How Horse Riding Can Impact Student Intelligence And Abilities

It’s not the most conventional approach, but if you want to improve your intelligence and abilities as a student, you should start riding horses. Funny as it sounds, it works. Everyone understands the physical benefits of this exercise, and they often go to their stables or house farm for the physical benefits, but most people don’t realize its importance for one’s mental health. Besides improving your body’s health and lifting your spirit, it can also benefit your academics. Studies have proven that horse riding improves cognitive skills such as memory, concentration, and problem-solving.

Cognitive improvements

Horse riding requires balance, coordination, and timing. A rider has to use their right and left brain hemispheres simultaneously to ride a horse successfully. The cross-lateral movement stimulates communication between both brain hemispheres and leads to an overall improvement in cognitive functions.

Additionally, this activity can also help improve your fine motor skills because you need your arms, legs, and torso to ride a horse. So, not only does it develop your muscles, but it also improves your hand-eye coordination.

How horse riding improves intelligence

Studies have proven that horse riding helps to improve intelligence both in adults and children. One recent study also confirmed that the IQ scores for riders were significantly higher than for non-riders. Horse riders are also better able to plan complex tasks and execute them.

This study’s findings further confirm the positive impact of horse riding on brain health and cognitive development. Apart from these benefits, it also provides riders with other mental and physical health benefits.

Horse riding builds the rider’s confidence, relieves stress, and is a great way to exercise. It’s also a social and fun activity. So, if you want to improve your overall health and brainpower, you should look more favorably toward horse riding.

How horse riding helps in studying

As a student, you can enjoy many direct benefits from horse riding. For instance, getting on horseback takes a lot of concentration and focus. Improving your focus and concentration can have a direct impact on your studies and help you to be more effective at retaining information.

Also, horse riding helps to improve balance and coordination, which are two crucial skills for students as they seek to complete different types of tasks.

Lastly, horse riding helps to reduce stress. Students are among one of the most stressed demographics in the world. Relieving that stress is one of the best ways to improve your academic performance, as you can maintain your calmness and focus while studying. Horse riding has some important benefits for students and helps them improve in many ways.

Main benefits of horse riding

There are several benefits of horse riding that we don’t pay attention to because we see it more as physical activity. However, there are physical and mental benefits of this activity that make it ideal for humans, generally, including students.

1. Horse riding improves your mental health. Mental health discussions are commonplace discussions in our world today (as they should be), but we haven’t looked to horse riding as being able to provide the solution we need. However, it has been proven that horse riding and interactions have therapeutic benefits. For instance, therapeutic horse riding helps treat people with anxiety, ADD, depression, dementia, autism, and other mental illnesses.
2. Another benefit of horse riding is that it helps to improve circulation and flexibility. Like other exercises, horse riding also improves blood circulation throughout the body. It also helps to improve the body’s rhythm, encourage healthy blood circulation and stretch your muscles perfectly. This improves your range of motion and overall flexibility.
3. Horse riding also improves strength and muscle tone. It takes more strength to ride a horse than to ride a bike. Horse riding is a difficult exercise, and it tests your stamina. However, it helps your body gain more strength and improve your muscle tone with time.
4. Perhaps, the most common benefit of horse riding is that it improves coordination and balance. To ride a horse successfully, you must learn to maintain balance and coordination as you direct the horse’s movements. These skills are even more important for advanced riders who will learn to navigate obstacles, such as fences and barrels.
5. Relaxation is another benefit of horse riding. Many people describe it as an ideal way to relax and relieve stress, and it works due to muscle and joint movement and improved circulation while riding. It’s also soothing to spend time outdoors, in nature, surrounded by foliage and fresh air.

Other benefits of horse riding

• It’s a great exercise and is fun as well.
• It develops your posture and sense of rhythm.
• It builds your bones and improves your flexibility.
• It helps you learn patience and responsibility.
• You develop a good work ethic.
• You get to learn more about the environment and nature.
• It could teach you about other traditions and cultures.
• It helps you develop leadership skills and builds your self-confidence.
• You get to spend time outdoors and away from technology.
• You’ll enjoy this activity for a lifetime.

Conclusion

Horse riding benefits students because it improves their intelligence and overall cognitive abilities. It improves students’ attention, coordination, concentration, and focus, all of which can translate directly to their studies and improve their academic performance. Additionally, it also helps to improve students’ fine motor skills, spatial awareness, and balance, which are also skills that can be transferred into academics and life generally.

Horse riding also provides the right platform and opportunity for emotional development and improved social interaction. This, combined with the previously mentioned attributes, makes this activity an important one for students to do better in school and excel in different facets of life.

You may not have thought of horse riding as having so many benefits, but it does. Everyone should try it often.

Author Bio

Dennis Lodge is a freelance journalist, blogger, and copywriter who writes unique and research-based content about business, career, education, and health for RushMyEssay.co.uk. He is an accomplished traveler and extreme sports enthusiast.