Seniors Riding Program
For the 50 and Older Crowd
Get in shape by exercising while on horseback. Whether you’ve never ridden a horse before or you’re an expert, we will get you moving with the horses. Did you know that a 1 hour English riding lesson is the equivalent of a 45 minute aerobic workout? Well it is, and many people with joint problems, arthritis, and low muscle tone improve their overall health by riding. That’s why horses are used for therapeutic riding.
Grooming and caring for your horse is a pleasure everyone enjoys and you get to exercise while moving at your own pace. Extended mounting blocks are used to make it easy to get on and off your horse. A certified therapeutic riding instructor will teach the class and make sure everyone is moving in the right direction. Our horses are safe and well-trained for beginning riders. So come on out for a breath of country air and try something new. It can make you healthier, and you will have some fun while doing it.
Monday and Wednesday classes are offered for persons 50 and over. Anyone with major medical problems will need to have a doctor's form filled out. All equipment is provided. Wear long pants and closed-toed shoes.
Cost $100.00 New Student only.
Questions or for Registration
Call Wildwind 248-486-7433
You may also sign up at South Lyon Parks & Recreation.
| Day | Dates | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | March 1 - April 5 | 11:00-12:00 |
| Wednesday | March 3 – April 7th | 11:00-12:00 |
| Monday | April 12 – May 17 | 10:00-11:00 |
| Wednesday | April 14 – May -19th | 10:00-11:00 |
Seniors and Horseback Riding
Riding is the only sport that works all the muscles in the human body at the same time. This is why it is used for therapeutic proposes for people with disabilities. Although it might look like the horse is doing all the work, this is not the case. A horse walks the same as a human body, so even if a person can only sit on a horse and have the horse walk the movement of the horse's walking helps exercise your body. Riding a horse even at a walk helps your internal organs to be stimulated, burn calories and promotes liver function and digestion.
This program is specifically designed for seniors, and is the first of its kind in this area. However one of the reasons we can offer this program is because we have a certified therapeutic riding instructor. For more than 30 years Vikki Gartner has taught people with disabilities to ride and use their body to its full potential. We are now going to extend this concept to seniors.
Grooming and tacking your horse provides you with weight bearing exercises that will help keep your bone mass and build muscle. Of course the program is designed to work with each person at the rate that is safe for their starting fitness level. Mentally the connection between animals and people has long been known to help with depression, feelings of uselessness, and being connected to something living. Horses offer unconditional love. Many people find that going to see their horse is the highlight of their week.
Just as your muscles need exercise so does your mind, and following directions at the same time as operating different body parts is a great way to keep your mind sharp. Research has shown that riding helps prevent memory loss. It is an active avenue for keeping your brain exercised, and keeping the connection between the brain and muscles working well as you must learn to give your horse instructions by using your brain that must then transfer the instructions to your muscles and other parts of the body in order for the horse to understand what it must do.
As people grow older they have a tendency to do less and less. Riding is a year round activity that helps keep you outside in a healthy atmosphere and continues to let your world expand. If riding is something new to you it will also introduce you to a new group of people and a new way to meet friends. Riding is helpful for reducing stress in the body and mind and doing something new that you can be successful at.
Each rider in our program progresses at their own pace. Some people will need to spend more time just getting to know the animals while others will be ready to ride the first day. Your actual riding lessons will also be done at each person's comfort level, some people will move faster and some slower and what is nice about riding is there is no time frame you have to keep up with.
Weight & Riding
Many people think that when riding a horse the horse does all the work but that is not true. A 160 lb. adult riding twice a week will burn about 1,000 calories and a 200 pound person will burn about 1,200 calories. That’s the same as walking quickly for 50 minutes, five days per week.
Keeping in balance on the back of a horse uses isometrics, where your muscles work against each other to maintain an upright position. Riding reaches the deep postural muscles of the trunk and pelvis and the adductor muscles of the thighs. During a rising trot you also use your quadriceps, hamstrings, and glutei. People with urinary complaints get better. Riding helps increases the respiratory and circulatory systems as well as cardiovascular system. Seniors who started riding had far less urinary complaints because of the exercise and the stimulation of the urinary track and circulatory systems, helping keep the kidneys flushed.
Quickened reflexes and memory are also areas where we have seen improvement. Since riding is so enjoyable the person thinks less of exercising and more of having fun and therefore tends to ride more often and for longer periods of time.
Our First Senior
We had the pleasure of having a wonderful woman volunteer with our therapeutic riding program. When she came to us she was 83 years old and we wondered what she doing here as we had been advertising for volunteers who could help exercise horses. We soon found out that she was a wonderful rider and could use our raised mounting blocks to help her get on a horse. She was an excellent volunteer. We also found out that she had learned to ride in the United States Cavalry when she was 18 but she had to pretend she was a boy because they would not accept girls at that time. As we did not have an indoor riding arena then, we stopped riding when it got cold. One morning we got a call from her son telling us she had passed on, with a picture of her and one of our horses lying next to her on her bed. Getting to ride again so late in life helped her arthritis, her walking gate and surely her mental attitude. We were asked to speak at her services. She was 92.
Come Ride with Us Here at Wildwind
Where Everyone Belongs
