Those who don't overly enjoy/want to go hacking (trail riding), why not?

Scarlett 001

Scarlett 001

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Sep 16, 2003
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I've read a some posts where a few people say they don't overly enjoy hacking (trail riding). I don't seek to get out hacking. I prefer and gravitate towards arena riding and schooling. Why? Near my stables, there are not great places to hack, insects are abundant in the few months when it is really possible to get out and hack (both Skeeter and me *hate* insects), I've never done much hacking so perhaps there is a hesitation at the unknown, and I do have concerns about all the things that could go wrong with a horse and rider who are not so used to hacking (particularly the horse spooking at things). Besides, I *love* arena riding and schooling, and Skeeter enjoys it too! :)

So for those who aren't into hacking, care to share your reasons? I am kind of curious.
 
I just don't enjoy it and find it boring. We have lovely countryside where Saff is kept and I SHOULD love going out and admiring the scenery but I don't. I guess that I'm very goal orientated so I prefer schooling, in hand and groundwork. I pay someone to hack her out because it's pointless when I don't enjoy it.
 
I would hack if we had decent off road hacking and quiet roads. We don't.
The hacking in our area is at best boring and at worst dangerous. The road to our yard looks like a nice quiet country lane, but people drive along it like total pr@ts. It is single track with passing places, overgrown hedges and bends so you can't see what is coming, but people still drive so fast along it. The last time I hacked Belle out before I sold her I had to literally ride her into a hedge to get off the road, thank heavens she trusted me enough to do so as otherwise we'd have been killed by the lunatic who was not going to slow down even though the road is only wide enough for one car.
I have a couple of near misses on that road each month in my car.

I have come in for a lot of criticism over the last couple of years on another forum because I don't hack :(
 
All of the above for me! I don't find it that interesting, I've often found it dangerious. My mare isn't a fan either and tends to be spooky :rolleyes: I enjoy schooling and so does Flora (although my other mare Softee who is for sale prefers getting out and about to being in the school).

Isn't it irritating that within the wider horsey community, not wishing to hack isn't accepted as a reasonable choice to make and so people 'give us stick'? :rolleyes:
 
i used to hate hacking. on my old yard the only safe hacks were round the fields which got very, very boring. so we tended to stick in the school. But since moving and having access to hours of off road forrest hacks neddy and i have become happy hackers. mentally, my horse doesn't like being restricted to schooling. he likes getting out and about seeing new things. it's nice for him to have a change of scene, plus we pass the back of a neighbouring livery yard and he spies on all the posh show horses there :D more often than not these days we'll cut our schooling sessions short and end up going out for a hack instead.

But as i said, i never used to hack and was always critisised by fellow liveries. If you don't enjoy it don't hack. My friend and RI never hacked her spooky show hack. After being bullied into taking her out for a hack with the YO, horse spooked and ended up in the front end of a car with two shattered front legs. She should have stuck to her guns. If schooling or jumping is what you enjoy, don't change your ways to suit others.
 
But do those who never hack think it's FAIR to the horse to make them do nothing other than school work? I hack most of the time because the schools only grass and not always suitable to ride in, but I'd still hack regularly if it was to give them variety. It's different if you CAN'T hack cos it's not safe, but is it fair to delibertaly choose never to hack?

Point in case is a high-flying rider I've known (not the same as liked ;)) for years. She's got fabulous hacking around her but her horses have only ever been out twice in the entire time I've known her. All she ever ever does is dressage schooling (horse is worked on the bit from the second she gets on too :() and never goes out, even though her horses are perfect hacking (known then from before she had them). Those twice she went out the poor horse was still forced to work in a slightly over-bent outline too :( Bet her horses would love the variety to go out and about and relax.
 
I agree with what you're saying Pinks Lady so long as the horse enjoys hacking.

I personally love hacking, but if people don't want to do it thats fine.
Belle1, I think being critisized (sp?) because you dont hack is really unfair, especially when so many people also get critisized for only hacking. :rolleyes:
Its your choice what you do, enjoy yourself doing what you enjoy people!
 
Pink's lady said:
But do those who never hack think it's FAIR to the horse to make them do nothing other than school work? I hack most of the time because the schools only grass and not always suitable to ride in, but I'd still hack regularly if it was to give them variety. It's different if you CAN'T hack cos it's not safe, but is it fair to delibertaly choose never to hack?
Click to expand...

If anybody's schooling lacks variety then they might need to use their brains a bit more. There are no end of things you can do in the school and certainly no need for horses or riders to get bored. In fact I think schooling provides much more variety than riding down the road.
 
I love hacking with other people, but I'm not mad about hacking alone. I also equally enjoy schooling, but am not a huge fan of jumping anymore. I do hack alone though as have no choice, and I do jump occasionally too.

I think people should do what they enjoy and not feel bad about it or care what other people think. But I do also strongly think that we shouldn't not do something just because of nerves (not to be confused with safety - if it isn't safe you shouldn't do it, whatever it is). I am nervous at jumping but I do sometimes push myself to do some, likewise with hacking alone. I do believe in facing your fears, not avoiding them - even if it is hard sometimes and is one baby step forwards and two giant steps back!
 
I do enjoy hacking, and I have fab hacking around me, but since my accident in April, I don't like to because I feel that I always have to be on my guard in case my horse runs away with me. I hack out when my dad is away and take Jake instead, because he wouldn't run away for long if the hounds of hell were chasing him :D .
 
If I only had to think about me and the horse, I may enjoy it enough to do it regularly.

But around here, 95% of 'off the farm riding' must be done on the roads. I just dont trust the drivers, loose dogs, children...

Im not afriad of the average spook but not many in my neighborhood tie their dogs and Im not a big fan of being chased down the roadway with a car heading my way whose already doing 20 mph over the speed limit!
 
Pink's lady said:
But do those who never hack think it's FAIR to the horse to make them do nothing other than school work? I hack most of the time because the schools only grass and not always suitable to ride in, but I'd still hack regularly if it was to give them variety. It's different if you CAN'T hack cos it's not safe, but is it fair to delibertaly choose never to hack?
Click to expand...

You see, this is exactly the type of thing we hear all the time :rolleyes: Yes, its absolutely fair to our horses not to hack :rolleyes: Flora is out in the field fields 24/7, aside from coming in to be fed, groomed, tacked and ridden. We teach horses to cope with leaving their herd to go hacking because humans want to. Its not natural for them to travel out without the herd and that is why they are often spooky. Having a routine of doing some work in a school each day and spending the other 23 hours or so with the herd just 'being a horse' is a good life!

Let me ask you, is it fair to hack a horse when its such an unatural thing to ask them to do? I don't critisise people who hack, why do those of us who choose not to have to be regularly subject to this?
 
Tootsie4U said:
But around here, 95% of 'off the farm riding' must be done on the roads. I just dont trust the drivers, loose dogs, children...

Im not afriad of the average spook but not many in my neighborhood tie their dogs and Im not a big fan of being chased down the roadway with a car heading my way whose already doing 20 mph over the speed limit!
Click to expand...

So true. Also, one thing UK people should know is that although there are loads of horses this side of the Atlantic, drivers don't see horses on the road as much as they do in the UK, and don't know anything much about what to do when they do run into a horse/rider. If you think there are unsafe drivers around horses in the UK and there can be risk, then quadruple or more that risk over here. There is minimal awareness of how to handle driving if horses are on the roads. This does worry me, and is a fear/concern I do not feel a need to conquer, as it is completely out of Skeeter and my hands.

I have to say that I don't think Skeeter finds arena work boring, or is missing out by not hacking. I think he has a pretty nice life and his lifestyle (riding and otherwise) is quite reasonable and fair. He gets to be outside with his herd so gets his "outdoors" time (plus it is without me on top of him), so I'd think some arena work would if anything be quite different. And I don't work him hard all the time, so it is not just one continuous physical/mental strain or anything like that (perhaps unlike the person who Pink Lady described) - it is lots of variety, joint achievement etc.
 
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Just to add..

My riding paddock is adjacent to our road and seperated by a 15' grassy area (part of my lawn), Last night, while riding Fella, we were bombarded by one passing car who thought it funny to lay on his horn while he passed us, a couple out walking their dog which proceeded to run over to my fence and chase us along the fence line, and another car who as it drove by had its rear tail light fall off and bounce down the road about 8 times before landing in my lawn. Now if I wasnt just merely schooling in an enclosed paddock, I miay have been launched to the moon on each occassion by stupid common folk :p who haven't a clue how to behave around a horse and rider.

THat said, I dont expect it their responsibility to know. If I want to ride my horse, *I* Need to be prepared for these things. Therefore, I need to make sure my horse is trained well enough and that we take the appropriate precautions. My safety is my responsibility.
 
Aside: Tootsie - did you update your other post? How is the swelling today - has it got better? If you get time to update that post, it'd be good to know if there has been improvement.

Edited to add: I just saw your update! Good news.
 
I never used to hack , but this was mainly due to the fact that I lacked confidence. Now, though, I absolutely love it and go out for a couple of hours a week. When the weather is like this it is fab. That said, I don't like the ride work I have to do and always worry something could happen. I'm sure many more people would hack if there was better access to bridle pathsas, lets face it, constant road work is not fun! I also school and have a lesson a week so enjoy the happy medium of the two. The more I hack the more I learn so it has boosted my confidence as well.
 
As a child my experience with horses was mainly hacking - but then that was a long time ago and the roads weren't as busy........(we're talking 26 years plus) So having come back to horses aged 34 all I wanted to do was hack, the idea of an indoor school was completely alien to me, I'd only ever seen a sandschool outdoors:rolleyes: However, I got brought down to earth with a large bump (quite literally) when I discovered that A: hacking isn't easy unless you have confidence and reasonable control over your horse and B: the yard I'd picked had absolutely NO hacking at all, unless of course you fancied dicing with death on a busy 60mph road.......:eek: Talk about shattered illusions........Had a couple of nasty near misses with Storm and so moved yards to where I have access to gorgeous fell hacking and quiet country roads - and fab schooling facilities. I am now completely converted to schooling (love it and used to hate it cos of the not so good school on last yard) and now love hacking equally. I couldn't do one or the other tho, I like variety:) and so does madam!
 
I think it's horses for courses again. If you know you don't want to hack, you obviously don't buy a horse that hates schooling and loves hacking!

My girls love it because of the change of scenery, they usually go out together so aren't leaving their mini 'herd' at all, and when they do go out alone, love the 'mummy time' that they get all to themselves. In the winter we hack much less 'cause of the light, and they don't mind at all 'cause they can see why they're not going. If the only hacking is dangerous, no horse would want to anyway!
 
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