Get off the sofa and into the saddle with new campaign from HOOF

Enter a competition to win five riding lessons at http://www.hoof-in-town.com/index-competition.php 

 

Hoof, the British Equestrian Federation’s legacy to the London 2012 Olympic Games today launches a new campaign – Hoof it to Health – to get people off the sofa and onto horse back as one of London’s healthiest outdoors sports for any age or fitness level.

The new online video for the campaign explains the benefits: http://www.hoof-in-town.com/health/video.php

“Horse riding can burn as many calories as jogging, tones and strengthens your core muscle groups, is a great way to get fit and at the same time, enjoy the psychological benefits of being outdoors in partnership with a horse,” says Lynne Munro, Chair of the Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Therapeutic Riding.

“Riding is proven to help everyone but also benefits people with physical and mental challenges. Every step a horse takes, the rider must rebalance their body resulting in continual muscle, posture and balance adjustments even in walk. Once a rider is able to move up a pace, they not only continue to tone muscles in this way, the whole cardiovascular system gets working.  We have many examples of people whose fitness, strength and mental abilities have been vastly improved through horse riding.” Concludes Lynne Munro.

Andrew Finding, Chief Executive of the British Equestrian Federation says;” We are building a lasting legacy to the London 2012 Olympic Games for the equestrian industry by investing in expanding riding facilities in selected London riding centres and through this campaign, to get more people off the sofa and into horse riding as a great way to get and keep fit.”

Hoof has teamed up with the Riding for the Disabled Association www.rda.org.uk/ and Vauxhall City Farm www.vauxhallcityfarm.org to launch this campaign in the heart of London. Vauxhall City Farm runs a Riding Therapy Centre working with RDA to enable people with disabilities to ride and also offering riding to disadvantaged children in the local community. It is also a British Horse Society approved centre and a Pony Club centre.  Hoof is also a partner of Go London – the Change 4 Life campaign.

In addition to this campaign, Hoof is working to make riding in London more accessible through financial investments to help riding schools develop their facilities and offer more riding opportunities to Londoners.

For more information on Hoof, visit www.hoof-in-town.co.uk