Horse riders/riding?

slavetothehoof
slavetothehoof Posts: 42 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I was wondering how many horse riders are using this site/app and how you find your daily chores up the farm help with your weight loss

Replies

  • SandraJN
    SandraJN Posts: 305 Member
    I am a retired horse breeder and currently the owner of 18 horses, including one remaining stallion. I haven't actually ridden one of them for a few years, but I do the daily chores involved in keeping them.

    I find that the day-to-day hasn't done anything for weight control but that it is helpful in maintaining strength. I feel it is the same with riding, unless the horse and rider are in more intense training. I should say that I am 60. Although I hardly believe it to be true.:wink:

    Once a week we strip and re-bed the nineteen stalls (I have one boarded horse) and I do count that as exercise because it is hard work and it is not my daily work. I do not consider maintenance stall cleaning, leading horses in and out or feeding them as exercise because that is a daily job.

    I am working toward being able to ride a bit this spring, which is one of my motivators for losing weight. I'm very pleased to meet another horse person here.
  • slavetothehoof
    slavetothehoof Posts: 42 Member
    I'm currently doing endurance training with my horse so I'm riding for 2 1/2 hours a day, which is really helping to keep my weight off.
  • SandraJN
    SandraJN Posts: 305 Member
    That would count as strenuous training! With a proper diet you should lose weight and gain strength and muscle in no time.
  • Piper911
    Piper911 Posts: 46 Member
    I think it depends on how much you put into it. When I'm just hacking around prob not much of a burn. But there is plenty of stuff you can do riding to keep that heart rate up and make your muscles work! I give lessons and take great pleasure when my students tell me they are sore the next day! Let me know if you need any ideas I'm full of torture I mean helpful excersises lol. And I have actually gone into this journey with an opposite way of thinking. Instead of wondering what riding can do to help my fitness I have been excited to see what getting fitter has done for my riding! So all in all I do use it as a tool to help with fitness but think you must supplement with other forms of excersise to be successful!
  • slavetothehoof
    slavetothehoof Posts: 42 Member
    I try to get the jobs done as quick as possible so I have longer to ride, but I do other exercises as well, I work in a bar on a weekend and there is a lot of carrying heavy crates up and down stairs and I have a second job as a delivery driver which again is carrying boxes and a lot of walking plus I bike or walk to the farm on my days off (about 3 times a week) I've also started walking to the bar as well as it saves petrol and I get a good 8 mile walk to and from work so I can wind down.

    Piper911 as long as your helpful/torture exercises can be done on a hightly strung tb I'm willing to try anything as long as it doesnt require standing up in my stirrups for too long as he thinks he's back in racing and bolts with me, its fun but doesn't help with his and my training for endurance, show jumping and hinter trials.
  • SophieA9083
    SophieA9083 Posts: 63
    There are a few other sites I have found that will tell you roughly how many calories you burn doing specific tasks, I haven't been able to ride whilst I've been at uni, so this time I've had 3 months off and I'm hoping 'Taffy' will notice I'm not such a sack of potatoes and my bottom will look nice in the saddle! On the other-hand I also hope that he listens to leg aids now he hasn't got a clumsy rider riding him every day who sort of knows what she is doing after having 8 years off! I'm going home in 4 weeks and I can not wait for saddle sore!!!!
  • SophieA9083
    SophieA9083 Posts: 63
    I try to get the jobs done as quick as possible so I have longer to ride, but I do other exercises as well, I work in a bar on a weekend and there is a lot of carrying heavy crates up and down stairs and I have a second job as a delivery driver which again is carrying boxes and a lot of walking plus I bike or walk to the farm on my days off (about 3 times a week) I've also started walking to the bar as well as it saves petrol and I get a good 8 mile walk to and from work so I can wind down.

    Piper911 as long as your helpful/torture exercises can be done on a hightly strung tb I'm willing to try anything as long as it doesnt require standing up in my stirrups for too long as he thinks he's back in racing and bolts with me, its fun but doesn't help with his and my training for endurance, show jumping and hinter trials.

    Definitely know what you mean about standing in the stirrups and saying goodbye to your life, if I drop all contact he suddenly picks up and stops being a pretty (grumpy) TB. I went to a Yogi Breisner class with my teacher and we watched these pony club kids do several laps all standing in their stirrups then doing everything in light seat....we tried this a few days later for a laugh on a hack and suddenly someone got excited! Also they did some exercises where you take away all contact, if you can, and lift your feet and legs up and out so you are pretty much on your seat bones...the next thing was lifting your legs from the stirrups, up out back and down in slow circular movements and when you're good enough shut your eyes....that was also very interesting!

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