What age/experience for hacking alone?

Fatkittythinkitty · 2023-04-13T12:07:14+00:00

My 12 year old started riding lessons in September. She has well and truly caught the bug and spends every spare penny she has on extra lessons. She can canter confidently and has had some jumping lessons. She's been on hacks with an instructor. I know nothing about horses and ponys. I barely know one end from another. The stables she goes to apparently (according to her) offer some sort of short term loan in the summer holidays where you pay x amount for a week with a pony where you're expected to go everyday and muck them out etc and can take them out on hacks. She reckons some kids her age and younger at the stables will be doing this. I think she's too young and inexperienced. Even if I walked alongside her on a hack I'd be no use other than being able to call an ambulance if she fell off. I can have a chat with the stables of course but just wondered what others thought? I get she wants to move on from one hour lesson a week but I don't know how to offer her more without it costing a fortune.

Honeyroar · 13/04/2023 13:11

I think my stepson rode out on his own at 12 or 13, but he’d ridden for a few years by then and had a saint of a pony. He’d been doing road safety lessons at pony club and I followed him in the car a few times initially too. I’m also a qualified instructor, so know his level of riding. There is endless hacking on tracks and little, barely used, lanes around us.

id speak to the riding school, but I’d think she’s not experienced enough really.

Lastqueenofscotland2 · 13/04/2023 13:23

I would be AMAZED if a riding school with BHS or ABRS accreditation would allow this. Absolutely fucking not.
Id speak to the school but also check if they are with the BHS or ABRS, if they are and this is indeed true I’d be reporting it, if they aren’t accredited with one of both, I’d be looking for a new school

Original poster

Fatkittythinkitty · 13/04/2023 13:30

Well I'm only hearing about this 3rd hand via preteens so I'm not entirely sure she's even got the right end of the stick.

It did get me thinking about where she goes from weekly lessons and when. Especially with clueless parents. I think the answer from reading both replies is it's going to be a good few years before she'd be in a position to loan a pony - and we'd have to look into the type of loan very carefully.

Thanks both

OP posts:

Lastqueenofscotland2 · 13/04/2023 13:52

I should add many many riding schools offer loans, usually it’s essentially a way to make some ££ off you and have the jobs done too…
generally do the stable chores and ride in the arena with half arsed supervision rather than a lesson.

RatherBeRiding · 13/04/2023 13:56

What type of hacking though? Off road round the fields on safe tracks on a well behaved pony and no way of getting onto the roads in case of a fall - sure. Anything else - not a chance in hell. I don't think my daughter hacked on her own till she was about 16 and was an experienced rider, the pony was extremely good in traffic, and she only went on farm tracks/back roads. I have a pony who is pretty saintly but there are times when I wonder what the hell I think I'm doing venturing out on the roads alone! A lot of car drivers are utterly ignorant when it comes to passing horses.

ElizabethBest · 13/04/2023 14:00

There's absolutely no chance a novice 12 year old would be safe hacking alone. No way. I used to hack alone at 13/14, but I started riding when I was 3.

You say you know nothing about horses. So to put it in context, change horse to car. Now imagine that car also has free will and independent thought. Would you be happy for her to drive it alone?

Lisbeth50 · 13/04/2023 14:08

I wonder if hacks/lessons are included as part of the loan arrangement but these are with an instructor/as part of a group but you don't have to pay for them because you've already paid as part of the loan.

CheeseMcKnees · 13/04/2023 14:13

How long is a piece of string?
12 year old hacking with 12+ or an adult, fine.
12 year old supervising less experienced? No
Hacking round a farm off road? Safe as long as they can follow rules.

Speak to the RS as 12 is plenty old enough to loaning a pony, most 8-9 year olds in PC are pretty self sufficient.

cocksstrideintheevening · 13/04/2023 14:16

On her own? Not a chance in hell!

I doubt you are getting the full story.

We are moving into loan territory now, it doesn't involve hacking on their own.

All the helpers / loaners have to have pony club membership for insurance reasons.

Floralnomad · 14/04/2023 00:22

I hacked alone at 12 but that was on my own horse , I’d also been riding since I was 4 . I agree with a pp that I’d be amazed if a reputable, properly insured riding school were allowing this .

liveforsummer · 14/04/2023 07:09

I doubt that they are just left to their own devices in a riding school setting like this. All the riding schools I've ever experienced offering this have a schedule for the kids to follow and any riding will be supervised. They wouldn't be insured to let novice children go out on their own and they'd be mad to risk their ponies like that too. I'd speak to them and confirm exactly how it works but sounds like a lot of fun and a nice experience

Brilop · 14/04/2023 09:41

Mine hacked alone at 12 but they'd done their PC road rider training and had a phone with a tracker on it and confirmed the route with me. Also had a very safe pony that she'd had for 6 years - wish we still had him he was an angel. She was a very strong rider and a sensible sort.

Brilop · 14/04/2023 09:42

Hacking is lovely though OP, so couldn't you go with her? I was the slimmest I've ever been when I had to jog alongside mine on hacks!

BaroldBalonz · 14/04/2023 11:19

Speak to the stables, my friends daughter did a similar thing and absolutely loved it. I'd be very surprised if they just get total freedom to do whatever they like, probably more structured days with supervision. Do you know anyone with horses at all? Even a friend of a friend? They'll be able to help you more with local knowledge of the stables than us bunch of randoms can online.

MyopicBunny · 14/04/2023 11:54

At my daughter's riding school, they offer guided hacks for children in novice and above but they certainly don't send children out by themselves.

JaffavsCookie · 16/04/2023 00:01

The local riding school round here does exactly that. Loaners get all of Sunday to themselves and it is totally unsupervised, cue mad hacks with groups of very novicey kids, over jumping etc etc. They aren’t BHS approved though, lots of riding schools aren’t.

Deliaskis · 17/04/2023 13:16

I think it's experience more than age. I was hacking alone at about that age but on my well known loan pony and I had been riding since I was 4. My DD is now 12 and she has hacked on her own pony unsupervised with 1 friend off road quite a lot, and with 1 friend or alone on the (semi-rural) road. I don't let her go with more than 1 as her pony gets feisty in a group, and prefer them to be off road. She's not allowed to hack bareback unless there is an adult on the ground.

We started off wtih a lot of hacks wtih 1 of us on the ground walking with her, and then started a little bit of...OK you carry on to the next stile then turn around and come back (on linear routes), and expanded that, until I walked her the little bit of road, saw her onto the track and left her to it. What I mean is if you do eventually allow it, I would suggest working up to it gradually.

Badhairday101 · 30/04/2023 20:33

My daughter is 12 and I don't let her hack alone yet. She's been around horses all of her life and is a confident rider but I've also had horses since being a teen and know how quickly things can go wrong

I just walk with her at the moment, she canters off and comes back for regular check ins and it's all on tracks/fields and I know the route. She fell off a few weeks ago on a hack, she was fine and her pony was as good as gold and just stood still but if she had have been hurt or her pony had run off she is too young to know how to deal with it and would be scared.
I'd speak to the riding school and check exactly what's involved.

XelaM · 30/04/2023 21:22

A riding school will not allow your novice daughter to take one of their ponies on a hack alone. It's simply not possible.

My daughter has been hacking with friends since she was about 11 but it's on her own pony and she has been riding and in Pony Club since she was about 6. even then, she doesn't hack on her own. She has a friend on either a pony or on foot accompanying her. It's very dangerous to go hacking alone.

Having said that, a loan from a riding school could be fun for your daughter. It will be like caring for her own pony, but she will not be allowed to do whatever she wants with a riding school pony and hacking on her own will definitely be forbidden.

JaffavsCookie · 30/04/2023 22:05

How much things have changed XelaM, at that age i would hack 4 miles each way to pony club rallies. Never a mention of it being too dangerous to hack alone.
Having said that my own dc weren’t hacking alone at 12, i did make sure I always hacked out with them.

XelaM · 30/04/2023 23:43

We had an adult wanting to share my daughter's pony and she hacked out on her, fell off and lost her! My daughter was with her on foot, but she cantered off and then returned without the pony! Thankfully a stranger noticed a pony in full tack without a rider and caught her. Not before they spent about 45 minutes looking for her. It was very scary as anything could have happened. My daughter's pony was an absolute sweetheart and usually a saint but she clearly didn't like the sharer very much.

twistyizzy · 02/05/2023 20:29

Firstly is the yard a BHS approved yard? If not then I would highly recommend changing yards. BHS approval doesn't guarantee a perfect yard but it should include trained abd qualified instructors. Safety is paramount with horses so it is essential that kids are taught the safe abd correct way of handling + riding them.
Secondly if it is BHS approved/proper levels of insurance then no child under the age of 16 should ride unaccompanied.
Thirdky unless your DD has passed her Ride Safe on the Road exam then she shouldn't be hacking on her own or in groups of others without an instructor. There are legal requirements for riders under the Highway Code etc and it is important that she understands these as well as how to deal with a horse on a hack, out of the safety of the arena.
Finally if she does want to eventually loan a horse then I would recommend you both get stable management lessons from a BHS instructor to teach you about: saddlery + fitting tack, worming, feeding, care of the hoof, care of the horse at grass + in stable, Equine first aid, rugs + rugging just as starters for the very basics.

twistyizzy · 02/05/2023 20:29

Firstly is the yard a BHS approved yard? If not then I would highly recommend changing yards. BHS approval doesn't guarantee a perfect yard but it should include trained abd qualified instructors. Safety is paramount with horses so it is essential that kids are taught the safe abd correct way of handling + riding them.
Secondly if it is BHS approved/proper levels of insurance then no child under the age of 16 should ride unaccompanied.
Thirdky unless your DD has passed her Ride Safe on the Road exam then she shouldn't be hacking on her own or in groups of others without an instructor. There are legal requirements for riders under the Highway Code etc and it is important that she understands these as well as how to deal with a horse on a hack, out of the safety of the arena.
Finally if she does want to eventually loan a horse then I would recommend you both get stable management lessons from a BHS instructor to teach you about: saddlery + fitting tack, worming, feeding, care of the hoof, care of the horse at grass + in stable, Equine first aid, rugs + rugging just as starters for the very basics.

TheSnowyOwl · 02/05/2023 20:32

I rode out alone at 12 but I had a decade’s experience behind me at that stage.

What will your daughter do when she falls off (it happens to most of us at some point)? Can she get herself home? Can she catch her horse and get them home? What happens if either of them need medical treatment? How well does she know the hacking routes? What about flashers (a memorable incident from my childhood)? If she gets lost, what will be her plan to get home? What’s the insurance for her and the horse whilst out?