Amal Al-Sibai
Saudi Gazette
Yoga, which is speculated to have originated in India, is gaining widespread popularity in the West and in the Arab world as well.
Many people have become familiar with the postures taught in yoga that help stretch muscles, improve flexibility, control breathing, and promote meditation, relaxation, and positive thinking.
The word yog in Sanskrit actually means union and the goal of yoga is to develop a union and harmony of the body, mind, spirit, and internal energy which ultimately results in better physical health, mental acuity, and a sense of self-actualization.
Others believe in a different from of physical exercise that also helps one connect with the self and with nature.
Horseback riding is known to strengthen the muscles of the back, abdomen, and legs.
It develops balance and coordination, improves mental concentration and focus, and also promotes relaxation.
Contact with horses can improve people’s confidence and self-esteem, calm hyper-activity in children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and aid relaxation.
Riders with physical disabilities show improved flexibility, balance, and muscle strength An amazing bond can develop between horse and man, or woman.
Even the Prophet of Islam, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said, “Good will remain (as a permanent quality) in the foreheads of horses until the Day of Resurrection.”
What should you choose to learn and train in: yoga or horseback riding? The two may seem worlds apart, but why choose when you can have the better of both worlds?
Specialists have combined yoga with riding horses to reach impressive results.
For this type of yoga, instead of using a floor mat, the mat is a beautiful horse.
Advocates claim that horses can teach about companionship, leadership, discipline, and responsibility, and can immensely help people with disabilities and those with emotional problems.
Kerry Borcherding, a licensed professional counselor, offers therapeutic yoga-with-horses classes in Colorado, in the US.
An article in Daily Camera reported that Borcherding said, “Horses are extremely aware and intuitive of their environment.
People who are around them need to be authentic. If you aren’t, they tell on you. Horses have an amazing ability to detect energy.
Their fields are much larger than ours. Horses allow people to feel good in their true nature, instead of having to be someone else.”
Not only do participants perform exercises and breathing techniques on the horse, they also groom the horses, ride them, and work through different tasks.
When working with horses, if you show even a small positive improvement, the horse immediately gives you positive feedback – an instant self-esteem booster.
“Yoga literally means union: Union of the body, mind and spirit.
When you’re doing yoga with a horse, it adds another dimension of also having to unify with another being.
It is like working with a partner who is incapable of lying or judging. Because of this, it can be easier for some people to connect with a horse than with another human,” Borcherding says.
In a typical horse-yoga session, students practice standing postures, using the horse’s body instead of a wall or balancing block.
They do stretches, twists, arches, Child’s Pose, Shayasana, and lying back on the horse’s bareback.
Working with animals in general helps one release built up stress. Contact with horses can improve people’s confidence and self-esteem, calm hyper-activity, and aid relaxation.
Mary Whittle, a horseback riding instructor who leads equi-yoga therapy sessions at Top Cat Farm in Connecticut, said, “Horses mirror our breath and body language.
These unique yoga based exercises are designed to help stretch, strengthen, and create awareness of the rider’s body.
Using these exercises in unison with your breath and your horse’s movements, you can stretch and release tension from deep within and thereby achieve a better awareness of all individual body parts and their unity.
By learning to breathe correctly, engaging the diaphragm and becoming aware of specific muscle groups, you can then unite with your horse’s energy.”
On the public television travel series, Equitrekking, Raina Paucar, an experienced rider, said, “When I first heard about equi-yoga, yoga-based exercises on horseback, I was interested in what it was and how it could improve my skill-set as a rider.
I discovered what was missing from my daily routine before riding. These exercises have given me a renewed sense of presence and awareness, not only in the saddle, but outside of the barn, too.”
Riding horses is not just for pleasure and sport, but there are therapeutic purposes as well.
Arabia is home to the finest horses and riders, and the concept of horse therapy is quickly catching on in Saudi Arabia.
Open Skies, an equestrian club in Jeddah, welcomes people of all ages to experience the emotional rewards and improvements in physical and cognitive function that can be gained from horse therapy.
They offer this world-accepted therapy to children and adults – to those who are beginner or experienced riders and to those with special needs.
“People with permanent and temporary disabilities of the body and mind can derive benefits from the exercises and movements of the horse.
The physical and mental benefits are enormous. The body’s automatic response to the movement of the horse under it exercises often long dormant muscle groups, massages the internal organs, and stimulates blood flow and oxygen supply to the brain.
In one hour on a horse, the body may get more exercise than it gets in one month in a wheel chair,” says the founder of Open Skies.
The founder of Open Skies, Mrs. Judy, is a registered qualified therapeutic instructor.
She is a member of the North American Riding for the Handicapped Association, a member of the Federation of Riding for the Disabled International, and of the Equine Facilitated Mental Health Association.
Staff members at Opens Skies claim that therapy sessions are free of charge for those who cannot pay.
However, upkeep is costly, they say, which is why they are always seeking volunteers to help.
