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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Your supposition is completely incorrect about just sitting there. First, you must sit erect but relaxed. You must keep your eyes up, elbows at your side, and heels down. A rider with good posture (called equitation) if looked at from the side, will have their ear/shoulder/hip/heel in a straight, vertical line. You must not lean left or right. You must allow your hips to follow the motion of the horse. At the walk, only one foot is off the ground at a time, so you have less motion but an experienced rider can tell you exactly what foot is off the ground at any given time. At the trot, the diagonal pair of legs move at the same time and it can be quite bouncy. Riders may choose to post, which is rising out of the saddle for one beat. More experienced riders can sit the trot because they’ve mastered how to absorb and follow the motion with their seat and core. The canter/lope is a three-beat gait where an outside hind leg strikes off, followed by the inside hind leg and outside foreleg moving in unison, and finally the inside foreleg. This footfall leads to a moment of suspension in every beat and takes a lot of coordination and strength to move in unison with the horse. The gallop is faster than the canter except that it is four beats instead of three. You also influence the horse through balance and your core. A well-trained horse, especially a western horse, is minimally guided by the reins. You do not hold on with your hands at all. That’s just what it takes to do the basics. Throw in the extended trot of a dressage horse, jumping, cutting a cow, or a reining horse sliding to a stop and it’s easy to see why equestrians are athletes. There is also a large mental component. By that, I mean you must ride every stride and not just space out. You must cue, evaluate, and plan (where you’re going, how you’re going, and situational awareness) constantly. Eventually, it becomes second nature and not as cerebral, but it is still a factor. I start beginners a maximum of 20 minutes riding and they’re still sore because the muscles you use for riding are not muscles that most people use daily. You’re also not sitting on the fluff of your glutes, but rather the ischial tuberosity (seat bones) which get really sore. My average day at the barn (cleaning stalls, moving hay/grain, cleaning/filling water buckets, grooming, saddling, riding a couple) is at least 2000 calories burned per my Galaxy watch.
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