Would you buy a horse that doesn't hack?

depends,if the horse was talented and had never shown the nappiness at a show yes i would, i detest hacking so wouldnt miss it and have a lovely school,jumps, my own field to canter round and gallops just up the road i can box to IE i could keep it interested and bright in other way without actually having to hack off the yard.

if it had ever shown the desire to nap at a show-no.had 2 like that and it was a heartbreaking waste of money and time.

if you rellay want to try this horse, take her somewhere unfamiliar with one of her mates, make her leave her mate and go off to do a pretend dressage test or round of jumps , come back, do it again-try and give her every oppoortunity to nap. if she's going to do it, she will do it in that sitaution i would have thought.
 
Hmm, I have been reading this thread with a lot of interest, having had a horse that didnt hack. Never again. My story is simple - I fell in love with my favourite riding school horse and had hacked him out, but in company. I bought him, being assured he was bomproof and hacked alone. He was my first horse and I still have him, 7 years later. However, I am no expert, in fact I was pretty naive. It took me 18 months of blood, sweat and many, many tears to get him to hack on his own. He didnt rear, he just either bolted for home with me, or ever so quietly and swiftly whipped around and trotted pretty smartly for home, or just went into reverse mode, all the way back to the yard. When you have been bolted in traffic you will know how scarey it can be.

At heart he is a good boy, he was just institutionalised as a riding school horsse for 5 of his 11 years at the time, plus he did need just one owner. I had a lot of expert help, I came close to selling him many times, but something told me to keep on keeping on with him. Seven years later he is very good boy, if a bit cheeky out hacking, he certainly does nothing I cant handle. He is great to nanny younger horses as he seems to enjoy being the older boy with the babies, and our YO has used him when she is taking out youngsters quite a few times. However, the only people who can hack him out alone is me, Mini TX and our YO, as he trusts only us. If I go somewhere unfamiliar I have to make sure I take someone with me as he gets unnerved. I love him to pieces, he is my total soulmate and we are right together in many other respects, and something told me not to give up. However, when I retire him (he will never be sold), my next horse will have to hack alone as I love it. I will be extremely particular what I buy next as I am likely to be hopefully well into my 50s when I need to buy another and I want safety and reliability.

If we were offered say a 3* or 4* horse that was talented and experienced, but did not hack, for Mini TX I would though take up the offer as there would be so much she could learn from the horse. However, even she likes to hack, so we would need to weigh it all up.
For me it would be a massive no no as I am not going to go through all of this again. I did it this time because I knew no better and for some reason I had to have this horse, and 7 years down the line we are very happy together. However, I now know better and would walk away.
 
obviously it would be nice to take them out on a hack for you and the horse but i dont enjoy hacking and it doesnt really bother me if i dont, my old horse was a tool to hack out by himself and would rear or spin if i pushed him, the only thing that would concern me about not being able to hack it would be how it behaved out at competitions, would you be able to leave a group would you be able to rely on it to still preform or take you XC if you wanted it to
 
Nope! I wouldn't take it on at any price. Not even if you paid me.

You can plan to rehab it, but what if it does a tendon before you've made any significant progress. You'll then need to do months of walking on a hard surface in straight lines and so you'll be, not to put too fine a point on it, stuffed.

There's plenty of other horses out there that will hack and jump at that level, trust me.
 
I would be wanting to try and understand WHY the horse was nappy out hacking. Lack of life experience is one thing. Lack of self-preservation is a completely different ball game.
 
Haven't read all of the replies, but yes, of course I would buy a horse who does not hack. I am not interested in hacking at all and while it is an enjoyable thing to do on a horse who loves to hack,it would never put me off if a competition horse did not want to hack. What is this horse's job? If it is a competition horse I do not see why the hacking or lack of it would even come into the picture.

As for the risk of nappy behaviour developing when schooling too, I very much doubt it -- *most* dressage horses will not hack yet this does not affect their submission when schooled at all!!
 
not at all!!

I dont really like hacking and i probably hack about 4 times a month however i always buy with the potential of selling and there isnt a very big market for something like that. Like take a showjumper for example it could be jumping grand prix's but be a complete idiot to hack which wouldnt really matter, however if it seriously injured itself and could no longer compete what would you sell it as? Its just not ideal at all.
 
Um, depends on what you want the horse to do. I'm a happy hacker and wouldn't touch with a bargepole something that wouldn't hack - but when I had my boy, although he'd come from a trekking centre, he was so used to following the bum ahead that he just wouldn't hack solo at all, was a nappy little git and would buck, rear, run back and spin just for the hell of it, and I was going to sell him, till I got some help with him.

The thing you might need to consider is that if you ever wanted to sell the horse, you might have a problem coz a lot of people might want a horse that would hack.

However, its a case of horses for courses innit, and if the horse is intended for X-country, hunting, dressage, SJ, or competitive stuff, and the owner has plenty of facilities to school off-road, then it might not be so important to hack-out. Tho' having said that IMO it does any horse good to hack out coz if they can handle the spooks they have to deal with on the average hack (especially around here by god!) then they'd be able to handle any blimmin thing.
 
The fact that you aren't excited about helping this horse who's threshold is at hacking out (that you have the skills to do so & may therefore be excited) tells me that you shouldn't take him on.

You alone must assess your skills & desire level to help a horse. No shame in passing on a horse whom you're not excited about helping.
 
No, simple as that, i'd never get to ride! - 9/10 i ride, i hack purely because we dont have the facillities to school more often!
 
My first reaction was 'no' because we have no school and hacking is what I do 99% of the time! However, I did buy one last May that didn't hack out alone (very nappy!) but we took a risk (We also didn't know whether he had seen any traffic or been out in company). He was only young (4 rising 5) and had had little schooling so I think he was just lacking confidence in himself and me. It didn't take long to get the hang of going out by himself and now he loves it (Never had any problems in company/traffic so he has definately done that at some point!)
I've foud since he has become more confident with his hacking, it has spread to other areas. He is very confident xc and sj now and much more forward going than when we got him.
 
Haven't read all the replies but thought i'd give you my experience. My mare is an 8 old showjumper and won't hack alone or in company, but never ever naps in the ring. Yes she can be a bit nappy going away from trailer at a show and can get nervous going into the ring, but once she is in the ring she never naps.

I had her from a 5 yr old and if i'm honest i wasn't experienced enough, nor did i have the time and help, to be able to sort it out. If i bought her now i think it would be a different story as i have learnt alot in the past few years, however it would have taken a lot of hard work and I would probably have had to put myself in some dangerous situations - all the roads round us are quite busy

The downside is that its difficult to give her enough variety of work and sometimes i get fed up not being able to hack.........but would i buy her again? Yes 100 times over as she is the best competition horse i have ever had.

You need to check out that he doesn't do it at competitions, but if hedoesn't and you are happy with the fact that you won't be able to hack (unless you put the effort in to change her) then i'd go for it if you like him.
 
Mabel98 said:
Wouldn't even consider it; not just because she won't hack out but because I'd be sure that at some point she would show the nappiness in the school/at comps. IMO competition horses have to be forward-thinking.
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Totally agree - I used to have one that napped and reared out hacking and then went on to rear and nap in the ring - never again!
 
We’ve had horses that are difficult to hack in the past and TBH I really don’t think it’s worth the hassle. Maybe if you were getting some amazing comp horse on the cheap, but there are plenty of strait regular horses.. why not just get one of those?
 
gunnergundog said:
You can plan to rehab it, but what if it does a tendon before you've made any significant progress. You'll then need to do months of walking on a hard surface in straight lines and so you'll be, not to put too fine a point on it, stuffed.
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My horse that wont hack has a suspensory branch injury, my vet isn't worried that his recovery will be hindered by the inability to hack out.
 
I wouldn't, my mare was a nightmare to hack when I first got her and with a lot of time and patience will now hack out along, in company or as a ride and lead (she's ridden). She is still a bit nappy in the school but a lot better than she was.

One of the best bits about my yard is the miles of off road hacking, I like to take full advantage of that!
 
FleabittenT said:
As in title really. Horse in question is a smart 7yo mare, nice paces, has the basics but needs work on the flat (not hugely supple). Scopey jump, some SJ/XC success at RC level (80/90cm) and showing potential to go much further. No stable vices, clean bill of health, easy to do in stable.

However horse is terribly nappy to hack, alone and in company. Will and does rear and will keeping rearing if pushed.

Would you even consider taking on such a horse?

Any thoughts much appreciated :)
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I would be dubious of it doing well at XC if it doesn't hack...you tend to go around a XC course on your own which to a horse ..can be rather like a hack.

My horse is an ex event horse that started napping on the XC phase and because of this now naps out hacking. He will rear vertical, spin, plunge etc However he's fine for what I want = affiliated dressage and the odd bit of show jumping. It's taken me 3 years to get him hacking out alone quite well, he will have the odd episode however I can see it through.
He did try napping a few times in the school when I first got him, however the poor thing had been sold on alot (7 homes in 7 years..3 of which in 18 months!) so I think he was just testing the boundaries and soon learnt it was easier to get on with work.

Would I buy a horse that doesn't hack again? Yes...this is the 2nd horse I've had which naps and I've got it out hacking in the end..just takes time.
 
Nope!! I love hacking out - i could only imagine how bored i would be with constant schooling! Nothing better when u r feeling ***** than going for a nice clatter!

x
 
No, i would never buy a horse that doesn't hack. If it naps out hacking i would wonder how long it would take before it was napping in the ring. I also feel hacking is great for horses to have a bit of relax time or let off some steam and gain confidence so i would feel sad if my horse did not hack out. Also most nappy horses soon get bored of working in the school all the time.
 
If it was very cheap yes, could be worth the gamble if you like a challange, but then if the horse is down right dangerous then it's not worth any risk.

Like you say if the horse shows talant and you have the patience (of a god dam saint!) and you are prepaired for putting the work without always getting the rewards then yes because at this age, you should or at least have more chance of turning things round at least improve on things...lets face it you can't exactly make them any worse.

Every horse deserves a chance with a fresh pair of eyes and new handler, probably taking things back to scratch possibly turning her away to forget about stuff for while and learn again with you, in the meantime I'd be worried about her rearing when competing if she is pushed out of her 'comfort zone' if it's a trick she's learnt to getting her own way in life, I'd be more focused in sorting the nappy behaviour before doing too much else to be fair, becuase the likely hood of her doing it at competitions is very high, but that's just my view.
 
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If you need to go on roads at all, you have to consider the traffic too... I had a cob that was scared of cows, he didn't rear or bolt, but he would reverse rapidly into ditches and into cars!!! In the end I struggled to sell him because of this. Rearing is bad enough, but napping anywhere near any traffic is so dangerous.
 
Yes. For me, I hold little interest for going further than a potter down the road - which I could and would give up if I wanted the horse that badly; as long as it does the rest of its job well.

As PS says, we have our own land and school, and transport to pack up and travel to gallops if we want.

It depends on what you want from the horse? Are you looking for one that is willing to go off on its own for a 4 hour hack??? Is there the option to observe its behaviour at a show - if there is any sign of napping especially in the ring, back away, if not - go for it as long as he ticks all your other boxes.
 
Nope :)

I don't have a school, so unless I wanted to ride all the time in my horses unflat field I wouldn't be able to do much. :)

FWIW I think the vast majority or horses can hack, even those that are not good at it (and yes, it IS a skill ;) ) It just takes patience and perserverance. That said, if not hacking suits you then thats fine too :)

Mine was a big scaredy baby when I got him, the big wide world (ie walking without a horses bum in front) was just too scary - inducing spinning 'rears'. He is mostly over that now, and 7 years later I know where all his buttons are, even if they don't work when pressed the first time :rolleyes:

I enjoy hacking, mainly because I am nosy and like looking through people's windows, and the racehorses passed us when we were on a bridlepath the other day - certainly livened them up :D
 
A sharp horse thats not into hacking, thats fine by me (got some of these).

An easy horse that wont hack as its been ruined by someone who cant ride is not fine (had plenty of these)!

Theres a massive difference!
 
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Orv said:
I would be dubious of it doing well at XC if it doesn't hack...you tend to go around a XC course on your own which to a horse ..can be rather like a hack.
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Murphy Himself famously didn't hack and he was quite useful xc. ;)

A horse that won't leave others/is generally unwilling is a different story but there a lot of ways a horse "doesn't hack" so it would totally depend on the specifics. I had a fantastic xc horse that was very sharp to hack. One place I kept him, with quiet lanes and lots of off road areas it was quite doable (if exciting sometimes), in another, with a busy road the only option out, it was pretty much a no go. So is that a horse that does or doesn't hack?

Also, although everyone is obsessed with it here (and fair enough, since so many people don't have access to schools and hacking is so much a part of the culture), that's not the case everywhere. It would be easily possible to buy quite a skilled competition horse from another country that hadn't hacked a day in its life. In fact, I'd hazard a guess, if we're talking about high level competition horses, quite a few wouldn't be much fun to ride down a busy road!

If it's part of the horse's job description, then obviously it would have to do it. If it's being bought for another purpose and it fulfils the other necessary criteria then it wouldn't bother me much. I certainly wouldn't assume it indicated a serious lack in the horse, anymore than I would consider a poor jumper to be a bad candidate for a dressage horse or, for that matter, a hack.
 
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