Horseback Riding Benefits

What child doesn’t love horses? Boys and girls alike dream and play pretend games of riding a horse.

Why the attraction? Is it the power and freedom a horse represents to a young child? Maybe. Or it could be the sheer fun of having a friend who is six feet tall. There are many reasons kids are attracted to horses and there are good reasons why we should introduce our children to the world of horses.

Benefits of Horsebackriding

Those of us who ride are keenly aware of the many benefits of riding. Sure, horseback riding is recreational and good physical exercise, but there are many intrinsic benefits as well.

My non-horsey friends look at horses as an expensive habit or obsession. Personally I feel I can’t put a price on what I get back from a horse. It’s a life long love and activity that brings different rewards at different phases of our lives.

I know many adult riders who tell me similar stories about how having an interest in riding kept them out of trouble during their teen years because they spent all of their time at the barn instead of hanging out with the opposite sex or getting into drugs.

I recall a comment my mom said once when someone mentioned horse expenses. Her wise retort was, “I can use the money for horses now and keep the kids active and out of trouble, or I can use it later on therapy or anti-drug dependency programs. I chose horses.”

Horses keep kids active. With so many kids suffering from weight problems, parents are looking for ways to add healthy activity to a child’s life. Horsebackriding may be the perfect remedy. Riding horses is good physical exercise and fun. It gets kids outdoors in the fresh air and in tune with nature.

In addition to physical exercise, horsebackriding has great side benefits. Riding improves balance and coordination. As a child progresses in their skills they develop confidence and a sense of freedom.

Taking care of a horse teaches kids responsibility. Learning how to properly care and feed an animal prepares the child for caring for others.Riding is fun. Give the child the knowledge and skill set to do well with a horse and you’ve given them a life long hobby.

 

2011 Hunter/Jumper Show

2011 Spring Hunter/Jumper Show
May 14th & 15th
log onto www.horseshowtime.com to register

 

Register now for 2011 Summer Camps!!!

 

A Loving Bond between Horse and Owner

I would like to introduce myself, my name is Lori Plakos. I live in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I would like to share a horse story that has been with me for many years.

It started in 1982 or around that time frame. I had a huge (15 hands, 1800 pounds) chestnut gelding that was named Rusty. How appropriate. . . It was on a summer morning, around 7:00 am, about 5 of my friends decided to get together and do an early morning ride, the sun was just start to appear upon the horizon. As some of the girls were still tacking up, I was resting on Rusty’s back, no saddle, or blanket. I normally ride bareback.

Finally everyone was ready to go. Rusty and I were positioned with a pasture behind us near the first part of the barb-wire fence followed by regular board fence. As the riding party was just about ready to take off, a shot rang out. A shot that sounded like gun fire, but later was discovered to be a backfiring of a car.

The sound was so startling, Rusty was so spooked that he reared to a full extend of himself. Someone had told me that he was “standing on his tipy toes.” Rusty lost balance. I fell off of him on to my back and Rusty came down on top of me. His back met my front.

When Rusty regained his footing and stood up, he started to put his head down to meet mine. All I remembered was looking up and seeing his muzzle nuzzling me to get me up. I first had to wiggle my fingers and toes to make sure I could move. I did. There are two lucky parts to this story. One, my horse was there when I needed him. He put his head down, so I could grab his neck, and he lifted me up! I loved him so much. And two, is what we landed down on. The ground was soft like mud, and when Rusty landed on me, I sank down so his weight would not crush me. Thank-God I didn’t have full tack.

 

Hello world!

Welcome to WordPress.com. After you read this, you should delete and write your own post, with a new title above. Or hit Add New on the left (of the admin dashboard) to start a fresh post.

Here are some suggestions for your first post.

1. You can find new ideas for what to blog about by reading the Daily Post.
2. Add PressThis to your browser. It creates a new blog post for you about any interesting  page you read on the web.
3. Make some changes to this page, and then hit preview on the right. You can alway preview any post or edit you before you share it to the world.