Horseback Riding for Cardiovascular Health and Well-being

Harness the health benefits

Horse riding for cardiovascular health and well-being.

Spending time around animals forms a Healthy Bond for Life^TM. And horseback riding may promote your health and well-being. Check out all these reasons to get in the saddle!

Horse riding is a form of physical activity and may help with:

• Cardiovascular health ‒ Horseback riding can be good aerobic exercise.
  
  
• Core strength ‒ Maintaining good posture in the saddle may ignite your core muscles.
  
  
• Muscle strength ‒ Riding requires strength, as does saddling a horse and carrying buckets of hay and water.
  
  
• Burning calories ‒ Riding requires strength, as does saddling a horse and carrying buckets of hay and water.
  
  
• Lowering blood pressure ‒ Exercise (such as horse riding) may lower your blood pressure — and so does spending time with animals.
  
  
• Relaxing and well-being ‒ Riding and being out in nature may help melt away stress and find calm.

Horse sense: Recreational horseback riders can feel a sense of physical and emotional well-being and happiness from riding horses.

Rein in stress: More than 80% of riders claim that horseback riding created feelings of relaxation and happiness.

“Nothing is so good for the inside of a man than the outside of a horse.” This quote has been variously attributed to Ronald Reagan and Winston Churchill, but it traces back further than that. Whoever said it was onto something!

Horses have heart: Animals bring out the best in us. And that’s especially true for horses. That’s why the American Heart Association has launched Horses Have Heart, a nationwide community celebrating the love of horses for good health and well-being.

Learn more about Horses Have Heart and healthy bonds with other animals at heart.org/Pets.