Whats your hacking like ?

[BSL2]

Absolute pants! Everywhere we used to be allowed to ride has been built on. I am very fortunate i have permission from a local farmer to ride on his land. The majority of riders in my area have to box up and pay to ride on tracks or negotiate the the roads which are full of appalling drivers. Or there is a beach near by where the local residents have created such strict rules, that by the time one has negotiated the idiots who have no control over their off lead dogs, it's not worth the bother. Really feel that the whole world is against horse riders, in the South East anyway.

 

[gryff]

I'm straight out, as in 20 steps, onto open mountain. Perfect ground in most parts. Boggy bits obvious if you're observant. If i ride 15minutes down the road, I've got the western Brecon Beacons to ride on. It's all pretty exposed so can be wild weather wise at times, and we have cattle, sheep and ponies loose, who are all pretty chilled around us...sometimes they pay us a visit at home

 

[meleeka]

Rubbish There's a small farmers field that has solar panels on just up the road and that's about it. There is a country park nearby but they banned horses when they made it all sanitised, with proper paths a few years ago. This is the main reason I don't have big horses and don't ride anymore. I own my field, so not as easy as just moving.

 

[millikins]

I'm spoiled. Despite living in a very crowded bit of SE England (Surrey) we have miles of off road hacking with an extensive network of bridleways and byways with only a few minor roads to negotiate. Have to share it with walkers, dogs, cyclists and off roaders but we all jog along o.k. on the whole, and if you choose your times and places you can go miles and see very few people. Probably many more spectacular areas but can't be many as accessible.

 

[Spiritedly]

I love my hacking!

We moved to where we are now 8 months ago and where we were before we onlynreally had 2 bridleways one that was easy to access but short and flooded for most of the year and the other involved riding through town, passed a primary school and over railway tracks and again was flooded for a lot of the year and both bridleways used a lot by walkers so there was rarely a chance of doing more than walk.

Now we have access to miles of bridleways through fields, tracks and woods with several areas we can have a canter on any route. We can easily be out for a couple of hours and not see another person and even though we do have to do some roadwork the lanes are single track and when we do meet vehicles the majority of drivers are very considerate. We also have a show centre we can hack to in about 40 minutes...the last 10 minutes is along a fairly busy road though...and a cross country venue also within hacking distance across the fields.

 

[holeymoley]

Absolutely . However that will change within the next week thankfully.

 

[4Hoofed]

Roads. Roads. Roads. It’s a good hill though loop though. There is a short bride path I can canter on and the farmer kindly tells us if the gate isn’t locked we can pop into his fields as long as we are respectful. We could box to the local woods or even hack to them but would be 40 mins+ on main roads.

But there’s two pubs on our main loop if you’re that way inclined. not me these days. And horses soon become reliable as all heck in traffic from Lorrie’s, tractors to local chavs on quads.

 

[Birker2020]

Hacking by yard is not brilliant. You can access various round hacks (hour in duration) by crossing an A road which is within a 30mph zone and it takes you then onto a B road which is 50mph but you can do round hacks off that although dark leafy narrow lanes.

Or lots of hacks off 40mph roads in the area in the other direction including housing estates/villages and bridlepaths further afield (2 hr -3 hr hacks). Right by two National Trust properties so a large amount of 'weekend drivers' with no idea of how to pass horses and at certain times of the day you'd be every 20 yards or so having to stand on verges to let visitors to the properties pass.

I used to take the trailer a few miles away, park in a pub car park for a couple of hours in exchange for a couple of quid in the Lifeboat charity box. There you could hack out in beautiful countryside with an abundance of hacks and bridlepaths. It was quite restrictive insomuch as I had to park at 8am ish on a Sunday and be gone by 10am ish as it was a very busy pub and the lunch time punters wanted to park up and go for a walk before their Sunday dinner!

It was fair enough I guess.

I hack round this lovely area every Sunday morning now I ride a horse stabled in the area. Looking forward to this mornings hack

 

[thunderpony]

Narrow country lanes with lots of bends that are used as a cut through, no hills. Can do a very short lane loop but any longer rides you have to turn back on yourself and come back the same way. I will not hack out from the yard anymore, it’s just too dangerous.

 

[iknowmyvalue]

Current yard I’d say is pretty good. About 15-20mins on very quiet lanes, once you’re out of the village you rarely meet any traffic, and then you’re into the forestry tracks. Also can loop round some reservoirs in about the same amount of time. Can box up to loads of other hacking if you drive about 20mins.

Previous yard was even better, you hack up onto the moors in about 20mins and was then endless with lots of canter opportunities.

Have previously had yards where it was almost all road hacking, and although trotting up the hills was good for fitness it was pretty boring unless you boxed up, and you needed a really traffic proof horse as fairly busy sections.

 

[P.forpony]

Iffy!
Makes me grateful every time I go out that I bought an ex racehorse, who while being as scatty and spooky as you'd expect, is utterly bombproof in traffic.

We leave the yard onto a 60mph road, there are byways and bridleways but none of them link up without doing most of the ride on roads.
2 just end on dual carriageways, one on a rail crossing and a particularly exciting one means you have to ride over a pedestrian motorway bridge... I learnt the first time that having your stirrup at the height of the railing with lorries running underneath you doesn't feel amazing, I dismount and walk over now!

But I'm 30 mins away from amazing forestry tracks so when I want long distance without worrying we just box over.

 

[Surbie]

I'm spoiled. Despite living in a very crowded bit of SE England (Surrey) we have miles of off road hacking with an extensive network of bridleways and byways with only a few minor roads to negotiate. Have to share it with walkers, dogs, cyclists and off roaders but we all jog along o.k. on the whole, and if you choose your times and places you can go miles and see very few people. Probably many more spectacular areas but can't be many as accessible.

Similarly in Surrey. I need to do roadwork to get to hacking, and that is partly 40mph and also used by the trotters which my horse hates, so timing is crucial! There is lots of nice hacking a bit further out, but very little within easy reach is suitable for fast work and it's a busy area. Most of the bridleways have been resurfaced for cyclists and are also now cambered, which I don't feel is great for joints/feet unless you can keep to the middle. Going really early works best - it's wonderfully peaceful then.

That does sound pretty negative on reflection! Probably because I am very envious of all the super hacking shown on this thread so far. We do have a lot of options given we are in such a residential area. My friend moved to a Somerset village and has minimal hacking in comparison as she's stuck with fast, narrow country lanes unless she boxes out.

 

[Birker2020]

Just come back from a wonderful hack. Went through a ford and along a nice quiet lane with cherry blossom falling on us from a tree in the breeze. The smell was wonderful. Then through another shallower ford where there was wild garlic growing and that smell was wonderful too.

Morph was on fine form and I didn't have to worry about keeping up with anyone as we were on our own so we went at pur own pace.

Embarrassing moment when I'm telling him" how wonderful he is and that it's nice doing the hack backwards although obviously not backwards ha ha" only to find two mountain bikers right behind me listening to me talking twaddle

At least 60 or 70 cyclists cycling at speed towards us and behind us in the hour we were out, all with numbers on, so must be a race happeming somewhere, but I just wave them on as he never cares.

 

[P.forpony]

Just come back from a wonderful hack. Went through a ford and along a nice quiet lane with cherry blossom falling on us from a tree in the breeze. The smell was wonderful. Then through another shallower ford where there was wild garlic growing and that smell was wonderful too.

Morph was on fine form and I didn't have to worry about keeping up with anyone as we were on our own so we went at pur own pace.

Embarrassing moment when I'm telling him" how wonderful he is and that it's nice doing the hack backwards although obviously not backwards ha ha" only to find two mountain bikers right behind me listening to me talking twaddle

At least 60 or 70 cyclists cycling at speed towards us and behind us in the hour we were out, all with numbers on, so must be a race happeming somewhere, but I just wave them on as he never cares.

I quite often sing to mine to settle him or help us keep a rhythm.

Last week I was having a lovely hack in the sunshine down a quiet country road feeling wonderfully isolated, I got a bit carried away with a rendition of jolene, it works really well when he's striding out in a nice swingy walk...

Only to finish a chorus to the rather rustic bellow of "GO ON DOLLY!"
looked up in mild horror to see 3 elderly gentlemen in wellies and holey jumpers leaning on an apple tree and chortling like a scene out of last of the summer wine...

I was quieter on the way home!

 

[rara007]

99% on road, mainly 30mph limits but can still be wild enough on a bad day!

 

[FitzyFitz]

Not great but i've seen much worse!

Used to live in Milton Keynes with fantastic hacking despite apparent efforts to build on/neglect it into non-existence, although extremely busy with walkers, dogs, cycles, robots, scooters...

Now i'm in west wales where you'd think i'd be able to enjoy all those green rolling hills, but nope, although we in fact live in a pretty good area for bridleways, every ride I go on is 80% roadwork if i'm lucky, unless I go out for 4 or so hours where theres a couple of clusters of tracks, one very nice once you get there, the other potentially lovely if the gates weren't all crumpled heaps of rusting metal on the floor!
The lanes are fairly scenic however and the majority of drivers have some sense and the hills keep them fit. Glad I have a trailer though, hacking is all I really enjoy doing so at least if I don't mind boxing up and driving for about an hour theres some nice places.

 

[poiuytrewq]

I’m happy with road work and we have some gorgeous little villages to hack through.
We do have some nice bridle ways but they do require a bit of roads to get to or home from.
I can ride round the farm we are at but it’s a case of sticking to the tram lines which can be very stony and a bit restrictive.

 

[TRECtastic]

It's heartening that there is still good hacking out there , some of it sounds glorious

We ( TREC club ) run TREC competitions and often struggle as we find riding with no venue , or a venue with no riding !
If running all levels we need to do a route that has riding up to 40k

 

[Jinx94]

We've got some farmland just across the road that we can ride around. The lollipop route that we do around that is about 5 miles

Have started doing our 'block' road route with Tris in hand which is six miles, mostly on very small country lanes which have to be driven carefully due to potholes the last mile though is on a fast 'main' backroad - wide enough for two vehicles, but narrow enough for no markings. Thankfully drivers are generally pretty sensible.

In doing that, I've found another bridleway. If we go through the farmland opposite, we then have to do two miles of road to get to it, but it's then two miles before we hit another road! Might try to find out who the farmer is and ask nicely if we can ride around the margins.

If we cross the second road, there's at least 3 miles of track the other side, but it looks like we'd have to go through cattle and I don't think we'd cope too well with that yet.

 

[poacher82]

Rubbish There's a small farmers field that has solar panels on just up the road and that's about it. There is a country park nearby but they banned horses when they made it all sanitised, with proper paths a few years ago. This is the main reason I don't have big horses and don't ride anymore. I own my field, so not as easy as just moving.

@meleeka which country park did you used to be able to ride in?

 

[poacher82]

Hacking by yard is not brilliant. You can access various round hacks (hour in duration) by crossing an A road which is within a 30mph zone and it takes you then onto a B road which is 50mph but you can do round hacks off that although dark leafy narrow lanes.

Or lots of hacks off 40mph roads in the area in the other direction including housing estates/villages and bridlepaths further afield (2 hr -3 hr hacks). Right by two National Trust properties so a large amount of 'weekend drivers' with no idea of how to pass horses and at certain times of the day you'd be every 20 yards or so having to stand on verges to let visitors to the properties pass.

I used to take the trailer a few miles away, park in a pub car park for a couple of hours in exchange for a couple of quid in the Lifeboat charity box. There you could hack out in beautiful countryside with an abundance of hacks and bridlepaths. It was quite restrictive insomuch as I had to park at 8am ish on a Sunday and be gone by 10am ish as it was a very busy pub and the lunch time punters wanted to park up and go for a walk before their Sunday dinner!

It was fair enough I guess.

I hack round this lovely area every Sunday morning now I ride a horse stabled in the area. Looking forward to this mornings hack

Like the idea of using the pub car park before opening time for a donation. Wonder if more places could do that if people asked nicely?!

 

[Cloball]

It is fascinating, I love looking at maps and houses , some places are just up the road from each other and can have access to miles of linked bridleways and forests and a village over you'd have to ride down an A road.

 

[Time for Tea]

I’m another one enjoying hacking in the New Forest. It’s about 50,000 acres so plenty of scope if you want to do some distances. I used to, but these days tend not to venture so far. It is pretty busy though, with walkers, dogs and cyclists. Not to mention herds of stampeding ponies at times! And crab flies……free range pigs in the autumn can be interesting too.

 

[ponynutz]

We have the beach a very short box away and live really close to some lovely off-road hacking on National Trust sites. The hacking on our doorstep, aside from the beach, has lots of off-road bridleways but sadly you have to hack on some quite busy, not country lanes to get there.

 

[Birker2020]

@meleeka which country park did you used to be able to ride in?

We have a nice country park by us called Arrow Valley which is in Redditch, Worcestershire.

I uses to go with Mum and Dad some 20 years ago, they'd take the dog and walk with me and I'd have a canter. It was really nice.

 

[WBGG]

Our road hacking isn't bad actually (on the top edge of Coventry, quite a horsey area). There is one busy 40mph road to cross which we tried to get the council to put a crossing on, to no avail : (
Once you get over that the lanes are much quieter and most drivers are fairly considerate. However, there aren't really any bridleways so there are very limited canter/gallop spots. Luckily, our yard has several fields we can ride round with a few little logs/rustic jumps.
This makes all the difference and it's a major plus for me.

 

[WBGG]

Also people with horseboxes have the option of loads of off road riding on Cannock Chase not too far away...

 

[smolmaus]

It’s heartening to read there is still plenty of people with good off road hacking

Hate it, actually the green-eyed monster in me does, anyway.

No bridleways here at all. My hacking is "good" because the roads are quiet and having a commercial yard, a comp venue and minimum 2 private yards in a 2 mile radius means drivers are generally pretty great! We have the beach and a country park within 30 mins drive but no box scuppers that anyway.

Where I was previously you crossed a 60mph carriageway to get to better lanes and the "quiet" roads were still bad, so not really complaining! (I am a bit).

 

[Greylegs]

Pretty good. We're on a farm with around 150 acres of woodlands and fields to wander round, then across a road to several hundred acres more of open access space and access to more woods, bridleways etc. It's enough for us so feel very fortunate.

 

[Sussexbythesea]

We have a large tract of land running east-west between Arundel and Findon mostly owned by the Duke of Norfolk criss-crossed by a lot of bridleways including the south-downs way. Endurance GB do an event here every year so possibly could find a venue. Nearest Trec event to us is Bodiam I think. I’ve done arena Trec at Sands Farm, Warnham.