Riding horses is NOT exercise?

I was going to post this a couple weeks ago when I had my multidisciplinary day for my gastric bypass surgery but forgot and it's been bugging me. The fitness person told me riding horses is NOT exercise! No maybe riding shouldn't be substituted for an everyday workout but I think that riding IS some form of exercise. Riding not being some form of exercise is the biggest load of crap I've ever heard. Anyone have an opinion on this?

In my opinion and PumpkinzMyBaby22's *she is with me* horse riding is an exercise.

It is exercise, but like you said, you should be doing something more than riding horses to be getting enough exercise.

Why wouldn't horseback riding be exercise you end up working a lot of different muscles in your body.

It shouldn't be the only exercise you get, but it is exercise.
Whoever told you it wasn't should try ride for two hours straight, see if they think it's exercise then.

It's like saying it's not a sport. Pfffffft.

It is exercise. I know I sweat every time I ride haha. I think it is more of a muscular strength exercise though. The fitness instructor was probably considering more cardiovascular exercises.

I would definitely say it's exercise! Doctor's always recommend it as physiotherapy as it's just enough. I wouldn't say it's a lot of exercise but it's definitely some.

I agree, riding is definitely exercise, but should not be the only thing that you do. Me being curious, but, did you ask the expert why it isn't? I'll give the person the benefit of the doubt, as boxer said, the fitness person was probably thinking of more of a cardiovascular exercise.

Lol, I half argued this in school. My college requires freshmen to take 2 semesters of Fitness and Wellness (A.K.A. Gym, lol). I did my darndest to insert horses into it whenever we had a project to do. Example: We were supposed to design out own circuit training routine. I came up with exercises that worked with horseback riding.

Anyone who thinks that the horse does all the work must have never ridden, and deserves to be pitched up on one and taken for a 2 hour trail ride over varied terrain. Even if they didn't change their mind, they would be too physically sore to tell you how little work they did.

Every spring if I have not been faithful to my exercise program, I find out very fast when I start riding! Ouch!

As far as cardio goes, try posting for 30 minutes and than take your pulse rate. Like anything, the more fit you get, the more resistance you need to continue to challenge yourself. While riding shouldn't be the primary exercise in a fitness program, it is exercise. Well, that is if you are an active rider and not a passenger.

I remember hearing years and years and years ago, that a half hour of posting trot burned the same calories as a half hour of aerobics - don't know if it's true though.

Here is a chart with the avg. Calories burned for different activities at the barn I found - Counting Calories at the Barn