Horse are good for humans. There is a reason why horses are used in therapy and why many humans make horses part of their life’s journey.
Horse offer benefits to humans not only physically, but mentally and emotionally. Horses can help humans heal broken hearts, burn calories, get physically fit, and get in-tune with their emotions and also their responsibilities.
There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man. Click To TweetA horse can offer a silent friendship and trust that cannot often be found with other humans. They are free of judgement and offer people a chance to connect with other people that share a similar love of horses. Horse can heal -in many ways and opportunities.
Physical Benefits Of Horse Interactions
Calories – A few sites suggest that riding with a combination of walking, trotting, and cantering in 45 minutes can burn approximately 200 calories.
Sitting the trot for at least 5 minutes and using your abs to center your body and absorb the motion of the horse can also burn calories AND tone your core. The MyFitnessPal app states that a person horseback riding (generally) for 15 minutes can burn approximately 65 calories. Posting and sitting the trot are both good exercises for working your core and legs.
The Walker Tracker app (which can sync to your Apple Health app on your iPhone) states that a “converted” activity such as horseback riding for 30 minutes is approximately 2,700 steps! This is fantastic for those who want to reach a daily goal of 10,000 steps.
The more active you are – posting, jumping, trotting without stirrups, etc. the more calories you will burn.
Muscles – Horseback riding takes muscle! Holding your arms steady, engaging your core, and using your legs to balance and stay upright is all good, physical exercise. Riding without stirrups further strengthens your legs, back, and core because the need to stabilize and balance has been intensified.
Balance is improved with time in the saddle and with strengthened muscles. Horseback riding works the abductors, hamstrings, calves, and glutes. There is a reason riders can brag about their “thighs of steel” in horseback riding – because after continuous time in the saddle, both leg and core strength increase.
Posture- “Look up.” One of the most common phrases in horseback riding is to “look up!” Good posture in the saddle affects everything. It distributes your weight correctly and encourages soft hands, strong legs, and clear riding aids.
Good posture also helps burn a few calories and strengthen your muscles too. It allows a good flow of energy down through your heels and out through your hands. Try riding with better posture and you might find your horse responds better to your commands.
Mental and Emotional Healing and Strength
Involvement with horses creates an amazing work ethic because horses make us work! They need fed, watered, cleaned up after, groomed, and exercised. They can help people develop a routine and responsibility.
Interacting with equines can also help autism. This helps create an emotional bond many autistic people struggle to develop.
Horseback riding offers and opportunity for anyone struggling with autism a chance to develop their communication skills and their cognitive abilities.
Riding fun and exciting and autistic children can give the horse direction as well as better understand any instructions they are given by their teachers in this type of environment. Horseback riding offers heightened sensory, physical, and emotional sensations they may normally struggle with.
Horses are used in therapy for many reasons. People respond to horses in a positive manner (once they learn there is nothing to fear.) Studies have shown that horses and horseback riding can improve the symptoms of depression as well as those afflicted by PTSD. Horse interaction with humans can help with human behavioral issues and lowers levels of stress.
Benefits of horses can help people who have suffered from addiction, trauma, and physical disabilities overcome emotional and physical impairments. Horse are sensitive to emotions and can react as a mirror to our own feelings.
If a person acts out in anger the horse may back away or raise its head in anger or fear or try to flee. People learn that their behavior and feelings affect the way this enormous creature reacts.
These interactions can help people pinpoint their feelings and work through them. They offer opportunities for people to connect with these wonderful animals by revealing what affects them or has traumatized them.
Horses offer people the chance to learn, trust, and heal through interaction , whether it be in the saddle or on the ground. Humans must work to keep a good relationship with a horse so it trusts them – a key concept that can be then extended to other people in their lives.
If you have gained the trust of a horse, you have won a friend for life. Click To TweetHorses have shown that they can provide both physical and mental benefits to people of all ages and all walks of life. If you have suffered trauma, depression, addiction, loneliness, or a physical or mental disability, spending time with horses can help you heal.
Whether its riding or simply petting their soft noses, the benefits of horses improve humans’ quality of life. You can google riding stables or therapeutic riding opportunities near you to become involved with these beautiful creatures.
Horses aren't my whole life, they make my life whole. Click To Tweet
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