Who Needs a Gym Membership When You Have Horses?

Horse people agree: one of the best parts of owning a horse is taking care of it. Who doesn’t love looking out the kitchen window and seeing their horse grazing contently in the pasture? Most horse folks would rather spend the day cleaning the barn then cleaning the house.

Along with being great for your mind, horse keeping is great for your body. Who needs a gym membership when you have horses to take care of!

Use the chart below to calculate how many calories a day you burn during your equine activities.

Estimate of calories burned working with horses

The estimates above are based on the calories burned by an average 150-lb person. Of course there are many variables that go into the number of calories each person uses to accomplish a task.

Heavier-set horse folks will burn more calories than their thinner friends walking across the field to catch their steed. A beginner rider expends more energy balancing themselves at a canter than experienced riders. It takes more energy to train a green horse than it does to ride a well-schooled mount.

You can get a fairly reasonable estimate of the number of calories you are burning by adjusting the chart above based on your body weight. Add 10% for every 15 pounds over 150 pounds you weigh, and deduct 10% for every 15 pounds under 150 pounds you weigh.

As an example, a 105-lb woman will expend 359.8 calories per hour cantering (514-(514 x 30%) = 359.8 ), while a 180-lb woman will expend 616.8 calories per hour cantering (514+(514 x 20%)= 616.8).

Winston Churchill once said, “There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man.” This statement is true in more ways than one!