Does anyone hack out to their lesson? (x-posted!)

[wildlifer]

@SuzieQNutter

This means they can never be taught to lead the blind like a guide dog. A dog can be taught to stop if a person tells them to cross the road when a car is coming.

Yes, I have to be that pedantic person - this is absolutely false. In fact, here in NC is one of the primary centers which trains seeing eye minis & their waiting list is very long. The mini horses are very successful guides for the blind.

To Op, I teach all my horses to ride roads safely, there’s a huge & useful skillset to be had. I ride and sometimes pony a 2nd horse to lessons (2 for 1 exercise). I make the horses carry my crap tho, I have a saddle bag with water bottle holders & zippered pockets. Saddle bag can easily be removed for lesson if needed. My phone is always velcroed to my calf tho - don’t attach it to the horse just in case you get separated.

Do make sure you are very visible. Do NOT ride with headphones in, you need to be able to hear. I ride on whichever side of the road has room for me (bc it’s rarely both) & always lookout for roadside debris.

And always tell someone when you are coming & going so if you don’t arrive, they know where to look.

[SuzieQNutter]

@wildlifer

Yes, I have to be that pedantic person - this is absolutely false. In fact, here in NC is one of the primary centers which trains seeing eye minis & their waiting list is very long. The mini horses are very successful guides for the blind.

To Op, I teach all my horses to ride roads safely, there’s a huge & useful skillset to be had. I ride and sometimes pony a 2nd horse to lessons (2 for 1 exercise). I make the horses carry my crap tho, I have a saddle bag with water bottle holders & zippered pockets. Saddle bag can easily be removed for lesson if needed. My phone is always velcroed to my calf tho - don’t attach it to the horse just in case you get separated.

Do make sure you are very visible. Do NOT ride with headphones in, you need to be able to hear. I ride on whichever side of the road has room for me (bc it’s rarely both) & always lookout for roadside debris.

And always tell someone when you are coming & going so if you don’t arrive, they know where to look.

Yes they can be taught to assist but as far as I know they cannot be trained to not cross a road if told to when a car is coming.

[shortenyourreins2]

Some really good advice above.

I would add, walk the route first at the same time and day of the week you plan to ride it. Because a road can look quiet one time, and be busy another. Know when garbage day is (loud banging garbage trucks! Fun!). Know if there is a school on the route and if so what time drop off and pick up is (distracted parents! Fun!) Know if there’s a church–could be dead quiet all week then super busy Sunday morning. Etc. For example, there’s a huge group of cyclists that rides on my route weekdays at lunch, who are pretty cool (but still freak out the horses). On weekend mornings it’s lots of small groups of recreational cyclists and they tend to be a-holes. Go figure.

I bring a hoof pick and some baling twine along with my cell phone but that might be because I watched too many episodes of MacGyver when I was a kid.

[EverElite]

Great advice! Thank you everyone. I would have never thought about the fanny pack (attached to myself rather than the horse in case we part company). Horze has a pretty awesome reflective quartersheet at a good price, which sounds like it is both a want AND a need.

Maresy is pretty brave and handles trails like a pro, but is still relatively green. I think this experience will be good not only for her, but for both of us to build the type of bomb-proof horse I’d like for her to - and think she could - be in a couple of years.

[Chall]

Way back in the 70s Central Park still had a stable. Those were hack horses and as far as I can recall, they stopped and waited for the lights.
Not so much the lights but for all traffic to stop, and then walked. But it’s NYC so there isn’t the possibility of crossing without waiting for a light.
They also walked themselves up the landings to their stalls by themselves (not all of them, but some).

[IFG]

@Chall

Way back in the 70s Central Park still had a stable. Those were hack horses and as far as I can recall, they stopped and waited for the lights.
Not so much the lights but for all traffic to stop, and then walked. But it’s NYC so there isn’t the possibility of crossing without waiting for a light.
They also walked themselves up the landings to their stalls by themselves (not all of them, but some).

This is actually where I learned to ride. I do not recall horses that knew about the lights. We halted at red lights, because that is what you had to do according to the NYC laws. Yes, the horses did know to go to their own stalls. They also used to let them out in the morning and evening to go to the water trough, and then to come back to their stalls. When Claremont was full, that avoided having to water many school horses. I suspect that is the way that livery horses were kept back in the day.

[merrygoround]

Hacking to lessons has the great advantage of a decent warm-up time. I would start slowly and carefully, after, as mentioned before checking traffic flow times.

Many noisy trucks are driven by kind considerate guys, particularly if you smile wave and give a slow down signal . That’s a flat hand sweeping slowly downward. Many will come to a stop until you ride past. .Beware tho, some are idiots. Make sure your horse is cool with LY, and S/I.

And, if you have access to a pasture along a busy road, use it!