Hacking - Loose Rein or Outline

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conkers

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Jan 24, 2007
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When I hack out, I like my horse to go on a loose rein or with minimum contact.
For me, hacking should be fun for both the rider and the horse and I wouldn't enjoy it as much if I was constantly having to think about putting the horse in an outline. I like to hack out for a few hours at a time and just think that it is too much for the horse to constantly be working round for this length of time.
I like to know that, if the situation arises, the horse will go into a contact and listen to me but I also trust my horses enough to know that they will keep going forward without messing around even if they are on a loose rein.

A friend of mine is always commenting about this. She thinks that the horse should always have a contact and should be working in an outline. When we hack out together she constantly states that my reins are like washing lines, which in all fairness they probably are.
Fair enough, she is far more competitive than me and rarely hacks out for more than an hour but it just seems that she is making what should be fun hard work.

What do you do? Do you think that you should always have a 'proper' contact and that they should be working into the bridle.
Or are you part of the 'it should be fun' gang and don't think that riding on a looser rein is a crime?
 
I'm definitely in the 'it should be fun' gang. I have a loose contact that I can take up if the need arises, if I'm riding on roads I have proper contact and length of reins, but if we're going off-road the reins are loose and the pony enjoys the scenery as much as I do! I think expecting a horse to work in an outline for even an hour is quite a lot.
 
Quitus hacks out on a fairly long rein. He is only 4 and still getting used to it all. If he's asked to trot or something scary is nearby I shorten reins incase something happens but I never have him in a contact out hacking at the moment. When he is a little older I may well do. I used to ride Ace in a light contact out hacking so he would concentrate.

Hacking for most of us is for pleasure not work though there are many users who don't have access to a school and school their horses whilst out hacking. I don't think either is wrong but I think wrenching on your horses mouth to force it into a false contact whilst riding is wrong!
 
Both.. I school while I'm hacking so he does some work in an outline. I also work him up hills and trotting in an outline as it builds topline better when he's using himself.. I do wander on a loose rein though when we are relaxing..
 
Loose reins unless we come to intersections or lights, or I notice something noisy or large which could be scary then a gather them up again.

When schooling, obviously contact and working into the bit. But he prefers hacking.
 
Both for me i normally let her walk out on a loose rein, and then on the way home do a little on an outline, and a bit of leg yeilding etc.. It's great they love it and the best thing is they dont even realise they are being schooled lol
 
Ace87 said:
If he's asked to trot or something scary is nearby I shorten reins incase something happens but I never have him in a contact out hacking at the moment..... Hacking for most of us is for pleasure not work though there are many users who don't have access to a school and school their horses whilst out hacking.
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I have the opposite, if I shorten my reins Joy knows it is in response to there possibly being a dodgey situation ahead and plays up as a repsonse. Therefore I now do the opposite, I give more rein so she doesn't feel constricted or forced and this lessens any problems there might have been. Took a while to realise this though and it's not something I'd recommend for everyone but I know her pretty much inside out now :D

Also I'm one of those those every ride is a hack. I ride for fun but have been doing more schooling. My heart's not really in it although by schooling on a hack my heart is more in it.

If Joy is in one of those flighty numpty moods before I even get on her, I make use of that natural impulsion and get some lovely work out of her. I alway school her when she like that. If she isn't then I don't school so much.
 
BIrish said:
Both.. I school while I'm hacking so he does some work in an outline. I also work him up hills and trotting in an outline as it builds topline better when he's using himself.. I do wander on a loose rein though when we are relaxing..
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Snap. i like to make him use himself going uphill etc. and I always ask a bit of focus in canter. Have been known to leg yield back n forth across quiet lanes too. I dont want him to think that he only needs to 'work' in a school, so when we go to parties etc. he knows that we mean business. :)
 
well when i school prince i find it hard to get him in an outline.
When out hacking he always is :confused: and i give him a loose rein.
It so sweet i was nervous of hacking him out as he is an exracer and thought omg his going to bolt with me as soon as we hit grass.
It like his saying mummy i love hacking and i promise i will be a good boy :D
xxx
 
We do both. I don't have a school, so have to do my schooling out hacking. I always decide in advance and we'll set off the way we intend to continue so the horses don't get confused. If I set off on a contact, that means schooling. If I set off on a loose rein, it means relaxing hack. Works for us & we get good dressage placements so horse must be learning something!
 
For me schools are for schooling and hacks for hacking, although will I occaisionally ask for an outline trotting uphill for the reasons previously mentioned. You're restricting their field of vision asking them to go into an outline, most horses prefer to be able to see everything that's going on round them when they're out and about. I suspect that some people who hack in a constant outline are actually wary of loosening the perceived control they have over their horses.
 
i too ride on a loose rein - Yogi loves to feel relaxed and I have learnt that shortening the reins makes him worry and tense up. He will blow himself up if he feels the reins shortening and then spooks at everything he sees:eek:

Hacking is fun and we both enjoy it to be stress-free, so it is loose reins for me - although when out with my hunting friends on a hack they are always telling me my reins are flapping about. But hey, who cares? whatever suits the Yog-meister suits me!!:D
 
i do both - i don't have a school so i ride in a relaxed fashion then may nip into a nice bit of flat stubble to school for 10mins, or pick up the reins for hill work, or may do some yeilding work - really depends on my mood! :D
 
I ride with a contact for the majority of the hack. I do a lot of road work and i'll not ride with a loose rein on the roads, too dangerous as with a good contact and shorter length of rein i can have quicker reactions to trouble as he's quite sharp.
If i do a longer hack i'll keep collected in trot or uphill and give a looser relaxed rein when sauntering along. I always give him a loose rein when we're about 10-15 mins away from home to allow him to stretch.
Maybe i'm the odd one out with the fact that i don't do loose rein hacking, but to be fair the majority of horses nowadays that i'm sat on aren't the sort you can really leave with a long rein (i mean like washing lines) and not much contact the whole way round. Thinking about it i don't really tend to do sauntering along hacks that much anymore. Time is precise and the horses need to be at a good level of fitness so guess get out there and get going hacks are what i'm doing :)
But just to change the thought at the start. I am part of the it should be fun gang. Just because you ask for work when out it doesn't mean it's not fun for some of us :) I enjoy every part of riding. It's just everyone has different goals or different thoughts on what's fun :)
 
I usually hack on no contact whatsoever, definitely washing line reins. I can still actually work my horse correctly like this, over the back and soft through the poll, just without being up and in an outline in front. It's called long and low :) I do seem to have trained my horse, and it looks like my friends horse also, into thinking that no contact = walk and taking up the reins slightly = go faster. My aids for canter are now lighten seat, shorten reins a fraction and think "woo hoo"! It's not an issue though and doesn't carry over into schooling, other than my instructor and I think that my mare doesn't recognise the official canter aid (long history of problems with cantering in an enclosed area though, the gelding I ride goes beautifully off outside leg & hip aids).

When I school my mare she's generally working to a very long rein in what appears to be a deep outline. I have barely any weight in the reins though, it's just that this is where she is comfortable at present. I'm rehabbing her from a long layoff and she has a history of back problems so the focus is on getting her to be soft and fluid from tail to poll, where she puts her head is up to her. I have a contact, it's just a light one. Similarly, the gelding I ride also goes on relatively long reins, but he's able to work much more up and open in front as he's stronger and further along in his training. I don't believe in pulling the front end in or maintaining a strong contact to "recycle energy" - that's what my seat is for. The reins are there simply to provide guidance and request softness by asking for softness and RELEASING when it's given (the release is far far more important than the aid to request).

To answer the original question, mostly I mostly hack on long reins, but occasionally will do a bit of schooling (more likely in summer when I avoid riding in the arena in favour of hacking) whilst out on a hack.
 
whilst we are wandering along or jogging along aimlessly then i hve washing line reins, when we do a meaningful trot or having a nice collected canter i pick up the canter and he works properly, especially when we are working uphill, because this helps his topline that is a work in progress lol.

if we are out for a mess around i don't bother. jasper is very good at spinning in the canter, if i didn't have a contact and he wasn't working properly i wouldn't stay on him lol.
 
I usually ride with a loose contact out hacking but if we come across something he might be abit wary of i ask him to concentrate on being in an outline.

It works quite well to take his mind of what 'could' be scarey
 
both, warm up and cool down on a long rein and occasionally wander on a long rein during the ride.

we dont have a school so its not as simple as schools for schooling, hacks for relaxing they do both in both (during the few times we get in an arena anyway!)

i dont see why people think an outline is so hard or "cruel"- its not, if its a battle or hardwork you are doing it wrong IMO or you need to carry on teaching you and the horse (both schooling and hacking) its supposed to be natural and just "there" hard to explain but it just happens :)

hacking isnt just for tootling, how do you think we get them fit and well muscled in order to show?

how do you teach the horse to go well on grass, or alternative surfaces?

how do you teach the horse to distnguish between oh we're relaxing cos we arent in the school and getting them to work at their best in the middle of a grassy field with 30 other horses cantering past?

hacking should be just as much "work" as schooling, and schooling should be just as relaxing as hacking.

i dont see why there's such a huge to-do about outline, basically its working the horse correctly, through its back and hocks and building the right muscles, head carriage is a minor factor that comes from the previous things happening.

its also far comfier when the horse is rounded and not on the forehand!
 
I hack with a fairly gentle contact or as little as I can get away with but enough to give my horse 'instruction' as such, especially as she is new to hacking and I think they feel a bit more confident if they get clear aids from the rider early on. I try to do a bit of schooling whilst out too even if just 10 minutes worth as it gives them a little wake up and interest, but in the main I think hacking should be fun for you both whatever you do and whatever speed you take it at...and don't worry about what your friend thinks about your 'washing line' reins etc if you and your horse are safe and happy then that's what its all about we all want different things from our horses and our hobby :)

Just wanted to say also agree with 'loopylozza' along the lines that hacking and schooling should be treated as equally educational especially if you want well behaved horses & ponies!
 
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