7 Reasons to Take Your Kids Horseback Riding in San Antonio
Have you ever taken your children horseback riding in San Antonio, TX? If not, your kids are missing out on an extremely rewarding experience that boosts mental and physical health.
The truth is, horseback riding for kids is far more than just a fun activity. Unlike other outdoor activities, it teaches kids valuable life lessons like responsibility and perseverance. Through their riding lessons, they'll learn to work hard, keep trying, and "get back on the horse."
Plus, they can learn and ride with their peers, encouraging one another toward success. Furthermore, it's a healthy amount of mental/physical exercise. And it gives them a break from brain-atrophying electronic entertainment.
As you can see, there are loads of beneficial reasons to go horseback riding with your kids. Read on to learn more.
1. Horseback Riding in San Antonio Is Good Exercise
If you've never ridden a horse, you probably don't realize how much physical exertion is required. After all, it does involve a lot of sitting down.
But it also involves mounting, dismounting, holding onto the reigns, and keeping one's balance. This requires/develops strong core muscles, hand-eye coordination, and good cardiovascular health.
The excitement of horse riding also offers a healthy rush of adrenaline to get your child's heart pumping. This, too, contributes to good heart health.
2. It's Good For Mental Health
The wholesome excitement of horse riding also exercises your child's cognitive abilities. When riding, the child practices staying alert and responding quickly when necessary.
Riding also involves problem-solving. For example, an obstacle in the trail or an uncooperative horse requires the rider to think their way through the situation.
Such skills will be very important throughout the child's entire life. For instance, quick response time and alertness are crucial abilities for driving a motor vehicle. Developing these skills early on sets your child up for success in later years.
3. It's a Rewarding Lesson in Responsibility/Perseverance
Speaking of lasting skills your child can learn, horseback riding teaches responsibility and perseverance. As fun as it is, learning to ride a horse is also hard work. It's a very long and ongoing process, too.
Certain horse riding skills will be very challenging for your child. Sometimes, they'll make mistakes and get frustrated.
But then, they learn to keep trying until they eventually succeed. And that experience is so rewarding that it makes the long struggle worth it.
Ultimately, the experience makes them more confident, patient, and perseverant. It also teaches them how to set/achieve goals.
Children will also be taught how to care for their horses. This develops responsibility as well as compassion.
4. It's Good For Emotional Health
The life lessons we just described are essential to the emotional health of your child. That is, they'll need confidence and perseverance throughout their lives in order to succeed in school, work, and many other challenges.
Without these skills, children might develop bad emotional habits, such as:
Getting easily frustrated
Giving up quickly when challenges are hard
Victim mentality
Low self-esteem
Depression
Obviously, though, horseback riding isn't the only way in which a child can learn essential skills like confidence. But it does offer a more hands-on learning experience than most recreational activities. And, for children who don't like competitive activities, horseback riding is a preferable alternative to sports.
Besides, all the fresh air, exercise, and exhilaration of horseback riding is good for emotional health as well. For all these reasons, horses are often used in therapy for a variety of mental/emotional health conditions.
5. It's a Healthy Social Experience
When your children go horseback riding, it's likely there will be other children present, too. In fact, you can sign them up with children's horseback riding clubs to make sure of this.
Then, horseback riding becomes a very healthy social activity for your young ones. They can learn how to get along with the other kids in a non-school setting. And they learn to encourage other children toward success while receiving peer encouragement themselves.
Not only that, but they will also bond with you and any other family members you bring along. You and your kids will gain lasting memories along with a profound sense of family togetherness.
6. Kids Love It
A life without any excitement gets stale rather quickly, especially for kids. They crave fun, engaging, social activities outside of the normal, daily routine.
Without healthy, wholesome hobbies like horseback riding, they haven't much to look forward to in life. Then, every day is the same, monotonous routine.
Children in this situation withdraw into themselves and lose their motivation to succeed at anything. They see no point in succeeding when life is uninteresting and unrewarding.
So, do you currently have anything else to vivify your child's routine life? If you don't, or if you're looking for something new to try, consider horseback riding. It's also a great idea for birthday parties.
7. It's a Far Better Alternative to Screentime
To follow up on that last point, what will your kids do if they don't get into horseback riding? If they're like most kids, they'll glue their bottoms to the couch and their eyes to the nearest screen.
Today's children spend up to 7 hours a day staring at a screen. This can contribute to obesity, difficulty sleeping, anxiety, depression, and other health problems. Conversely, horseback riding for kids is a far better alternative.
Take Your Kids Horseback Riding in San Antonio, TX
Very few family activities offer the full list of benefits we just described to you. If you want your kids to gain these benefits, take them horseback riding in San Antonio, TX.
Go here to book your horseback riding adventure right now. Or, if you have some questions to ask us first, send them to us at (512) 548-3452 or info@southerntrailrides.com.