How many calories do you really burn horseback riding?

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lmvolk
lmvolk Posts: 51 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I have seen some estimates as high as 700 calories per hour, and others more like 200 calories per hour. I personally think the 700 calories is how many the HORSE burns, but am curious what the consensus is. I know your heartrate goes up a lot, but I'm not sure that is the only factor in how many calories you burn.

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  • RainbootsToBikinis
    RainbootsToBikinis Posts: 465 Member
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    It depends on what your doing. If your just walking with a well trained horse then your probably not burning many. But if you're doing a lot of posting trots then that would be a lot more calories, same with if your doing jumping or gaming or something else more physically demanding than just walking. Riding is also a great ab workout.
  • lmvolk
    lmvolk Posts: 51 Member
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    Thanks, that explains it
  • Lanfear
    Lanfear Posts: 524
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    Actually, you'd be really surprised at exactly how many calories you burn riding! Wearing a Polar FT4 HRM, I've had burns of 600+ in a riding lesson.... Usually it's between 450-600. The higher burns tend to be on lessons where we're jumping. But, in a normal hour's lesson we spend 90% of the time trotting or cantering - mostly trotting - and if you're usually riding slightly stubborn cobs that's a lot of effort!!!! :)

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