When you go out hacking/when you used to go out hacking...

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kandm

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...did you ever/do yyou ever do stuff that you shouldn't really do, but it is just plain Fun??

TBH when i used to go out hacking on Mickey always went off the bridle paths (still where horse and riders can go, so not private land or footpaths), and go and explore, go galloping etc.
And i must say i did put up jumps from twigs and small logs, and jump them acouple of times - i did put them back.
I think that is what the fun of hacking was and still is (well for me anyway), and Mickey used to have fun to
I used to spend hours just out hacking exploring and messing about, when really i should have known better.

What about you lot?
Do you have anything to confess to when you used to hack when you were younger? Or even now??

Oh and i have to confess, I have got lost once before, I spent 6hours on mickey back to try and find Uley woods lol!
 
When i was er... cough... alot younger.. i used to jump park benches, ditches etc. even galloped throught the local park once or twice.. on lots of occasions rode with mahoosive hangover if not still drunk for the night b4 ( i was a bit of a rebel)

Now.. very safe sane happy hacker.. ooh and very much a fair weather rider.. and will only canter/gallop in the most appropriate places !

OMG! its offical.. I AM OLD!
 
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My friend and I came across a point to point course when out hacking as kids, decided we would jump a couple of fences on our 13.2s.... and survived!!

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Lol!
Bet that was Fun!!
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we used to sneak in to the edge of a farmer field to avoid a really dangerous slippy road. And it was brilliant when the rape grew to canter down the tractor tracks with the plants higher than your horses head.

Also used to slide down a steep bank leading my horse to get on to a disused railway track for a really good gallop. (all the sleepers and track had been removed and just a great sand surface remained) We would put banks up made of sand, jump trees and sleepers we found
 
When I was a teenager on my anglo-arab (who is now 22!) we would gallop everywhere that had grass... and I mean EVERYWHERE! We would think nothing of galloping full tilt along a narrow grass verge next to heavy traffic on a main road - even during race week when traffic gets silly in Cheltenham! I would have a go at jumping anything on him, instead of going through gates we would go over them. We would even jump styles set in barbed wire fences! Our favourite trick was to gallop up and down the cliffs on hill, the best cliffs were the ones in the valley leading down to the wash pool with a stream in the middle so we would slide down a loose stoney cliff (rather quickly as I would try to gallop down) and then jump over the stream which was about 4 foot wide before galloping up the cliff the other side. How we managed not to die I don't know!

I would like to say I am older and much wiser now and haven't tried anything like this for about 10 years!!!
 
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Yes it was.... it's funny how you see no fear when you're a kid! I do still go exploring on my boy now, although haven't come across any point to point courses lately!

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Lol!
When i used to go out hacking (when i had a pony, i dont have a horse/pony to ride now) the least amount of time i used to be out was 1hour, at the weekends i used to be out for 3-4hours sat and sun, and on week days 1-3hours! Used to be GREAT!
 
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When I was a teenager on my anglo-arab (who is now 22!) we would gallop everywhere that had grass... and I mean EVERYWHERE! We would think nothing of galloping full tilt along a narrow grass verge next to heavy traffic on a main road - even during race week when traffic gets silly in Cheltenham! I would have a go at jumping anything on him, instead of going through gates we would go over them. We would even jump styles set in barbed wire fences! Our favourite trick was to gallop up and down the cliffs on hill, the best cliffs were the ones in the valley leading down to the wash pool with a stream in the middle so we would slide down a loose stoney cliff (rather quickly as I would try to gallop down) and then jump over the stream which was about 4 foot wide before galloping up the cliff the other side. How we managed not to die I don't know!

I would like to say I am older and much wiser now and haven't tried anything like this for about 10 years!!!

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Lol Dare devil
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!
I used to canter anywhere with grass, and gallop where i knew mickey wouldn't go into a car (he was quite nervous on roads but never in fields lol)!

Do you know Where the Uley Berry is?? - As you live in Chelteham you might now?
Because mickey and I used to just go flat out around there.
 
Oh yes - I was thinking the other day about how I wouldnt dare do 90% of the things I did on my 13hh pony now I ride a 15.2 tb a good 20 years ago - like racing bareback with 3 others around a school field (believe or not we actually had permission to go on it out of school hours) and we used to set up cross country courses in some very hilly woods with very steep drops. Our ponies were super brave and would go anywhere, do anything, just wearing eggbutt snaffles and no nosebands, lived out 24/7 on a handful of nuts and smothered in love and cuddles and boy I had a seat made of velcro (but we probably would have never won a ridden show class or any decent dressage - did win a couple of ODEs though). We would probably have been tut tutted at now adays but the yard owner used to say she loved seeing our ponies looking all fit and shiny and happy (she was a BHSI). I look back on those days quite wistfully and think I was very lucky to have a childhood like that! Wish I had half the guts now
 
My friend and I used to sneak onto the gallops, and regularly get chased off by an irate trainer in his Landrover.
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We also used to take the ponies swimming in the river.

Now I hack out with my daughter, and we often go for 3 or 4 hours exploring, getting lost, and finding new pubs where we can tie up while we have a drink.
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Oh yes - I was thinking the other day about how I wouldnt dare do 90% of the things I did on my 13hh pony now I ride a 15.2 tb a good 20 years ago - like racing bareback with 3 others around a school field (believe or not we actually had permission to go on it out of school hours) and we used to set up cross country courses in some very hilly woods with very steep drops. Our ponies were super brave and would go anywhere, do anything, just wearing eggbutt snaffles and no nosebands, lived out 24/7 on a handful of nuts and smothered in love and cuddles and boy I had a seat made of velcro (but we probably would have never won a ridden show class or any decent dressage - did win a couple of ODEs though). We would probably have been tut tutted at now adays but the yard owner used to say she loved seeing our ponies looking all fit and shiny and happy (she was a BHSI). I look back on those days quite wistfully and think I was very lucky to have a childhood like that! Wish I had half the guts now

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Ahh the joys of riding bareback!
I used to jump xc jumps bareback with mickey - have proof lol with piccies - i used to gallop him bareback, i would have jumped anything up to 3ft on him bareback. You name it i would have done it bareback, i just love feeling like your at one with the horse - sounds silly but its one of the best feelings i think!
I still ride bareback, gives you the best balance out lol!
 
I used to jump the tiny ditches at the side of the road (on grass). one day my horse put his foot down and i did a somersault and landed on my feet with horse beside me!!!
 
Yep, naughty naughty when I was younger we used to gallop straight across the golf course to get to the other woods
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! The golfers used to go mental when they saw us but we were too quick for them! Always used to build jumps from fallen tree's in the woods too!
 
not out hacking but my friend and i used to jump on our ponies when they were loose in the field (no tack or headcollar)kick them on and see how long we could stay on for. for fun!!!! also used to ride them bareback out to their field down the road (even once jumped the 5 bar gate into their field like it)dont think my bones could take that now!
 
this seems unfair i'm 15 and have never done this stuff the best ive done is ride Henry to his field bareback... but i rode at riding schools until recently and my yard now is strict... i missed out lol.
 
Yeah used to ride up and down the white sand cliffs nearby, great for improving your seat and getting fit! Wouldn't dare now - some of them are almost vertical.

Also used to swimming in the river, would dump the saddle by the edge and go in for a swim bareback... we would be out for hours on end. It's funny, riding around miles of lonely roads and tracks alone seems a bit dodgy nowadays even as an adult, can't imagine how my parents used to let me go wandering off! Maybe it was safer back then - and I suppose there aren't many criminals who can catch up with a welshy at a flat out gallop.
 
I've never done anything too daring. I've once cantered past some people working in the woods, there was signs saying that you couldn't go through and big logs to stop people, so instead of turning around I just jumped the logs and galloped past the workers (good job my pony's not scared of fire)
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It was only about 2 months ago
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I regularly go exploring and gallop whenever the ground is ok, but compared to you lot I'm a right woos
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My mum has told me about when she was 15/16 she used to gallop on the grass verge alongside North Danes Way, and then at the turn off into a leisure centre (I think that's what it is), instead of stopping and checking for cars she would jump over the road (it wasn't as wide as a normal rode btw, about the width of a large 4x4)
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We used to ride lots of places we probably shouldn't have (including MacDonalds drive through), jump paths, benches, slither down banks. Ride out bareback in just a headcollar & canter along grass verges next to the main road. I'd wet myself if I had to do any of that now and I try not to tresspass on private property or footpaths these days either (although there are a few places that all the locals ride that are not bridleways
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When I was younger during the school holidays me and my firend used to go out hacking on our 12.2hh ponies for about 6 hours getting completely lost, crossing motorway bridges, galloping through fields full of cows/bulls with them chasing us, getting chased off farmers land, stopping at the pub for a drink & snack...those were the days ahhh
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My mum would come to pick me up after work & we wouldn't be back, she would practically send out a search party and I would get a rollcoking every time
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If she knew what we got up to I think she would have a cardiac
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At my old riding school if you'd ridden the pony that day and it was the last hack out you were able to ride it bareback back through the village to the field it would be turned out in - we used to go gallop along the grass verges all the way! I presume one of the instructors came with us but I don't remember. We'd either walk back or the yard owner would pick us up in her landrover and take us back! Can you imagine riding schools doing that now!!! Law suits everywhere!

My friend and I once took a wrong turn on a new hack we went on and ended up riding up a verge on a very busy road -to get back to where we should be. We thought nothing of trotting/cantering up this verge (towards the traffic - oops!) but a policeman drving past obviously thought it was not so safe and escorted us along the road to the village where we should have been! It's great being kids!
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I used to go exploring for hours with my friends when i was a kid, and no doubt we used to gallop in every possible place...

I do remember once though my friend chucked my whip in the church yard and i actually rode my pony up the steps and into the graveyard to retrieve it from someones grave
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I also learnt my lesson doing 'bending poles' round the drain holes in the motorway underpass when he slipped over and landed on me!! jumping ditches with overhanging branches was never a good idea either...

Now i'll happily go exploring, but at a more sedate pace and never anywhere i shouldnt be!!
 
When I was younger I admit that I galloped across the farway of a golf course, really bad but I was led there by someone 5 years older than me that should have known better I didn't even realise we weren't allowed to!
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When I was a kid we used to go out for 4 hour hacks to the nearest beach, sometimes bareback! We used to go through a small town, across zebra crossings etc and none of the ponies batted an eyelid.
I remember me and my friends once rode into some private woods where some scouts were camping. Imagine the excitement when the scouts spotted us and started chasing us through the woods, it was quite a thrill galloping away from them, killing ourselves with laughter! I didn't realise what a fab pony I had until I grew up and discovered that a lot of ponies are quite naughty. There was less traffic around then and it was in an era when kids played outside all day so our parents didn't think there was anything particularly dangerous in what we did. Like Lynseyt I too am grateful for my happy childhood.
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my old welsh cob and I used to walk (she would literally pick her feet up super high) over stiles and go walk along footpaths (I was only 11 and hacking is limited in London!)
 
- Riding the riding school ponies up the lane to their fields bare back in a head collar at the end of the day

- Riding anyone's nutter and any "new" untried horse at the school

- Playing cowboys and indians and stunt riding (falling off mostly) with my friends on our first ponies

- Deciding as a teenager that I would only ride everywhere bareback even on my mother's tempestuous steed
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Yes I did fall off, lots.


When I think back at how stupid I was I shudder. I hope my son does not do things like that or at least does not tell me!!
 
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