Saddle up for fitness (From Worcester News)

Saddle up for fitness

9:30am Saturday 7th January 2012 in Equestrian By Sara Pawsey

LOOKING after horses is good for you – and that’s official. Horse owners will be delighted to hear that caring for their animals is as beneficial as a daily gym workout.

Regular periods of trotting in a riding session and mucking out their animals will help an individual achieve or even exceed the Government’s recommended minimum level of physical activity, says Sport England.

And it’s not only their bodies that benefit. A recent survey revealed exercise with horses boosts the feel good factor, selfesteem and social interaction.

More than 1,200 people responded to the questionnaire by the British Horse Society and more than two thirds of those said they participated in horse riding and associated activities at least three times a week.

A range of evidence indicates the vast majority (more than 90 per cent) of horse riders are female and more than a third (37 per cent) of the female riders who took part in the survey were aged above 45. Horse riding is especially well-placed to play a valuable role in initiatives to encourage increased physical activity among women of all ages.

Among the horse riders who took part in the survey, 39 per cent had taken no other form of physical activity in the last four weeks.

This highlights the importance of riding to these people, who might otherwise lead sedentary lives.

Horse riders with a longstanding illness or disability who took part in the survey are able to undertake horse riding and associated activities at the same self-reported level of frequency and physical intensity as those without such an illness or disability.

Horse riders are strongly motivated to take part in riding by the sense of well-being and ‘positive feelings’ they gain from interacting with horses.

This important positive interaction with an animal occurs in very few sports.

Being outdoors and in contact with nature is an important motivation for the vast majority of horse riders, with a large percentage stating that contact with nature, scenery and views also motivated them.

The British Horse Society commissioned the University of Brighton in partnership with Plumpton College to research the physical health, psychological and well-being benefits of recreational horse riding.

Two scientific exercise testing trials were undertaken to analyse the physical exercise intensity of recreational horse riding.

More than two thirds (68 per cent) of questionnaire respondents achieved the government guidelines for exercise intensity and frequency (30 minutes for three times a week or more at moderate intensity) from horse riding and associated activities alone.

Of these respondents, 69 per cent achieved this level of intensity and frequency through horse riding and the other 21 per cent did so through associated activities such as mucking out and grooming.

Women have often been identified in government studies as being a social group with relatively low levels of participation in physical activity.

Some 93 per cent of questionnaire respondents were women and 49 per cent of female respondents were aged 45 or above.

These are comparable figures to a major Sport England survey which found that 90 per cent of those participating in equestrianism are women and 37 per cent of the female participants in equestrianism are aged 45 or above.

The gender and age profile of equestrianism is not matched by any other sport in the UK.

Data obtained in the questionnaire suggests that for some respondents with longstanding illnesses or disability, horse riding had actually improved their physical or mental condition.