Well: Ask Well: Is Horseback Riding Good Exercise?

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A

It's very good exercise for the horse and, depending on how you ride, can be moderate or even strenuous exercise for you, too. According to a comprehensive and periodically updated scientific compilation of the energy costs of various physical activities, riding a horse requires in general about 5.5 METs, according to 2011 measurements. A MET is the metabolic equivalent of a task and measures how much energy is used during that movement, compared with being still. Sitting quietly is a 1 MET activity. For comparison, other activities at or close to 5.5 METs include recreational badminton and playing golf if you walk the course, pulling your bag of clubs.

The METs change with your mount's gait. Riding a horse at full gallop is a 7.3-MET activity, according to the compilation, similar in intensity to recreational roller blading or squash. The required exertion is a bit less than that if the horse is trotting, to 5.8 METs, and it falls drastically when riding a walking horse. That requires only 3.8 METs, the same as bowling.

Horseback riding improves muscular strength, particularly in the legs. In one study, adolescent girls who regularly rode horses had much stronger quadriceps and hamstring muscles than girls of the same age who did not ride. The equestrians did not have better bone density, though, underscoring that riding is not a weight-bearing activity, except for the horse.

Finally, if you want an even better workout from being around horses, muck out your mount's stall yourself. That work qualifies as a moderate 4.3-MET activity, the compilation finds.