From improving your core strength to upping the feel-good factor, here’s why you’ve got no excuse not to get back in the saddle this weekend

1. It builds core strength
Non-horsey friends may quip ‘The horse does all the work – you just sit there,’ but get them in the saddle for half an hour and they’ll soon appreciate that riding uses muscles no other exercise regime can target. It helps develop your trunk, or core, which is beneficial when you’re back on the ground too, as a ‘stable’ core (excuse the pun) is valuable for many other labour-intensive activities, such as gardening, and even sitting at an office desk. Riding’s also potentially beneficial to your hip joints because of the straddled position. This offers the hips a chance to open, soften and work through a broader range of movement than they would during usual walking, running or sitting, and helps prevent degenerative hip problems.

2. It’s good therapy
Calorie-burning and muscle-toning aside, riding’s good for our mental health, too. It’s sociable and fun, not to mention all-consuming – you’ll soon be arriving hours before your lesson just so you can gaze over the field gate at your favourite horse. Indeed, psychologists point towards the positives, both mentally and physically, of riding, and research has shown that simply being around horses has therapeutic and psychological benefits. The enjoyment that comes from being outdoors, the sense of exhilaration riding offers, and the fact that we’re developing a sense of trust with an animal who weighs the best part of half a tonne and has a mind of his own, is highly rewarding and can have a profound effect on our confidence. Just a few of the reasons why riding is often offered as a therapy to people with physical disabilities and mental health disorders through charities such as the Riding for the Disabled Association.

3. It’s the ultimate stress-buster
It doesn’t matter how irritating your day at work’s been or how lengthy your credit card bill, when you get to the yard or riding school you have just one thing to focus on – and that’s your horse. They’re hugely intuitive, and the need to switch off any negative feelings and instead focus on being calm and consistent around them is in itself calming and grounding.

4. It gives us an adrenaline rush
How will you be getting your kicks this Saturday? Will it be edging your way through the crowds at the sales or giving the house a spring clean? Or will you be leaping aboard a horse and enjoying a lesson, popping a cross-country fence or enjoying your first ever show? Of course, all this excitement doesn’t come without some element of danger (they don’t give you a safety hat to own a hamster), but this is what gives riding its edge and makes it so addictive.

5. It makes us happy
Whether you’re lucky enough to own your own horse, or have a particular favourite at your local riding school, if you’re fortunate enough to share a great relationship with him, chances are you smile more when you’re in his company than anyone else’s. Whatever your favourite discipline, level of experience or riding goal, the right horse will give you something to grin about. The key is to find what’s fun for you. And if a slow, steady hack and occasional pop over some trotting poles leaves you beaming from ear to ear there’s no shame in giving your horse a big hug and celebrating all that’s great about riding.