Who hacks on the roads these days and who's given up?

[Patchworkpony]

As title. It's too scary for me now. Very sad - as I child I used to ride miles of beautiful lanes and rarely see a car.

 

[Sussexbythesea]

I luckily keep my horse somewhere with miles of off-road hacking. I only have about 200metres of dead-end lane with wide verges to negotiate. I would not keep a horse now where I had to ride significant stretches of road it’s just too stressful.

 

[Antw23uk]

I do the bare minimum nowadays. As a kid I would go off all over the place but as a kid the roads where quieter and people seemed to be more respectful (rose tinted glasses perhaps?) Now my unavoidable bit of road is that out of my yard and its two minutes on a horrible blind bend before I'm off on a private single track road to the bridleways. Other than that there is some roadwork on the 'long' hacking route that takes me through a small (not even) village.

On rare occasions I will turn left out of my driveway and go round the village but its a very rare occasion because i hate it so much!

 

[ihatework]

I’ve always hacked my horses on the roads and still do. For someone that’s so wussy over a fence I’m remarkably confident educating horses on the roads.

I have good access to country lanes where I am. There are a couple of places where I try and avoid peak times and would go those routes weekend mornings as quieter

 

[milliepops]

I have lanes to ride on which vary from really quiet to quite busy. Tractors, trailers, lorries...mostly very considerate drivers and my horses are good in traffic. I try not to head out at peak times though (sunday mornings are a no-no when it's church time!)

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

I live in Devon, where you'd think OK LOADS of lovely riding.

Nope! Its 99.9% roadwork where I am. Having said that, it could be worse (I guess) as all our routes are circular, we never have to go out and back the same way, thank goodness as this would've made my cob really very nappy indeed.

The local common is a good 4-hr round trip to hack to; and by the time you've got there its time to be heading back!

We do have a bridleway which was created when a new road was built 21 years ago, it has a good surface which is a good all-year canter track! Also a "permissive path" which runs around a local estate. So s'pose we shouldn't complain, coz at least we have that.

Being slap bang in a farming area all our horses have to be OK with tractors/wagons, the lot. Plus we ride through the road which goes via a local quarry which is a handy little 40-minute trot round the block jobbie, which is fully working during the week! Which has its challenges! But I regularly ride my youngster round there, she deals with it fine, has to, and its fantastic training for her.

But my dream is to be able to just leave the yard, go up a track, and be on some open ground............ ohhh holy wow, that would be just sheer heaven.

 

[atropa]

I have no issues riding on quiet country roads and housing estate roads. I will also cross busy roads if I have to. I try not to ride on main roads though.

 

[Asha]

We hack on the lanes every week, it is quiet though. We tend to meet the odd car, tractor etc. Ours tend not to care too much about them, but the tiny Shetland down the road terrifies them .

 

[Rollin]

I hacked for years and did ride and lead on a busy road in Scotland, but it was wide with good sight lines. I am more nervous on narrow quiet lanes because idiots believe they are the only ones on the road. I don't hack out now without a driver in a car to slow down traffic. I did the same when preparing our stallion for his 90km endurance, lots off road tracks but we could not avoid the road. Worst experience was a farmer with a huge tractor and empty trailer on the back, coming up behind the stallion and honking his horn, there was no where for the rider to go. I slowed the car, rider came in front of me and I sat in the middle of they road until there was a space for the stallion to be moved off the road, then I let the tractor pass. Imagine what would have happened had I not been with the rider. Post script to this, is the rider had been a Republican Guard in Paris and so was a Gendarme. He raised hell with the local Mayor and 'farmer won't do that again'.

 

[Mule]

I do hack on the roads but if I want a long hack I'll box out for it. The road where I live, (once you get to the end of the quiet lane) is a really long straight stretch. It seems to encourage people to drive as fast as possible. I can't relax on it. Horse is very quiet, but what's the point if you can't enjoy it.

I've recently started hacking on forestry land, I love it cus I can have a long rein, enjoy the scenery and pop over some fallen trees and ditches.

 

[cold_feet]

No avoiding it for me. We do have some good tracks, but all need roadwork to get to them. Luckily mostly lanes so vehicles have to slow to pass. Not fun though. I wouldn’t attempt a main road as my horse doesn’t cope well with large vehicles.

 

[criso]

We have lots of nice bridlepaths but you have to use roads to link them up and some are a bit busier that I would like. Cyclists are a real problem round here as well, not the usual weekend ones but the timed events/races that occur at least weekly during the summer.

Doesn't stop me going out though.

 

[meleeka]

Up until very recently mine were kept on a main road so it was a necessity. They are now on a quiet road so that’s almost as good as off road for me.

 

[OldieButGoodie]

I have no choice but to ride on the road if I want to hack and being a nervous rider anyway really doesn't help. We have cyclists (sometimes in packs) motorbikes cars vans lorries tractors sometimes with trailers or big spiky things in front, JCBs etc. Its a 'quiet' country road too! Worst thing is the hatred of some of the local farmers have for horses and horseriders. I have been harrassed twice by a local farmer (and his wife) for my horse pooing on the side of the road. Apparently i should get off and kick it aside and how would I effing like it if he came and pooed in my driveway. Sigh. The neighbours have been harrassed by another local farmer driving too close to their horses in his tractor (I haven't met him yet but he sounds like my idea of hell). I wouldn't mind but I hardly ever hack out and its a shame as both horses seem to enjoy it. My only choice would be to take the horses in a trailer to somewhere offroad but its just too much hassle. I do make sure I ride out with a head camera but usually you can't hear the sound properly for the noise of the wind!

 

[hopscotch bandit]

I hack about five times a week in the summer and twice a week in the winter. I wear loads of hi viz, my horse has a hi viz exercise sheet all year round as well as flashing legs wraps (off side front and hind) and I wear a tabard and hat band. I ALWAYS thank drivers for slowing down either with a nod or a hand raised. I moved from a yard with busy roads to a really quiet area and loved the hacking. The lady sold up and I moved back to the first yard I was at but thankfully have a trailer so have managed to find parking at a pub in the area I'd just left where I park up at the weekend and go for my lovely hour to two hour hacks where I have about five cars go past me the whole time I'm out. Its worth it for a fiver to pay the landlady and the money goes to charity anyway.

As all I can do with my horse these days is hack and fun rides I don't really have much choice but to brave the roads but we both love hacking so much its worth it.

A friends horse got hit by a car a few weeks ago, fortunately it was a small glancing blow but the girl has said she'd never ride on the roads again. I guess in 23years of hacking I've been lucky.

 

[splashgirl45]

i ride on roads quite a lot as we dont have much off road hacking, our lanes are quietish with mostly considerate drivers and my horse is pretty bombproof with cars, lorries and tractors but obviously is a horse so i am always prepared....

 

[JFTDWS]

I've always hacked on the roads, and most days I have at least one horse out on them, if not all three. I try to be sensible about it - avoiding school pick up / drop offs as much as I can (sneaky half days sometimes catch me out!), there is always hi vis involved, and my horses are very good in traffic.

There are roads and there are roads, in this context though. The roads round here are mostly lanes, or wider, faster roads, which tend to be straighter - so you can see folk in the distance. Where there are sharp bends on fast roads, I tend to avoid being on the road at that point / take a different route. If sharp, narrow twisty roads where idiots drive at top speed around blind bends are your only option, I would understand avoiding them entirely.

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

As title. It's too scary for me now. Very sad - as I child I used to ride miles of beautiful lanes and rarely see a car.

We do, we have limited road and you always get idiot drivers. I won't let that stop me enjoying my hobby, even when some idiot came round our bend at 55 mph, and missing my horsebox by an inch as I came out the drive.

 

[siennamiller]

I don’t have a horse now, but where I was before, I had to hack on a very fast rd, after ending up cantering down the road being chased by a bus, and once a lorry I got too scared to ride on the road. It’s all too easy for drivers to behave like idiots and it only takes one bad accident to change/end your life.

 

[Auslander]

We don't have to hack on the roads, as we're close to a network of byways, but Alf prefers it, and he chooses where we go. He's pretty much bombproof in traffic - so I'm not concerned about idiot drivers. He's less safe on the byways and bridleways - which is apparently where most fun is to be had!

 

[Pippity]

But my dream is to be able to just leave the yard, go up a track, and be on some open ground............ ohhh holy wow, that would be just sheer heaven.

I used to be on a yard where you could turn right, go 100 yards up a quiet lane, past the racehorse gallops (which we were allowed to use) and then be right on the Downs. I didn't realise how lucky I was!

 

[flying_high]

I think it depends rather on the roads and the drivers. I always wear hi viz and my horses are good with all traffic, dogs, lorries, farm animals, farm traffic, motorbikes etc. But they are still unpredictable.

I have been located where the only way to most bridleways was up or down a busy national speedlimit B road. And having people wizzing past me inches away passing sometimes at 50 miles an hour, even in rain and puddles really put me off!! My horses are good, but the margin for error that close and fast is tiny.

Currently I do a fair amount of roadwork, to get to a fabulous range of hacking, all fairly small lanes, and cross various motorways by bridge or subway, but the traffic is fairly considerate, and fairly used to seeing horses. Is a really hacking network area.

If the roads are safe and sensible and are passing places and cars arent at silly speeds, I am very happy riding on roads.

 

[Cortez]

You couldn't pay me to ride on the roads now, it's just too dangerous, even in our supposedly quiet country area. We don't have bridleways or commons here (Ireland), so it's either our own fields or the arena.

 

[Louby]

We are lucky to have miles of off road hacking near by but we do have to cross a busy road and a housing estate to reach it. It really is getting scary, drivers dont seem to have any patience at all and no idea that a horse isnt a machine and could potentially kill them too if things went badly wrong. We now have another issue... and thats a massive increase in dogs that arent horse friendly on the bridleways. One recently attacking and chasing a horse off the bridleway, onto the busy road and then for a further 2 miles. Its getting to the poit we are too scared to hack out due to traffic and now blooming mad dogs, which is such a shame.

 

[flying_high]

You couldn't pay me to ride on the roads now, it's just too dangerous, even in our supposedly quiet country area. We don't have bridleways or commons here (Ireland), so it's either our own fields or the arena.

Certain country roads are lethal. I don't think all English roads are lethal. Depends on the road, where it leads, and how much use it gets. Certain types of roads are not rat runs or high traffic.

 

[Leo Walker]

I drive not ride and I'm never sure if thats better or worse! My pony isnt phased by anything traffic wise. I've had him out at harvest time with combines squeezing past and he doesnt care. The only thing he doesnt like is old scooters, the ones that make a really high pitched buzzing sound. I dont blame him, they are awful. He doesnt do anything though, just tucks him bum and gurns. I wouldnt take him out otherwise.

We do a lot of road driving. Hes a big chunky cob and to be fit and quick enough to do driving trials involves a lot of preparation work. We've got at least another month to go and we are already up to 8 miles a day, mostly trotting with some canter and gallop on the off road bits. Without the road work I would never get him fit enough to do anything, so for us its a necessary evil. I did however move him 10 miles away from home so we are out in the countryside and our driving is all little villages or straight lanes with good visibility.

 

[Ceriann]

I hack on a country road but get off it on to smaller lanes as quickly as possible as the traffic we do get can be large and fast - agri contractors, quarry owner in the village so some lorries and lots of tractors. I just don’t enjoy riding on roads when I’m thinking some teenager with a tank (I exaggerate slightly) could be round the corner. Once it dries I can take advantage of my farmer neighbours generosity of a right to roam - at the minute it’s just too boggy. I’ve decided way forward is to box to some farm rides/Xc country options.

 

[Annagain]

Wherever we go we have to hack on a fairly narrow (two cars can just squeeze past each other) but busy country road for about 10 minutes before we reach any off road areas. To get anywhere really good we also have to manage about 300m of really busy A road (luckily with wide verges and a decent cylce path).

As IHW says, I'm not that confident over a fence but more confident than some of my friends who compete at a much higher level than me on the road. I'm very happy in my horse's ability to deal with anything the roads will chuck at him, less so in drivers' consideration and ability. In some ways the A road is actually much better than the lane as we can see drivers and they can see us from a fair distance. I always trot away from any blind corner just to make sure the window in which as driver could come round the bend too fast and hit us from behind (by biggest worry about country roads) is as small as possible.

Being 100% in traffic is always top of my must haves in looking for a horse (and something I'm willing to pay a premium for) but I'm increasingly concerned that it's going to be harder and harder to find in future as fewer and fewer people do it.

 

[Patchworkpony]

I live in Devon, where you'd think OK LOADS of lovely riding.

Nope! Its 99.9% roadwork where I am. Having said that, it could be worse (I guess) as all our routes are circular, we never have to go out and back the same way, thank goodness as this would've made my cob really very nappy indeed.

The local common is a good 4-hr round trip to hack to; and by the time you've got there its time to be heading back!

We do have a bridleway which was created when a new road was built 21 years ago, it has a good surface which is a good all-year canter track! Also a "permissive path" which runs around a local estate. So s'pose we shouldn't complain, coz at least we have that.

Being slap bang in a farming area all our horses have to be OK with tractors/wagons, the lot. Plus we ride through the road which goes via a local quarry which is a handy little 40-minute trot round the block jobbie, which is fully working during the week! Which has its challenges! But I regularly ride my youngster round there, she deals with it fine, has to, and its fantastic training for her.

But my dream is to be able to just leave the yard, go up a track, and be on some open ground............ ohhh holy wow, that would be just sheer heaven.

I live in Devon and there are no quiet, safe lanes anymore - too many delivery vans all going at full speed.

 

[webble]

I do but I am fairly lucky in that there are nearly as many horses as purple in the village I keep the pony in so most people are pretty good