Fashion in horse events

[brigadier]

Reading Haffy's post about the PC ride. These type of events have become enormously popular, whether hunt rides or PC or charity. Do you think its because its become trickier to hack on roads alone so there is more safety in numbers? Or has the countryside become more restricted so people go for access. Or has popularity grown because people have more access to transport, ie most people now have trailers/boxes? I know 25 years ago having a trailer was a proper luxury as opposed to the necessity it is now. Or are happy hackers just more adventurous? Thoughts?

[solomon]

Bit of all that I think Brig. When I first owned a horse in the 80's I never heard of such things. We always hacked to shows and friends who had trailers were super posh!
I like the idea of pleasure rides but only done a couple and actually hiring a cross country course for similar money is my preferred type of day out. Not that I have done much of that either! Too many nutters about!

[haffyfan]

Probably all of the above - I think a lot of people don't hack much these days as they don't have access to safe off road riding and traffic just gets worse, not to mention the idiotic drivers, so it's a safe and sometimes totally off road route to break up the arena riding.

Yesterdays event had extra appeal in the Xc jumps around the estate, for those who don't know of it they host an international horse trails, so have an array of fences of varying sizes and really good water jumps as a canal runs through the grounds. It was also cheaper than hiring a Xc course for an hour.

As said as a child we hacked miles to shows, yes it was 'posh' people who had trailers, we also just generally hacked miles. We once went through the middle of Hillsborough (in sheffield), past all the shops, on a Saturday morning to get to a place called Rivelin to ride with friends. Before supertram, i have to add, but it's very busy and my pony was terrible in traffic! Regulary rode there, past the Wednesday ground, to the shows in Hillsborough park too. Wouldn't dream of it now, Trams aside!

[zara]

As Sol and Haffy say probably a combination of factors. I'm becoming increasingly unhappy about riding on roads so as soon as Tordi is fit I want to get him "off road" by hiring a box etc.

[racaille]

Whenever I visit the UK I am appalled at the generally poor access to the countryside - footpaths made impassable, crow scarers set up alongside pathways, even bulls stationed on them. Or is that just East Anglia? I imagine bridle ways are even worse.

So I imagine lots of people leap at the chance to join an organised event just to get out safely. Are there any dedicated estates where you can just turn up and pay your money for a day's hacking? If not, someone is missing a trick.

[haffyfan]

I think it very much depends where you live Rac. Certainly certain places have better access than others, for eg Nottinghamshire has lots of areas with miles and miles of linked bridleways and of course plenty of woods! The North of Sheffield/Barnsley also has lots of linked riding and bridleways in general, especially since they opened the Trans Pennine Trail 15 yrs ago or so.

On your other point, Clumber park do day permits (or yearly) for riding and there are a few bridleways running through too, i'd be surprised if other places don't do it too but i guess it comes down to whether they are privately owned or not. Most of the Dukeries, bar Clumber, still is. All the estates here do have bridleways on/crossing their land but much is kept private of course.

[solomon]

I would love to do more off road hacking. Farmers in Hampshire are very anti- horse. Only know of two areas of set aside land on which we can hack. Lots of roadwork to get to them though!

[pboy]

I'm extremely lucky with my hacking (I say luck...I intentionally picked a yard with access to the Ridgeway). Not only do we have the Ridgeway, we also have a lot of well-maintained bridleways that run for miles over the Berkshire Downs. The only roadwork we do is through small villages with well-known racing yards so drivers are used to nervy horses and tend to be very careful - in one direction is Lockinge, former home of Best Mate, and in the other are the Letcombes which are the home of Coneygree so we have some great Cheltenham Gold Cup heritage! Most of the farming community locally have some involvement in NH racing, pointing or hunting so they are very horse friendly, and I suspect that want to keep bridleways clear so they can keep their own horses fit. The only people who don't let you ride through their land is the local shoot.

There are a few places nearby where you can pay to ride as well. As haffyfan says, it's generally privately owned places and often the old aristocracy or old farming families. However apparently farmers can make more money from subsidies by letting a few metres of each field grow wild to encourage nesting birds etc., and obviously that means no horses allowed.