Hack or School?

#teamequissimo Social Media Challenge Day 13: Hack or School?

First thoughts that spring into my mind are school over hack but is that my lost confidence taking over my thoughts.

My first horse I shared with dad a lovely hunter type and even though he wasn't the best at schooling it has always been my first choice. Although not sure playing chase me charlie at ever chance we got on the ponies is technically schooling.

When we moved to Hagbourne we suddenly had miles of hacking on our doorstep. We would be out for hours and I certainly learnt the art of getting lost, paper maps in our pockets, no phones with sat nav.

We have stunning landscape views and you could always find a string of jumps on your route to pop over.

Being an ex racer you would imagine Alfie loving letting his hair down and racing up the gallops. But no. Poor Alfie really gets his tail in a twist. It takes him two weeks to come off his ''go fast'' rush and calm down.

From time to time Nick comes with me for a longer ride up the downs and on our last ride Alfie cantered a grass stretch nice and calmly which was an amazing feeling but we wont be revisiting the gallops any time soon.

In the winter are fields are no good for riding so its mainly road work for Alfie when we aren't away competing or training. There are a few side routes we can't do solo as no matter how I hard I try I just can't persuade Alfie to through the mud patch or through the puddle. We have quite often got half way down a narrow track and had to somehow turn around and head back the way we came.

There is however something about just going for a walk round the village on the buckle, just the two us, chatting away, well me talking and Alfie hopefully listening.

When I was an instructor I loved taking out the hacks, we used to form a quiet controlled circle at one end of the long grass stretch and then in pairs leg it the other side. So much fun.

Having lost our confidence me and the Ninja don't go very far from home and tend to stick to our local mini village route with a human companion to keep us safe in case we need a leader.

At the same time his schooling attention span is rubbish so a Ninja combo of both is a good day's option.

Alfie is bit of a tit when it comes to things that make you go boooooooooo and he is very good at the quick sideways hop that is often rather unseating.

I love our schooling sessions with Alfie, a sense of accomplishment however small is a great way to brighten up the day