Benefits of Petting a Horse
Horses make the best pet in the world. They are very beneficial and friendly and have loving nature as one can explore the nature with them. Hiking and other activities become easy to handle with a horse. They have more benefits than just sitting and taking a ride, as more people think that they are boring.
They are a great source of relaxation. Riding on them in the morning breeze gives relief to mind and decreases stresses. They love their owner and can understand the pain and facial expressions of their owner. Friendliness is the core feature of pet horses; they are so friendly and energetic. Horses never get angry and are more patient than normal human beings.
There are many reasons of petting a horse, but we are going to discuss the most beneficial and important reasons here:
1. Sensible:
Horses have the great ability of sensing and can sense everything that is going on around them. They can understand the pain and difficulties of their owners and act with them in a loving manner to decrease stress level of their owners. According to the studies that were conducted in Denmark showed that more than 20 percent people felt distressed by their pets and provided them support during stress. https://www.statista.com/statistics/860237/influence-of-pets-on-the-quality-of-life-in-denmark/ .
Pet horses are co-dependent: they understand the love and in return love their owners in the same way and always remember their family members when they are not in reach or when sold to other owners.
They don’t just care about the one who feed them, but they love those who trust them and lead them. Horses most of the time seek and trust those who have the qualities of leading and commanding.
2. Quick Learner:
Horses learn five to seven times more than normal human beings. They are quick to remember pain and fear, where their shelter and grass are provided. They soon adapt to saddling and reins and get used to them and never feel irritating. It is their ability to get desensitized to loud noises as policeman ride them with other police vehicles and soon understand every type of sound.
Horses are used for different kinds of sports because they get trained to different activities. Jumping is the most difficult sport ever and horses learn it very soon and never forget that skill.
If they are taught different signs and key words by spending ample time with horses, , they remember them for the lifetime and anyone can talk to them with those languages.
3. Medically Beneficial:
According to different medical researches, horses provide different kind of benefits to human beings. A research conducted by British Horse Society states that riding horses is beneficial for cardiovascular health. Trotting a horse burns more calories than badminton and helps to heal different heart problems by thinning blood.
Riding a horse reduces different kinds of pain, especially back-pain. It eases the patient and often doctors refer, those who have back-pain, to riding horses. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1360859207000782
Riding gives a feeling of calmness, and it lowers the blood pressure of rider. It also controls hormone level in the body. All these features of riding lead to relieving mental pain and provide a sense of pleasure to rider.
Winston Churchill, by gathering all benefits of riding, says beautifully:
“No hour of life is wasted that is spent in the saddle.”
4. Build the Confidence:
One of the best features of Horseback riding is that it builds confidence. Confidence plays a main role in facing many unbearable situations in life. Sitting on the horse alone, with no support, indeed, needs great effort. It takes time to learn controlling a horse with just fingers and feet. When someone gets trained to ride a 1200 lb. animal with his fingers and feet, it means he/she has got a big part of confidence.
Kicking it with the feet, directing it with the fingers builds the very muscles that are involved in coordination. It makes every muscle so strong that someone can obtain by exercising in a gym for more than a month.
5. Lifelong Companions:
It is more difficult to lose a beloved one, in the case of pets it is too difficult to replace a pet or lose it. Because the bonds of love cannot be replaced. But the average age of horses is 25–30 years, it is more than any other pet in the world. This is the reason; they build a bond that cannot be replaced. BY living with a horse for whole lifetime makes the horse a kind of a family member https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00480169.2019.1645626. It shares its feelings, commitments with the family members and becomes a best friend. It does whatever it can to comfort us. It is one of the reasons that horses are better than any other kind of pets, especially the dogs whose lifespan is 10–13 years. It is half of a normal horse’s life. Horses remain for decades if someone take cares of their: feeding pattern, hygiene, grooming and lifestyle.
Conclusion:
Horses have a lot of benefits than anyone can imagine. Raising a horse has its own pros and cons. It needs extra time for grooming, cleaning and caring. One bust buy himself time if he has a horse. It cannot be taken to a friends home or in a gathering like a dog. It has its own maintenance costs that one cannot bear with a simple income. Its food and other priorities are too expensive.
But, on the other hand, taking all benefits of horses, its advantages outweigh its disadvantages. Its loving nature, hobbies, feelings are a lot to consider. Its effects on health and being a lifelong companion cannot be denied.
Ronald Duncan, after knowing the advantages of a horse, describes petting a horse in this way:
“The horse. Here is nobility without conceit, friendship without envy, beauty without vanity. A willing servant, yet never a slave.”
So, in the end, one must buy a horse rather than another pet. If he/she is interested in having a loyal and faithful friend.
