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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If you’re not an athlete, try sitting up perfectly straight without leaning on anything for an hour. You’ll notice that that alone takes a surprising amount of effort if you’re not used to it.
Compound that with just offsetting the movement of the horse- every step is a shift of the body that you have to compensate for just to stay on.
If the horse walks along a trail without much input from you, you’ll probably expend about as much energy as you would walking yourself, but any quicker means you’re constantly in motion the same way a boxer is.
Think of it a little like an elliptical vs a treadmill? Maybe not the best comparison.
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