how do people burn calories when horseback riding?

Question

I’ve never rode a horse, but it seems like the horse is doing the work while the human just sits there. I googled if calories are burn during horseback riding and I found that riding a horse for 45 min burns 200 calories. How is this possible if the humans not really doing anything except sit on the horse?

In: 0

Answer 1

Because you need to “move with the horse”. Not sure how to explain it differently.

But you definitely don’t just sit there with the horse doing all the work. At least not in a canter/gallop.