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Post by fleabitten on May 11, 2015 20:39:35 GMT
A thread on horse and hound forum got me thinking - it was about long hacks and what people consider a long hack. I was quite shocked really that a lot of people thought a hack of 3+ hours was a long hack and a normal hack 1-2 hrs.
Personally my local hacking is all roadwork but all hilly routes and are 3-4 miles and take around 1hr to 1hr15 approx depending on how much you trot. This would be a normal hack for me and anything less would be a short hack. The long routes that we have would be about 1hr and a half to 2hrs with trot work but i havent done them so far and didnt do them very often last year, maybe every couple of weeks or so. So really i would say that the very very maximum length of hack i would do would be 6 miles at a push.
On that thread people were saying 10+ miles and that would be to me like an endurance ride, not just like regular exercise!
Maybe im too soft! Ive never known anybody to hack for miles or hours, i suppose i was 'brought up' that 1hr give or take was a good amount of time for daily exercise!
What length are your hacks and what do you consider a long hack?
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Post by solomon on May 12, 2015 9:24:58 GMT
Before Petes problems we would often do 2-3 hour hacks. Longest was famously a 4hour where we did get a bit lost had no food or water with us and used a footpath to get home! In Spain we are out for hours but it's so beautiful and relaxed I am never saddle sore.
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Post by zara on May 12, 2015 13:09:37 GMT
The hacks from my yard vary in length from 30 mins to 4 hours+. My usual hacks take 1 - 1 1/2 hours. The routes and time I take are usually dictated by time, horse fitness and traffic! As Sol says in Spain we are out for 5 hours with 4 of those spent in the saddle with several canters / gallops and I never feel sore and the horses never fel tired!
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haffyfan
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Post by haffyfan on May 12, 2015 16:30:29 GMT
I'm normally out 1 to 2 hours unless i do a short hack which is what i class as just around the common. This takes from about 40 mins to an hour depending on the route and is the shortest circular route i have (couple of miles probably). Never took any notice of distance but 5 miles would sound reasonable for a 'normal' hack here and 10 (or more) would be easily doable too!
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Post by fleabitten on May 12, 2015 17:09:41 GMT
Would yous have a lot of bridle paths? I cant imagine hacking for hours on the roads (which is all we have here)
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haffyfan
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Post by haffyfan on May 12, 2015 18:38:54 GMT
All my hacking is off road Flea, there is a bridleway right outside the gate up to the common (which is also farm access as they have fields up there too so we call it 'the lane') and the woods are then connected to the common, again no road work or anything and they stretch for miles. With road crossings only i can also access Clumber and another route links to a different and much smaller country park, again only road work being to cross the roads...the roads even to cross take a brave rider as everyone drives fast in the sticks, and several are major A roads.
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Post by zara on May 12, 2015 19:58:02 GMT
I do a lot of road work with just short spells on bridle paths etc
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Post by pboy on May 12, 2015 20:32:20 GMT
My 'round the block' hack is an hour, though there is a shorter 45 min version. The event horses trot most of it in less than that for fitness! To me a long hack is 2 hours or more, and a 'day ride' would be four or more hours of riding plus a lunch stop, preferably at a pub - I hope to do a few of these in the summer  As Sol says in Spain we are out for 5 hours with 4 of those spent in the saddle with several canters / gallops and I never feel sore and the horses never fel tired! Bear in mind though that the horses are usually in work before they get to Los Alamos and they still take around 3 months (on average) to get up to full working fitness, and usually up to a year before they can really keep up in the gallops! They are very comfy horses though  |
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Post by brigadier on May 13, 2015 8:41:57 GMT
Currently doing eight hours a day in very challenging terrain. Simply fabulous. Normal hack for me would be 45 mins to two hours but happy to do longer 'pub' rides or an endurance or pleasure ride.
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Post by racaille on May 27, 2015 5:26:30 GMT
Don't usually do roadwork and I certainly wouldn't want to do a long outing on roads! I generally don't think it's worth the effort of tacking up for anything under an hour, which I would consider a quick twirl round. Two hours would be a normal hack but a long one for me would be three hours plus.
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Post by fleabitten on May 27, 2015 15:03:44 GMT
I think that's probably the problem. If you were to cover 5 to 10 miles in less than 2 hours you'd have to do a LOT of trotting on the roads. I'm not averse to trotting on the roads but I dont like the thought of doing most of the ride in trot!
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