fergus's quality and freedom in his paces, so that when he schools now he's much more "there". I suspect some horses have more to benefit - in terms of scores - through routine hacking than others. I do think it's mentally and physically good for all horses though.
 
I hack all the time as no home arena. Lots of leg yielding, working through from behind, bit of travers and renvers, plenty of upward and downward transitions.
Last time I did a stressage it just went to Bs brain..... and the time before that too.

I have a very forwards thinking mare who is sharper than a butcher's knife but she adores hacking. She also loves jumping, just show jumps, peers madly at xc fences.
Unfortunately with stressage she just curls up and we get odd tranter steps or behind the bit beetling.....
Wish I was nr some of you stressagy folk on here, would like to see someone else on her! Happy to hack yours for you.... ??
 
I think cross training on different surfaces is good for the limbs on all horses.

I think the balance gained from learning to cross a variety of terrains is good for all horses.

The use of different hacking terrain is great for building fitness.

I think mentally the variety in work hacking gives is beneficial for most horses (I exclude those that are excessively bad to hack)

I think dealing with the variety of hazards you meet hacking helps build confidence / partnership in most horses.

I do think that ‘hacking’ is easier to achieve in some areas than others and those who don’t have access to reasonably safe hacking are pretty stuck.

Thankfully I’ve never owned a horse that was a fundamentally bad hack. I’ve had some that may be a bit nappy or spooky or lacking confidence but without fail they have ended up reasonably reliable hacks
 
Easier to stay naturally forwards hacking and easier to teach consistent contact and attention whatever is going on around them. I think the forwardness is the key though. Hacking you have a much better chance of feeling forwards all the time and so being able to maintain that feeling. Unless you pay particular attention to forwardness in the school, it is very easy for them to drop behind the aids, behind or above the bit and on the forehand without you necessarily realising that a lack of impulsion is the key issue.
 
I am very lucky to have off road hacking around our farm. It can get a bit samey I suppose, but we can take various different routes and can loop in different ways. I don’t ride mine on the roads apart from the lane to our yard.
I have a field I can use for fitness work and we have several long stretches for a good canter or to really open the trot up.
I use hacking as a way to introduce different types of trot and canter, there’s nothing like an open field to really open a trot up. I use lateral work across the tracks and do lots of on and back work. This is a great if a horse tends to be a bit stuffy in the confines of a school as they are genuinely much more receptive out and about. You don’t necessarily need lots of space to school, you can do a lot in straight lines.
 
fredflop said:
Only workable if you’ve got hacking with suitable areas to “school”
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yes there was a thread about this fairly recently. We are at the top of a valley and my hacking is all steep slippery lanes with short overgrown stony byways linking them together. It's quite nice for pottering around on and working on balance (!) but there's no way I could do any productive "schooling" in the same way that I do in the arena. Plus I don't have anywhere to canter at all.
In the past I've had the kind of hacking that would have made it quite possible to do without a school a lot of the time, including huge set aside fields that you could basically school on all year round.
 
maya2008 said:
Was thinking about this today. I noticed some time ago that leisure riders without a school at home often have more consistent dressage scores (up to medium at least) despite the opposite being expected logically.

Today, a lightbulb moment hit little coblet- directing the energy upwards instead of forwards gives you a better canter for dodgier just-defrosted ground, so you can have fun safely. He was SO proud of himself for being able to do it, and was v cute in his excitement at being able to use his schooling in the real world! So I guess hacking teaches them that schooling has value, and that makes the schooling more interesting for them.

And I guess it keeps them sane, and fit, and provides variety.

What else?
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You can do your schooling on a hack but you certainly can't hack in a school - although you can put up a few Trec-type obstacles to negotiate.
 
Leandy said:
Easier to stay naturally forwards hacking and easier to teach consistent contact and attention whatever is going on around them. I think the forwardness is the key though. Hacking you have a much better chance of feeling forwards all the time and so being able to maintain that feeling. Unless you pay particular attention to forwardness in the school, it is very easy for them to drop behind the aids, behind or above the bit and on the forehand without you necessarily realising that a lack of impulsion is the key issue.
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for me that is it very well explained, if i had to choose between hacking and a school only i would choose the hacking provided there is the chance to canter

for me the basis of all training is the forwardness
 
Our off road hacking is a complete bog ATM and has been for months so I stick to the lanes which get increasingly busy. I use hacking to get Rose marching forward in walk in a nice stretchy shape and we'll have a slow trot up any hills. Not the most inpsiring way to spend an hour and a half but as I always hack in company it's good for a gossip. Rose is not good with big vehicles so that's when we do a bit of serious schooling!
 
We don't have any hacking at our yard, we can walk down the road and there is a couple of fields we can go in if the gates open and there is a wood which takes you litrally 10mins to get round after your 20 min walk down the road, I am not always keen on hacking down the road because as soon as we get back on it (only way back to the yard) Breagha knows and because strong and forward, I try doing things like leg yeilds, stopping turn on forehand to back her off. Also, I cant alway hack when I am in charge of my little girl lol. So when husband is off, a couple of us box up and go to woods and get a good interval training in. x
 
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