Winston Churchill once said, “There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man.” He was right about that. Horses, whether they are simply owned, or helping in physical therapy and mental therapy, are good for humans.
Outside of physical therapy and mental therapy, horses provide health benefits that we do not always think about. Horses help people stay healthy, not only by riding them but also by taking care of them. Mucking is a great activity for burning calories, so some horse owners save money by not getting a gym membership, and instead muck out. Mucking, itself, burns about 354 calories per hour! When you groom your horse you burn 6 calories per minute. The calories burned while riding varies depending on what gait you are going. You burn 2 calories per minute while walking, 6 calories per minute trotting, and 8 calories per minute galloping. A one-hour ride burns about as many calories as a 30-minute cardio routine, jog, or bicycle ride. While you are burning calories riding, the knees are not getting as stressed as they would in similar types of exercise like the already mentioned walking, or swimming. Because it puts so little stress on your knees, Japanese engineers decided in 2005 to create an exercise machine that simulated the horse’s movement. However, helping us exercise is not all horses do for us.
Hippotherapy, which is defined as “physical therapy in which a patient sits or lies on a horses back for the therapeutic effect of the horses movement”, goes back to ancient Greece, where the physical and emotional benefits of riding were identified. England recognized the healing qualities of horses during World War I, when wounded soldiers were being offered riding therapy at the Oxford Hospital. The 1960’s were the development period of the Hippotherapy that we know today. In 1969, British Riding for the Disabled was founded, as well as North American Riding for the Handicapped Association.
Users of Hippotherapy gain more balance, and it has been shown to help back pain. The walk of the horse has been found to be very similar to the human walk, moving the pelvis in the same way, and about the same speed, actually taking the same number of steps per minute, strengthening the walking muscles without the rider actually walking, which is beneficial for people in wheelchairs who cannot walk. People with Cerebral Palsy and Multiple Sclerosis have a reduction in spasticity, which is due to the stretching of leg muscles, which normalizes the muscle tone. The heat of the horse stimulates the muscles and increases blood flow. Hippotherapy also noticeably improves posture. The therapist may place the patient in a variety of positions such as laying across the horse, laying on the horses neck with the feet out of the stirrups and knees flexed, side sitting, or regular sitting position. There is also a chair that is shaped like a horse, which forces you to sit up straight as if you were on a real one. In testimony to the healing powers of riding is Liz Hartel, who was confined to a wheelchair by polio. Despite her handicap, she won the silver medal at the 1952 Olympics for Dressage. She repeated her accomplishment in 1956.
Horses also provide mental therapy. They don’t care if you have a learning disorder or about your past. People who have lied, cheated, and manipulated learn that lying, cheating, and manipulating don’t work. People with little self-confidence can learn that they can do things well, and that will spill over into their other areas of life. They can work with a difficult horse, learn to post, or simply ride well. Children with Attention Deficit Disorder will focus on a horse to groom it or ride it. Horses are also great listeners, and they will listen to your problems. They can also act as a mirror, and act according to your emotion, such as turning gentle when they sense a person is broken inside. Horses become fearful when someone acts aggressive or too pushy; when the person makes requests instead of demands, the horse will cooperate. Emotional control is learned as well, as having outbursts, shouting, and crying can upset the horse, so children can learn to express themselves appropriately. Children who do not trust will learn to trust the instructor, the horse, and themselves. Therapeutic riding helps Autistic children who hardly talk learn the horse’s name, the cues, and they talk to the horse. Rhythm and balance, which horses provide, are very good for children with autism.
Horses have been used throughout history for a great many things. They used to be our transportation, but now they are considered recreation. However, as you can see, they are used for more than that. The physical benefits of taking care of and riding a horse, plus Hippotherapy and mental therapy, show that the horse is still more then recreation. Horses still help humans; their outside is still good for the inside of us.
