Does horseback riding count?

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Replies

  • blakecartersuper
    blakecartersuper Posts: 1
    its an exersise. it should count,at least i think it should.
  • DrBorkBork
    DrBorkBork Posts: 4,099 Member
    Oh my, have you SEEN how ripped jockeys are? Horse riding is DEFINITELY exercise!
  • JamieDD
    JamieDD Posts: 175 Member
    Of course it counts! I know my legs get a workout while riding. :)

    Hi to DrBorkBork
  • JamieDD
    JamieDD Posts: 175 Member
    Whoa! I just went to see where the OP is from and her account is deactive. :(
  • amarks0602
    amarks0602 Posts: 1
    Just joined MFP and am really excited to see that there are other riders on here. I wore a HRM a while ago while riding and was surprised at the calorie burn. I am going to find it and wear it again soon. I have two horses keeping me busy. My warmblood is exhausting to ride - he is very forward and spooky, keeping me on my toes. I just started retraining my OTTB - she isn't quite as tiring to ride, especially since a lot of time is spent getting her to relax at the walk and trot. Do any of you live in Maryland?
  • j9pezzino
    j9pezzino Posts: 1
    I recently started taking horseback riding lesson, and I'm just up the point where my instructor has me posting at a trot. When I went to put horseback riding into my app they had categories for walking and trotting, but I'm guessing (based exclusively on how I feel afterwards) that I'm burning more calories posting, then I did while sitting and trotting. Can anyone confirm this and help me out with how many more calories?
  • LAT1963
    LAT1963 Posts: 1,375 Member
    Absolutely yes. Riding horses is exercise.
  • CherokeeBabe
    CherokeeBabe Posts: 1,704 Member
    I grew up riding horses until I was 18, it absolutely is exercise. Especially if you go the English-style and work posting (aka basically bouncing with the motion of the horse, driven mostly by your thigh muscles, not from literally bouncing off the saddle) into your riding. I did it so much in my early developing years that I got "thunderthighs" from it that have never gone away. You can also work a lot of great stretching into the warm-up of your ride. Throw in grooming, mucking stalls, whatever extras you might want to do at a stable and you are burning calories just fine. :)
  • HazelMcNutty
    HazelMcNutty Posts: 85 Member
    If you get the right horse to work with it can totally be strength training as well.. Up until I was 25 I had worked with horses and did no other exercise. I ate like a pig and was still stick skinny, 5'5 and over 160 lbs. It was always fun being lean and strong because at amusement parks and fairs there was never a "guess your weight" guy I couldn't stump. They'd always guess me around 110. :P

    Man I miss my horses...
  • halaghh
    halaghh Posts: 20 Member
    Anyone that doesn't think it is exercise obviously hasn't ever ridden seriously! English riding is definitely more strenuous. It's mostly effective for leg toning. My legs are the one area that I'm not trying to lose weight in. I ride English competitively and have 6 horses.
  • Nicola0000
    Nicola0000 Posts: 531 Member
    Anyone that doesn't think it is exercise obviously hasn't ever ridden seriously! English riding is definitely more strenuous. It's mostly effective for leg toning. My legs are the one area that I'm not trying to lose weight in. I ride English competitively and have 6 horses.

    Lol, yes, its always the non riders who think you just sit there and do nothing!! Im drenched with sweat when Ive finished, and Im sore the next day!
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
    The original post was from 2011. The new question is if posting burns more calories than sitting a trot.

    Carry on! :tongue:
  • mountainmare
    mountainmare Posts: 294 Member
    I have a large dressage warmblood and my HRM says that when I sit even her working trot I burn more than rising the trot. It depends on the horse and what type of riding you do and how big the horses gaits are.
  • h7463
    h7463 Posts: 626 Member
    Hahaha....that's a good one...never thought about counting calories on riding....but I wore my heart rate monitor for working in the hay....3:40h and 1518 calories burnt...walked 7.7 miles up and down the hills in the process...cancelled my training for the day.... =)
  • laceyf53
    laceyf53 Posts: 110 Member
    I'm also excited to see all the horseback riders! One of my main reasons for losing all this weight is to be lighter for my poor horses, who carry me around anyway. I'll have to wear a heart rate monitor one of these days. Tomorrow I'm going out for 4 hours, so I'm definitely going to burn some calories!
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