Hacking Alone

Riding out on your own is one of the real pleasures of keeping a horse. A short, unsentimental list of what to do first.

Nobody should talk you out of hacking alone.

It is quieter, you go at your own pace, and a horse that only ever rides out in company never learns to be brave on its own. It is also the situation in which things most often go wrong, so it is worth being deliberate about.

The precautions are short and none of them spoil the ride.

Before you go

Tell one person the route and a rough time. Take a phone in a pocket, not in a saddlebag that leaves with the horse. Wear something high-visibility even in summer, because a driver coming round a hedge at fifty has less than two seconds. Check the girth twice - once in the yard and once after five minutes.

That is the whole list.

Building up to it

Start with a route you have ridden in company, in daylight, on a horse that is settled. Extend gradually. A young or nervous horse meeting its first solo hack should meet it on a short familiar loop, not on the day you decide to go somewhere new.

If it goes badly, go back a step rather than pushing through. There is no schedule.