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?
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There’s a lot going on while riding a horse. If the horse is doing a lazy walk (like you’ll find in most trail rides) you aren’t doing much, this is true, but if the horse is doing anything faster than that you need to do a lot, too.
For example, just keeping yourself upright is a *hell* of a lot of work. Then you’ve got the fact that you’re on the back of a moving animal, meaning it’s going to be bouncing you up and down as it moves along. If you want to save your back (as well as your balls) from injury, you’re going to have to half-stand in the saddle while simultaneously gripping the horse with you knees and thighs while keeping your core tensed up in order to keep yourself upright. And that’s at a quick walk, we haven’t even gotten into the higher rates of speed yet.
Or, God forbid, *turning*.
Horse riding is a *hell* of a workout. Those that ride a horse for a living (yes, cowboys are still very much a thing) are generally in amazing shape.
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