Yesterday's hack from hell :| a long walk home....

[DaisyDoll]

So yesterday I tacked up my 5 year old and we set off out on a nice little hack. She hadn't been out in a while due to having time off, so I was expecting a lot of spookiness and napping and general sillyness. We got to the top of the drive and she did her usual stopping and trying to get back to the yard, so i thougt oh no what have i let myself in for... (this isnt the worst bit..)

However, surprisingly i good growl at her got her moving again! I think she was a bit shocked at me and she behaved beutifully after that; went across the main road no bother and we had a lovely canter across the marsh.

Then....
on the way back i thought that we could go and explore a new feild that i have recently found out how to get in to. The gap was quite norrow, steep and low down, but she's only a pony so i thought she would fit through fine, so I got off and lead her through with no problems.

Having got into this field i was a bit worried to discover that it actually had a hedge at the bottom of it separating it from the next bit where you could get out again. there was a path though and we followed it for a while, until we came to a dead end...

Thankfully there was another path going the other way so we followed that and came to a tiny, VER narrow gap in this hedge which was obviously meant for dog walkers and really wasnt pony-sized at all. However i knew that we wouldnt be able to get out the way we had come in, this really was the only way! :/

I dismounted and tried to get though, however the saddle was sticking out to much and the pony couldnt squeeze through. So i had to take off the saddle and leave it at the other side of the gap!

*CAUTION- dont read this bit if you are offended by bad horsemanship :$*

So there we were with us on one side and the saddle on the other, and i couldnt get close enough to it with the pony to reach it. So, SHOOT ME NOW, i looped her reins over a fence and went to get it. Hovers twiggy was having none of this and decided to follow me, pulling back and ripping her reins in half!

To be honest i cannot remember how i got to the saddle, but i finally did, got it back on her and tried to fix the riens in vain! we ended up walking home.

what a rubbish end to an otherwise lovely hack in the sunshine :/!

 

[fatpiggy]

Sorry to hear about your not very fun time, but TBH, should you have been in the field in the first place? Being in the countryside doesn't mean you can just go where the fancy takes you.

 

[ilovecobs]

Just put it down as experience

 

[CeeBee]

Oh this brings back memories
I know I shouldn't laugh, but I can just imagine how you were feeling and I have done very similar things like this that I shouldn't have done. Glad you both got back safely and I bet your pony loved it!

 

[Enfys]

No harm done You'll take a lead rope on your saddle next time won't you? Very versatile bit of equipment.

Not going to nag, moan or condemn because I've done all that and more and I am fed up with the moaning minnies.

 

[Clodagh]

Agree with Fatpiggy but in my yoof I trespassed through a wood and got chased by the gamekeeper. I got cornered against a wire fence so put my jumper on the top strand and jumped over it! Never did get my jumper back, Mum was furious!

 

[siennamum]

That did make me laugh, sounds very much like the sort of pickle I used to get into (still do some times) It will do your mare the world of good exploring new terrain like that, makes them very brave & footsure.

 

[NeverSayNever]

oh your story did make me laugh, thanks so much for sharing! it sounds like exactly the kind of thing i might do, lol

dont know where you are OP - but in Scotland the right to roam means that unless you were doing any damage, you can ride in fields if you want to

 

[china]

youl know to get your hunting seat on next time and jump the hedge hehe!!

 

[Sparkles]

That did make me laugh, sounds very much like the sort of pickle I used to get into (still do some times) It will do your mare the world of good exploring new terrain like that, makes them very brave & footsure.

Ditto this!

Anyone who knows me and willingly hacks out with me goes with the pre-knowledge that something random, unpredictable and maybe a teeeeny bit 'unsafe' might happen!

Or very lost! Either way XD

 

[MrsMozart]

Oops, won't be going that way again

D1 and I got lost on a hack - came across some interesting gaps and gates that we had to lead/squeeze through

Glad you came out of it okay, and that pony has had a bit more experience in life

 

[MrsMozart]

B01 - were you the one who ended up jumping strange things and galloping and the hunt going past, oh and you had a friend with you???

 

[Sparkles]

It was indeeeeed!!! Hunts-in-pink-pellied-friend, Aka, Alice_10 on here haha! Im sure she'll find this post in a sec.....hahaha XD

My hack today. I got in a fight with a tree! And yesterday...jumped a rabbit! LOL.

 

[Holly Hocks]

That is just so hilarious.....we used to do things like this when we were teenagers....before the PC brigade and elf and safety stopped us. We used to find a field, take our saddles off and then do bareback racing up and down the fields til we got told off....when I read it, I almost forgot that my back was aching, my legs were aching and that I am generally knackered.....must go and get that bottle of wine which is beckoning....

 

[NicoleS_007]

Im sorry but this make me laugh we sneak into fields all the time but via open gates so theres a way out i think i would have had a hearty bang if this happened to me lol

 

[Catcus]

Ah well, most people of done plenty things like that! I tried to squeeze my pony through a pedestrian gate (one that you one way round, then the other) and he got stuck , much pushing back and forth and got him free eventually. I've lost count of the number of stupid things I've done with him, but hey ho he still lives to tell the tale and I've learnt a lot of valuable lessons! And he still loves me

 

[Luci07]

thanks for the giggle!!! we have all been there, intentionally or not. I went up a very VERY steep hill on what I honestly thought was a bridlepath. Reached a sweetheart gate, was looking without much relish at trying to go down the hill ( and I was eventing at the time so wasn't being woozy!) some nice walkers kindly lifted the gate off the hinges so we could get through. What I should have thought was - sweetheart gate in = sweetheart gate out.

to cut a long story short, I found a five bar into someones drive out of the field. Had to dismount to get the gate open - and did I mention my overly noisy staffie was with me? who was quiet until I got off my horse and then started really barking.

I snuck through someones drive way, with yelling dog and a 16.3 mare, scrambled back on the road hoping no one could see my scarlett face or recognise us...

 

[Firewell]

Lol!!

Hacks like that do make me laugh!

When I was young, my friend and I found a xc course in a field! Problem was to get to it we had to cross a dyke seperating the two fields. My pony was very fat and small and I tried to jump the dyke but she got stuck in the middle of it! I had to get off, put the reins over her head and try and pull her out!
We got onto the course but then someone showed up and started shouting at us! So we galloped away and luckily found the main drive to the property and shot off down that to escape.
So much fun! I'd never do that now but do still manage to get stuck in some funny scrapes . The last scrape was on my last hack and I ended up having to get off my horse and wrestle with a fallen tree at the crack of dawn.

I hate people who moan about this stuff, you didnt hurt anyone, people who moan sound like they never had fun

 

[Sparkles]

thanks for the giggle!!! we have all been there, intentionally or not. I went up a very VERY steep hill on what I honestly thought was a bridlepath. Reached a sweetheart gate, was looking without much relish at trying to go down the hill ( and I was eventing at the time so wasn't being woozy!) some nice walkers kindly lifted the gate off the hinges so we could get through. What I should have thought was - sweetheart gate in = sweetheart gate out.

to cut a long story short, I found a five bar into someones drive out of the field. Had to dismount to get the gate open - and did I mention my overly noisy staffie was with me? who was quiet until I got off my horse and then started really barking.

I snuck through someones drive way, with yelling dog and a 16.3 mare, scrambled back on the road hoping no one could see my scarlett face or recognise us...

Classic!!!!

I've ended on a footpath going through the village hall, outside the church and then straight outside 4 cottage type terraced houses back gardens...in the middle of nowhere, not horsey in the slightest and the footpath was right ouside their back windows! They were quite shcked when someone looked out and came face to face with a horse in their garden! Then also had to weave in and out of some post things at the other end to finish off. Don't ask how we ended up on it...I have no idea!!

Same mare, different hacking route...farmer tried to block the bridle way by putting mound of rubble in the thinner entrance and then a 3ftish high suspended dropping barrocade like you get in car parks on the main entrance,but the metal field ones if you get what I'm on about? Farmer obv thought this was clever....soon showed him when he busily in his tractor no doubt smirking when we turnd up to hack down there and found that in the way. Mare wouldn't go past the space by the rubble mound [silly mare!]. However, she WOULD jump anything... So over the suspended barrocade we went, waved to the farmer and carried on a lovely little hack! Made quite a fun jump to do each time

Then last year I got aimlesslesly lost [properly lost,think 6 hour extra ride lost!!!] out hacking. I'd just moved to the area and it's just the bermuda triangle out hacking around here if you don't know your way. In the end after going past the SAME farmer, in the SAME field about 6 times...I then caved and went to ask for directions finally when I saw the tractor again...at which point he was round the side of his tractor standing having a P***! Cue huge embarrassment and him hastily zipping his trousers up! And me finally going in the direction of home he pointed me in.....!!! Haha.

And boundaryjumping is always fun too. Soon as the hunting seasons on I'm terrible for jumping any post and rail, ditch, any object jumpable I can find on the hunters out hacking! XD

Yeah...I like adventure hacks Only live once!

Yet...SJ scares me?!?!? Go figure.....

 

[Rueysmum]

Classic!!!!

Then last year I got aimlesslesly lost [properly lost,think 6 hour extra ride lost!!!] out hacking. I'd just moved to the area and it's just the bermuda triangle out hacinnd afnd here if you don't know your way. In the end after going past the SAME farmer, in the SAME field about 6 times...I then caved and went to ask for directions finally when I saw the tractor again...at which point he was round the side of his tractor standing having a P***! Cue huge embarrassment and him hastily zipping his trousers up! And me finally going in the direction of home he pointed me in.....!!! Haha.
Yet...SJ scares me?!?!? Go figure.....

Old guy 35 years ago used to barr my way up to the "top common" by standing in the middle of the path brandishing a pitchfork. I wouldn't have minded so much except that I actually lived there! (meant to say, at least he didn't have his old todger out - I was only a girl)

I used to do other awful things such as "borrow" the nearby landed gentrys' cross country course and, when that got too boring, jump fixed wooden post and rail fences out of their bluebell wood and into their pasture fields. I was normally completely on my own too. Nobody would have known if I had died, or cared (so, what's new?)

OP, you will look back on this in 30 years time and laugh. Your 5 year old sounds great!

 

[Archiesmummy]

I for one have travelled 'off piste' so to speak, but in hindsight, if a place isn't prepared for trespassers, and thats what we are if we do this, it could harbour all sorts of underlying dangers. This isn't a moan or you shouldn't have, this is an 'in hindsight it was a bit of a stupid thing to do cos it could have been, ultimately, very dangerous' I repeat, I have done this so am not trying to be holier than thou. In hindsight I think about the hidden chain harrows, the hidden rabbit holes, the hidden rusty metal sticking out of the ground .... No wonder the landowners get grumpy cos I am sure their names would be mudded in the event of an accident and, after all, it is their land and we shouldn't be riding on it (but I know seeing a lovely empty feel, apparently doing nothing is very tempting.)

xxx

 

[DaisyDoll]

hehee, all these messages have made me realise that im not the only one who does stupid things like this, thanks for sharing guys!
I am in Scotland so there is the right to roam (although most farmers dont realise this!) so i guess we werent really doing anything wrong! :L
Thankfully Twiggy is a very sane and sensible five year old, i can think of a few others i know who would have been off across the field given half the chance!

 

[WelshMisfit]

Lol....glad I'm not the only one who does daft things! My friend and I were out hacking a couple of months ago (end of winter, after horses had been stabled 24/7 for months!) and we were passing a field that belonged to our yard owner. We decided to take the horses in there, untack them and let them have a pick at the grass, while we sat on their numnahs and had a gas. Unfortunately, when the time came to catching them again, they were having none of it and we spent the best part of 30 minutes trying to catch them. I managed to get my reins around my friend's horse's neck, but my boy decided to hair past him, my friend's horse went with him and took my bridle with him. I found it on the field in 3 pieces!
We had to give in, pick up our tack and walk home to get buckets of feed to catch them. We drove back to the field, caught them and I sat in the boot of the jeep while my friend drove and I led them back that way. Was too tired to walk all the way back again, leading 2 horses!
Funniest thing about it was, our horses have a love/hate relationship. They tolerate it each other simply because they have to. But suddenly, because they were united in their mischief, they were the best of friends! In my horse's defence, he looked thoroughly shame-faced about it all, my friend's horse didn't give a s**t! lol
I wouldn't worry about it too much, you live and learn! And I'm sure you'll do plenty of other daft things as well.

 

[MrsMozart]

It was indeeeeed!!! Hunts-in-pink-pellied-friend, Aka, Alice_10 on here haha! Im sure she'll find this post in a sec.....hahaha XD

My hack today. I got in a fight with a tree! And yesterday...jumped a rabbit! LOL.

You jumped a rabbit???

Only you hun, only you

 

[Sparkles]

You jumped a rabbit???

Only you hun, only you

Yeah :/ Re-reading that now it does sound rather random!!!! I took the ex-JA ponio out for a pony squishing ride, went in the field with the log strip in of 5 logs so fired up and over them and after the last one there was a bunny in the long grass a stride after landing! Which she chose jump rather than spook! LOL.

Mad Alice is here in half an hour actually....we're taking the victim-of-deer thoroughbred and the hunting cobby on a fun ride later.....What could go wrong....!

 

[Happy Hunter]

Oh you have to jump Rabbits, Pheasants, Local Stray dogs,,,, Well if they will get in the way of a good gallop!!

Very good 5yr old not to bugger off I think! Many a time I have knotted things together out hunting - its amazing how much you dont actually need stirrup leathers if your cheek peices have broken on a ride!

String and a leadrope a must, Not to mention a 50p and a hoofpick! Oh the PC instructors would be proud

 

[spotty_pony]

lol you did make me laugh! Even though it sounds really dangerous, I think we have all done something along those lines when we have been out hacking. I have been tree wrestling!

 

[maxapple]

Fab post!

Hacking is the best thing you can do with your horse, and having adventures is even better!

We have a forestry bridle path near us that requires a permit. It's next to the woods I hack in for free and the gate to it is ALWAYS open!! I've always resisted temptation to go in (as have applied for my 6month permit which starts in sept) but last week I went for an early morning hack and decided to have a sneaky look. We were in there for about 10 mins as I didn't want to get lost, then came back to find the gate shut for the first time ever!! We then spent nearly an hour trying to find a way out, getting stuck up numerous small tracks!

Eventually I spotted the local riding school out on a hack so followed them (at a distance trying to look like I wasn't!) and when we got to an exit gate I caught up and just went through with them! I even said 'hi, how are you' to the leader as if I knew him!! Haha.

The exit was an hours hack from my yard so we then had to hack home on the footpath alongside a duel carriage way!