happy hacking
your mental state If your horse gets worked up, you also need to consider your own mental state. If you are getting tense before hacking, you will transmit that to the horse, and he will react accordingly. There are many techniques you can use to get yourself into a better mental state, so you have a calming influence over your horse and are more equipped to deal with any situations. One of my favourites is ‘conscious breathing’. Before hacking, go into your arena and see how many walk strides it takes for you to breathe in, and how many to breathe out. If you are taking fewer than three strides for the in-breath, and four or fewer for the exhale, you are only ‘sipping’ tight breaths. See if you can breathe in for four strides, and exhale for five or more. Don’t force your breath, let your rib cage expand as you inhale and then sigh quietly as it goes out. Try the same in trot and canter. When you can breathe in this more expansive way in the school, go out on a hack and try it. After a while, you can forget about it, but check in with yourself before you get home from your hacking and see if your breathing has changed.
If you’re preparing for competition, especially horse trials and endurance, hacking and fittening work are an integral part of a horse’s training Reduce the energy in his feed to reduce his energy!
Top Tip If your horse is disobedient on hacks, use half-halts and transitions to make him listen 27