What's with yards with no off road hacking?

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WestCoast

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Sorry for the whinge. I'm probably just being impatient.

I think I must have been completely spoilt as a teenager with miles of off road hacking and lots of shows and mock/drag hunts you could ride to. Now I'm really struggling to find a yard with good hacking - I've extended the search to Coventry, Leamington/Warwick and south of the M40 rather thn just Kenilworth to Solihull and have some ideas.

But if course now I've read some posts here and am worries about ending up at a toxic yard and that's even before I jump the hoops of finding a horse (although thanks again for all your wonderful answers to my thread about that).

Couldn't get hold of Finwood Barn who im still hopefull about yesterday and so will try again today or maybe just pop in on my day off.

Paula
 
I live in Meriden and although hacking isnt great we are spoilt for choice with shows. Not sure of best area for hacking. Get an OS map and look for bridleways. Then find yard near.
 
I'm right on the A360. My two are fine, but my ex won't ride along there. He just boxes round the corner, an then has miles of hacking over salisbury plain. We decided we would rather have our own space, and plenty of turnout and a bit of inconvenience rather than be on a livery yard.
 
Lol, round here where I am there is off road hacking.
However, 99% of horse owners seem to want schools, floodlights, horse showers & drying rooms, these are all precedent over hacking or indeed 24/7 turnout as their poor coddled darlings apparently need to be stabled all year round. This is from DIY'ers!

Eg: have got new neighbours who have taken over renting 3 acres with stables.
Their 2 horses have to come in half the time as (to quote) 'they need their sleep time'...... I gulped when told this - they have a field shelter, lots of shady trees with very well drained paddocks & there is plenty of time they are in over winter. They school in the field & go round the block once a week (this is a 15 min walk).
Apparently its 'quite dangerous' to go out hacking :rolleyes: as there are so many spooky things.

Other yard with 2 acres & 4 stables has been empty for over 6 months as nobody wants to take it on, on their own.... mainly as it doesn't have mains electric or menege :rolleyes:
Its a reasonable price for round here too & no road work. OK, the land lady is a bit of a nutter but most confident horse people would sort themselves out with her.

Good luck in your search! :)
 
Sheep said:
Round my parts, there isn't really such a thing as a yard with off road hacking.. hacking here means roadwork!
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Same here, a local BHS approved yard says "excellent hacking", there is none at all except a walk though a field [two un-cooperative gates] on to a long country road with no circular route, the other road is the same, leads up to a well tied gate with a foot of water, I asked YO where was the hacking , he said he had no control over it. Also advertises all weather arena, which was flooded and dug up all winter. No one seems to realise hacking does not mean country roadwork. Being in Bonnie Scotland we have de facto "open access", but to be honest, after twenty years, the access law does not appear to be working. A local windfarm has just put up huge padlocked gates which no one in a carriage or on a horse can use......... BHS access officer not interested.
 
I am sorry to hear of the lack of off road hacking in your area.
I am afraid that the lack of hacking is the responsibility of past and present horse riders in the area as well as the owners of yards who have done little or nothing to contribute to extending the bridleway network in the area. Creating new bridleways takes many years of hard work which is done by a dedicated few volunteers be it the local BHS bridleway (access) officers or local bridleway groups.
The only way to achieve better off road riding is by becoming an active member of your local BHS group or a local bridleway group.
I would suggest that if you are interested in extending your local bridleway network that you join the BHS who are the only nationwide organisation that works to create better access.
To view routes in your area purchase a Ordance Survey map (Landranger or Explorer Series) of your area and/or look at www.emagin.org.uk
Peter Natt - BHS Access Officer Hertfordshire
 
PeterNatt said:
I am sorry to hear of the lack of off road hacking in your area.
I am afraid that the lack of hacking is the responsibility of past and present horse riders in the area as well as the owners of yards who have done little or nothing to contribute to extending the bridleway network in the area. Creating new bridleways takes many years of hard work which is done by a dedicated few volunteers be it the local BHS bridleway (access) officers or local bridleway groups.
The only way to achieve better off road riding is by becoming an active member of your local BHS group or a local bridleway group.
I would suggest that if you are interested in extending your local bridleway network that you join the BHS who are the only nationwide organisation that works to create better access.
To view routes in your area purchase a Ordance Survey map (Landranger or Explorer Series) of your area and/or look at www.emagin.org.uk
Peter Natt - BHS Access Officer Hertfordshire
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I wish I had your confidence, imho the BHS do nothing in Scotland to increase riding accessibility. They need to be pro-active, for example educating wind-farms who have to create new roads, and local authorities who still own quite a bit of green land. There are plenty of planning applications which could be improved by providing access with proper tracks and so on. Recently a new tarmac track, maybe two hundred yards was laid locally, it seems to be for cyclists, and does connect at one end with another track which goes off road, however the new one is parallel to the main road, which one now has to cross two hundred yards further down [on a corner], all a bit pointless and very expensive, it took several men and machines two weeks to build this track, no idea why.
 
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mrogers said:
I live on the side of a mountain and STILL don't have much off road hacking due to bogs etc
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Yes sometimes it is geographically/financially impossible to create routes, many hills in Scotland are boggy, it would be dangerous to set off across them, it is only where tracks have been laid eg by farmers, drovers or Thomas Telford, that one can be confident and safe from underfoot hazards.
 
I'm not that far away from you, Rugby area, and we have some really nice off road hacking, however the roads we do ride on are quite fast and busy, but my boy soon got use to it.
 
Off road hacking is not always as amazing as it sounds.......

Our yard has no hacking that doesn't require some road work, although there is some parkland we can hack round just down the lane. Other than that there is very little off road. A couple of Byways/Green Lanes that you can get on to within reasonable distance and then if you are up for a hack lasting three hours or more you can get to a bridleway that crosses fields or a long distance trail.

However I think the hacking is lovely, lots of small lanes, considerate drivers, stunning views and lots of different loops and routes to do to avoid repetition. Lots of hills for fitness work too.

A lady moved to our yard last year and was worried about moving to a yard that didn't have lots of off road hacking as she had come from a place that had access onto a country park (one with proper horsebox parking and where they run pleasure rides a couple of times a year). She now feels totally spoilt and thinks that the hacking is the best thing about the yard!

She pointed out that it was all very well having a lovely park to hack round but it got pretty repetitive after a while and there were no other options as the nearby roads were busy (to get an idea look at Pedantic's videos she was on a yeard near him). Plus the park trails were heavily populated by cyclists, push chairs, dog walkers etc many of whom hadn't a clue how to behave around horses. Where she is now she is pretty unlimited because the roads are safe so she can go out and explore for as long as she likes. There aren't many places to do fast work but then she couldn't do fast work before for fear of running over small children or being chased by a dog.

The yard I was on previously had access directly onto a long distance bridleway with no road work, but the hacking was deathly boring. It was north along the trail or south along the trail, keep going for half the amount of time you had available and then turn round. The trail was heavily used by cyclists, dog walkers, pushchairs etc so no scope for a canter and lots of spooky things. Much prefer my network of quiet single track lanes.

What I'm trying to say is don't discount a yard because it doesn't have off road hacking, go and have a look. I would far rather have the hacking I do have than some of the off road hacking I have seen. It could be better, I wish that some of the footpaths over the fields were bridleways so I could get onto some grass but you can't have everything!
 
I live in the Shropshire and am very lucky to have 500 acres common land to ride on, straight off the yard. We also have various bridle paths to ride on, and if you want to get in the lorry for 5 mins, have access onto miles of bridlepath networks that cover the Shropshire Hills.

I have a few liveries and guess where they ride? In the school or down the lane to the village and back!!!!

Amazes me as thought my yard would be ideal for happy hackers but have had only one client in the last 5 yrs to take full advantage of our glorious hacking.......
 
I'm really lucky in that where we are there is loads of off road hacking - some straight from the farm itself. If you're willing to brave about half a mile of traffic, there is miles and miles of hacking - after this stretch, you barely have to go on a road - woods, mountains etc. With any luck it will stop raining and I can do some lovely long rides in the summer hols!
 
I must be very spoilt. Miles of off road hacking, more with just crossing one road which you can see both ways clearly and can hack to xc courses and shows.
Wouldn't go with road hacking as bad enough off a horse on the road let alone on one!
 
I quite like a bit of a route march before I go off road Not a massive fan of getting on a fresh horse and immediately hitting grass!!
 
We don't have tons of it but enough to get by. Usually have anything from a mile to 4/5 of roadwork to get to them first involving mway bridges. A few main roads that I avoid at rush hour or go through housing estates that run along side. Few places have access straight to off road hacking, & those that do mostly have little more in the way of alternative routes, with a few exceptions.
 
Looks like I started a bit if a conversation. Thanks for your replies.

I've managed to get a couple of viewings for Friday so fingers crossed. :)

Paula
 
PeterNatt said:
I am sorry to hear of the lack of off road hacking in your area.
I am afraid that the lack of hacking is the responsibility of past and present horse riders in the area as well as the owners of yards who have done little or nothing to contribute to extending the bridleway network in the area. Creating new bridleways takes many years of hard work which is done by a dedicated few volunteers be it the local BHS bridleway (access) officers or local bridleway groups.
Click to expand...

I thought I'd just mention that in many parts of England and Wales there are unrecorded old brideways that could be reopened if only someone would do the research. There's a new book Rights of Way: Restoring the Record,which seeks to help the person new to rights of way resarch by being a step by step guide to where useful evidence sources are found, how to get the documents for your area, and (most importantly) how to write it up in a way that is most likely to persuade your county (or unitary) council to make an order. I seem to find half a dozen paths to apply for every time I spend a day in the archive office. Its well worth while as it effectively opens paths that are otherwise hidden from us. More at https://www.facebook.com/RestoringTheRecord.
 
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