The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of horseback riding exercise on physical fitness, body
composition, growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) in 6th grade woman primary school
students. The subjects were randomly assigned into a horseback riding group (n=7) or a control group (n=7).
Horseback riding sessions were performed 2 times (30 minutes/day) per week for 8 weeks. Before and after
the riding program, we measured the children’s physical strength, GH, and IGF-1. The effects of the
horseback riding on variables were analyzed by means of repeated-measures ANOVA. Agility (p<0.003), sprint
test (p<0.048), GH (p<0.003) and IGF-1 (p<0.012) were significantly improved in horseback riding group. These
results indicate that the horseback riding program used in this study was very effective for producing
significant benefits to physical fitness and GH in elementary school students.