what age do you let your children hack out alone?

N

narkymare

Well-Known Member
Joined
1 July 2010
Messages
1,019
Visit site
Long story short - 2 years ago i bought my cob to share with my daughter - she had all the lessons and i was meant to be groom, looker after etc.
Then she got fed up - id fallen in love so started lessons and have come on lots.
Now we are enjoying hacks out etc after learnign how to deal withe napping and spooking - my daughter has decided she wants to hack out on him.
She is 13, we live in leeds and have to cross Leeds inner ring road to get anywhere.
I have told her she cannot take him out until she has had regular lessons again for a few weeks and her instructor says she is ok to go out on him.
Hes not a plod, he spooks, shies, naps - but
It just got me wondering - at what age do you let your children hack out? Any rules such as only withe adults - only with sensible older teenagers?
Do you always walk with them?
Im thinking back to my childhood - early teens, me and my friends used to go off on our ponies for hours, yes on main roads too - but times have changed havent they.
Thoughts?
 
Yes times have deff changed!!
I'm only 21 - I wasn't allowed to leave the yard alone on my first loan pony until I was about 15/16 maybe older? (He was a 13.2hh gelding, quite sharp at times)
Bear in mind our yard leads onto a very quiet estate my mum was just worried about what would happen if I fell off and pony buggered off and I had nobody to help me.
I went through a few years hacking alone happily and now I like to hack with others :)
None of the younger people on our yard hack alone until maybe 15 at the youngest and they ride very regularly.
K x
 
Think it depends on 3 things really
1. Reliability of the horse
2. Child's experience
3. Where you live

We are in the countryside, and I face a similar dilema as my 14 years old daughter has just started riding my cob after a 2 year break. At the moment she is only allowed out if I accompany her on foot/bike. I hope we will then progress to her hacking with another trusted adult and eventually on her own....if I am ever brave enought to let her go! My cob can be a bit of a prat at times and is spooky.
 
ty kelly - i wondered if it was me beign a mean mum thinking back ot my younger pony days going all over -
i do really love my horse and daughter and would hate either of them to be hurt - guess i needed others to tell me im not being hugely mean! :)
 
exactly juliette - my cob is spooky and will just go off on one without warning, not often but when he does it he does it!
As i said, we have to cross main leeds ring road to get anywhere - think i need ot buy a bike but tbh even then i would be worried - she needs a lot more lessons.
 
My daughters 14. I live in a rural area and I don't allow her to go on an hours walk with our dogs, alone. There is no way I would allow to hack out on her own - especially not our mare:eek: Sign of the times I'm afraid:(
 
I was allowed to hack out with friends ages 11/12, we were always pretty sensible and always told someone where we were going. At that age there was about 6 of us who used to go out together so if anything happend we were all together.

I was allowed to go compleatly alone about 14/15 but only for short hacks...I still stick to that now, only go out for 45 mins max by myself just in case. Much prefer company!
 
I'm 14 years old and live in a quite rural area, my mum lets me hack out both my pony, 14h arab x by myself, but he is totally bombproof and a saint to be honest , will have the occasinal little spook but never anything huge. I'm also allowed to hack my sister x racer alone , but he isn't your typical x racer he's quite and sensible but i don't like hacking him alone as he is big for me and can get hot and spooky :)
 
seadog said:
I was allowed to hack out with friends ages 11/12, we were always pretty sensible and always told someone where we were going. At that age there was about 6 of us who used to go out together so if anything happend we were all together.

I was allowed to go compleatly alone about 14/15 but only for short hacks...I still stick to that now, only go out for 45 mins max by myself just in case. Much prefer company!
Click to expand...



yep i used to have days out when i was 11 or 12 with a few friends, but that was a long long time ago and things are very different now unfortuanteley x
 
I've been hacking out on my own from 8 on a variety of horses which seems alote earlier than everyone else! I am now 16 and reguarly hack on the moor and even rode and led up there the other day :)
 
narkymare said:
ty kelly - i wondered if it was me beign a mean mum thinking back ot my younger pony days going all over -
i do really love my horse and daughter and would hate either of them to be hurt - guess i needed others to tell me im not being hugely mean! :)
Click to expand...
nah youre not being mean
its different when its your own child going off on their own
yes we all di it but time 'has' changed..my parents never do where i was really on my pony,i went for miles and yes on my own aswell with no use of mobile phones..and yes i did have the odd fall

my young son is just riding off the lean rein and that scares me atm not alone off out hacking on his own lol

teenagers at the yard are approx 13-17 years and theyve been out on their own but they always tell someone where they are going..depending on their abilty to ride and the horse,they usually go with company if they can..i hack quite alot on my own(im not a teenager lol)
 
another note i started hacking out with friends aged 10 while my friend was 9 , but again in very quite area and the pony i rode when i fell off it would just go to the nearest patch of grass (happened a lot) we would spend the whole day riding with a picnic and maybe call the parents once but again of very bombproof ponies . :)
 
Um... I was 10/11 and my sister was 8. We were together, and between us always had one sane pony. One my own properly (without my little sister) I was about 11 (though nearly 12) and I rode and lead so that both ponies could be exercised.

We did however tell mum EXACTLY where we were going (and we'd done the routes with mum on a bike accompanying us), I had a mobile and although our ponies could be strong/ spooky/ a bit fresh we had a brilliant time. Hacked all over the place (including up some busy roads) and only had a few mishaps (mostly stupid ones too from where we tried to swap ponies at a canter, or jumped a jump without noticing the low branches in time...)
 
ty all - my cob is definiteley not bombproof so you have all confirmed my thoughts - oh dear i think my daughter may join this site when i show her these comments and tell u all off lol xxx :):)
 
I had to be all of about 7 maybe younger when i first when on a hack with just other kids (who where a about 12/13 at the time)

by myself I cant remember i tended always to hack with people but i was probs about 13 when i started hacking out alone on my 14hh whp

my niece has been hacking out with me since she was 6 without being led, shes now 8 and we canter across fields together (her concern is that I may fall off as my horse leaps everywhere when made to go slow lol)
 
Personally I would allow a child out at all until they were at least 16/17 and had a bit of road sense about them... I think at 13 you're not able or old enough in the head to be able to judge certain situations out on the road...

Things can happen very quickly out on the road and most things that happen on the road on horses are out of our control where vehicles are concerned...

Maybe suggest if she wants to get back into horses then she should start having lessons and see if she can commit to them and if she does then suggest to her that if she does want to hack out then she has to be lead on a lead rope by yourself... you will probably find she isn't interested anymore and maybe it’s because she want's to go out alone as a sort of "I'm all grown up or showing off sort of thing".

I like you use to hack out with friends when I was a teen... but the roads have changed dramatically over the last 10/15 years. Peoples attitude towards driving has changed in some cases and there are certainly more boy racers about these days... and a 13 year old on a spooky horse surely is a recipe for trouble...


The roads in 2011 are a dangerous place to be on horseback compared to how they were in the 80's when I hacked out as a young teen...

It wasn't all just perms and fluorescent leg warmers in the 80's... the road were quieter too :)
 
narkymare said:
Your right blazing saddles, ty - if she kicks off i will show her this page lol x
Click to expand...

lea840 said:
Personally I would allow a child out at all until they were at least 16/17 and had a bit of road sense about them... I think at 13 you're not able or old enough in the head to be able to judge certain situations out on the road...

Things can happen very quickly out on the road and most things that happen on the road on horses are out of our control where vehicles are concerned...

Maybe suggest if she wants to get back into horses then she should start having lessons and see if she can commit to them and if she does then suggest to her that if she does want to hack out then she has to be lead on a lead rope by yourself... you will probably find she isn't interested anymore and maybe it’s because she want's to go out alone as a sort of "I'm all grown up or showing off sort of thing".

I like you use to hack out with friends when I was a teen... but the roads have changed dramatically over the last 10/15 years. Peoples attitude towards driving has changed in some cases and there are certainly more boy racers about these days... and a 13 year old on a spooky horse surely is a recipe for trouble...


The roads in 2011 are a dangerous place to be on horseback compared to how they were in the 80's when I hacked out as a young teen...

It wasn't all just perms and fluorescent leg warmers in the 80's... the road were quieter too :)
Click to expand...

See, I was a younger rider allowed out, and my sister younger still. We have good road sense and know how to deal with whatever gets thrown at us. I have no idea what people think our accompanying adult on a bike was meant to do when our ponies buggered off with us or bucked and spooked...
 
juliette said:
Think it depends on 3 things really
1. Reliability of the horse
2. Child's experience
3. Where you live
Click to expand...

I have been riding since I was 4. My mum probably started letting me off down the road on my own at about 12. The pony that I had at that time was 99% sane, and when I first started going out on my own I only went on the roads so as not to tempt fate with any massive open fields!

I think it's important to set guidelines: Always plan a route. Always tell at least 2 people where you're going. Always carry a phone.

The worst mistake was when me and a friend took my ponies for a hack, but then decided to go back round the same way so we could have another canter, even though it would take us another 40 mins and not 5 mins to get back home... Arrived home to get a b*llocking off my dad and have my mum crying all over me. Apparently they had been driving all through the village and walking through the fields to try and find us, whilst we were oblivious! Oops!

I think you would really have to consider your situation, what with the busy roads? I think your daughter should deffo have some lessons and get back into the riding groove for a while. It's only all for her safety and your sanity!
 
My daughter is 13 and has been wandering up the road and back on her own for a year. I dont let her go out of my sight and pony is a complete saint. She is moving up to a larger pony though, but there is no way I would let them out of my sight....

Only last weekend I had a run in with an idiot car driver and Im an adult. :/
 
nikkimariet said:
I have been riding since I was 4. My mum probably started letting me off down the road on my own at about 12. The pony that I had at that time was 99% sane, and when I first started going out on my own I only went on the roads so as not to tempt fate with any massive open fields!

I think it's important to set guidelines: Always plan a route. Always tell at least 2 people where you're going. Always carry a phone.

The worst mistake was when me and a friend took my ponies for a hack, but then decided to go back round the same way so we could have another canter, even though it would take us another 40 mins and not 5 mins to get back home... Arrived home to get a b*llocking off my dad and have my mum crying all over me. Apparently they had been driving all through the village and walking through the fields to try and find us, whilst we were oblivious! Oops!

I think you would really have to consider your situation, what with the busy roads? I think your daughter should deffo have some lessons and get back into the riding groove for a while. It's only all for her safety and your sanity!
Click to expand...




think ur right nicki -lessons and commitment needs to be shown!
When my instructor says she is safe enough to go out alone or with another adult so be it x
 
My daughter has just turned 11. Her last pony i allowed her to hack another adult from about 9 (without me) but not with children and certainly not alone. Mainly due to other road users and the fact the pony although super safe was terrified of tractors.
She was allowed to ride alone in the field while i was on the yard.
Her current pony is rising 4 and only just broken so she only rides with me- be it with me on foot or on another horse. I wont allow her out with anyone else from the yard yet forget about alone!

We have though found a nice little ride from our yard with permission of the land owner down a track and round a headland. This will be her first ride alone when i feel both her and the pony are ready and safe as no roads are involved and its still on yard land.
 
HopesnDreams said:
My daughter is 13 and has been wandering up the road and back on her own for a year. I dont let her go out of my sight and pony is a complete saint. She is moving up to a larger pony though, but there is no way I would let them out of my sight....

Only last weekend I had a run in with an idiot car driver and Im an adult. :/
Click to expand...



Exactly - this is what scares me, other idiots they could meet x
 
my daughter is 17 but her horse is fizzy and spooky and even though we are in the country people drive like idiots . i wont let her out alone ,i either ride with her or go on my bike. might be different if her horse was bombproof but doubt it.
 
I was allowed out on my own at about 9 on the loveliest little sec a in the world.. exept when she hacked alone without anyone on foot she would spin, try to bolt for home, rear, buck and generally bounce about (suddenly behaved like a diamond when i started carrying a schooling whip!) . I can remember almost being dropped in a ditch once when she spooked at some walkers with a big fold out map :S
But saying that, there was no road work, i only ever went out for 20 mins at a time and they all knew where i went- 'up the track, left at the fork and turn around in the passing spot by the lake' And if i took any longer than 25 mins they would send out someone on foot to come and rescue me incase i was in a bush ;) (i never came off her!)
 
Well I was 14 when I first got my own pony and that's when I started hacking out on my own, usually with 1 other friend, but had no problem going out alone :) tbh looking back on it now there could have been bad consequences seen as though half the time we told nobody where we were going and would be out for 4 or 5 hours!!!

I trust my mare with my life though, I suppose it all depends on the horses behavior and riders confidence/experience, and whether you feel comfortable with it of course.
 
i live in a rural area i was allowed to do a small loop from farm at about 12-13 but had to take phone and my pony12.2 was usually good but i rode lots and didnt have a break from the age of 3. I then moved onto a 14.2 that i couldnt hack alone until i was 15, did go with friends though. moved to new yard and i was the oldest girl at 16, i was allowed to hack alone at this point and i was allowed to accompany the younger girls (youngest being 11) no-one was allowed to hack alone unless 16 or over at this yard though it is quiet country but it is the risk of horse spooking that bought the rule in.
 
I think I missed out on any form of protective parenting - when I was fourteen I pulled the 30 yo mare out of retirement and was told/expected she would be a complete plod and was told to go hacking (alone) - with the direction turn left at the top and the mare will show you the way from there! On that hack we galloped, cantered on roads and she was like an absolute steam train that no strength of the pelham could stop! I was petrified at first, but by the time we were on the way back my smile was as wide as the Cheshire cat! :D :D :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top