Length of hacks

O

old_woman

a VERY senior citizen
Nov 14, 2006
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Deepest north Northumberland, on the side of a hil
For how long, and how far, do people hack?

I live in Northumberland, and can, and often do, ride for - literally - days on end. I realise that I'm very lucky indeed having the time to do this, and living in an area where I can, but even when I lived elsewhere, I've always enjoyed day-long rides on a regular basis. That doesn't necessarily mean I ride for an enormous number of miles (it depends on the terrain and the weather and the time of year) but it does mean that I am out with the horse for several hours.

How about you?
 
When I was young I lived in the middle of the fens of East Anglia. I regularly rode for 4-5 hours and also rode to and from shows, 16 miles each way not being unusual, all on bridleways and quiet roads

Now I live in the overcrowded Midlands I wouldn't say I even enjoy hacking and never go out for more than 2 hours most of which is on roads.

My retirement dream is to live somewhere where I could recapture the freedom of my youth, I suspect there are very few places it is possible.
 
I have access to the south downs, but have always been spoiled with hacking. Grew up near the black forest and rode at will, then moved my horse to the mountains, where I could go from B&B to B&B for days on end without seeing anyone :).

The sad thing is I hardly have time to ride these days, so tend to go out for 2 hours max :(. Usually less.
 
My shortest hack is about an hour but can usually average 1.5hrs if go round the block. If we go up the mountains then we are looking at 3-4 hours. We used to hack out on average 4 hours every sat and sun but since having my little girl have only managed 1 outing this long, usually only venture out for about 1.5-2hours :D
 
2 hour max most of the time - but hope to do some longer ones in the summer (just because of the light). It is work and 'real life' that sadly gets in the way as it is always dark!

But I love trail riding - do 6-8 hour days then. Given the choice I'd go out all day, I am very envious :)
 
eml... for years I lived in gloucestershire, with fairly limited hacking - 2 bridlepaths and some lanes... horses had to be alright in traffic to go any further afield, and the hacking was hemmed in by un-crossable main roads.

so no longer in 'rural' gloucestershire, and instead in suburban surrey... and I can hack for literally days on end without having to ride on the roads - although I do use some of the quieter roads, as think it is good to keep the horse accustomed. I worked out that it would be possible to ride all the way from here to brighton and beyond - I might try it in the summer - without having to ride along any main roads (obviously it would be neccessary to cross some - but all at safe crossing points)

Given that I am only 25 miles from the centre of london, it seems quite mad that the hacking is totally unlimited... but thats the beauty of being on protected national trust and forestry commission land, and the whole area is AONB north downs.

I often go out for 3-5 hours, but not any further yet - I do want to do a kind of hacking holiday though :)
 
One and half to two hours roughly, unless my friend and I are in a hurry (squeezing a quick one in one evening in the summer), then we usually go for just an hour round the block.:)

In my youth we sometimes did three or four hours, time away from children makes those tricky now.:eek:
 
Im lucky to have the South Downs too but at the moment just doing little rides, due to weather, lack of time and having a horse whose getting used to stonier surfaces. Looking forward to spring and summer and hoping to go out all day with a picnic.:)
I have ridden all day in the Cheviots, Oldwoman, which I think is your neck of the woods? That was fabulous.
 
The shortest I can go on is 30mins -and thats up to the top of my lane and to the bottom and back home again! (yes, thats how long my road is!)

The longest I have been on so far with Robbie is 4 1/2 hours long, could have been longer but he was getting tired and my bum hurt!
Longest with Honey is 6 hours long, now that was fun!, I went round 3 forrests and through 2 villages, took alot of water with me, and we stopped at a yard so she could have some water then carried on again!
 
Back in Essex our hacking is rubbish, can go up the lane and back for a 20 min ride, up the bridlepath, round the housing estate and back for 1 - 1 1/2 hours, or go up to the local park where ther'es a few canter tracks, which is a 2 hour ride. Never go any further!

In Sussex hacking is much better, me and friend go out round brighton racecourse and through the golf course which usually takes 1 1/2 hours but have also attempted once to go up onto the downs (although was very very windy and horses rebelled so we had to turn round!), once up there you can go on for hours :D It's great because you don't have to do any roadwork, only have to cross one road to get over to the racecourse, where cars generally stop to let you cross as they're so used to the racehorses crossing in huge strings :D
 
My basic bog standard hack is about 50 - 60 minutes. If I have more time we can do a couple of hours round a longer route. Unfortunately its all road work (albeit quiet roads). There is no off road hacking at all round here.

I can trailer him to the beach if I want and get a couple of hours riding up and down it.

If I take him over to Lucyad's she takes me out for a lot longer (and by the sounds of things I'll be on all day hacks by the end of summer:D)
 
I love nothing better than going out all day - unfortunately Flare and I not quite fit enough so building up. You can go out for a good 3 hours here without going too far from home but I intend on much longer hacks in the Spring / Summer.

You can hack out here all day without really going on a road, so roll on a bit more fitness for us both!
 
My shortest hacks would be about 10 mins!!! and the longest maybe an hour... :D :eek:

I'm kind of afraid that because I don't ride regularly maybe my horse isn't fit to do a 4 hour hack...???

Or is it just me being silly...??? Can any healthy horse take a 3-4 hour hack?
 
It varies but my average hack on a summer weekend if I'm not pushed for time will be anything up to 4 hours, but as short as a quick half hour blast round our XC course if I'm in a hurry, or the weather is poor.
 
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