I would have said NO WAY. I had tried everything.
When I was 5, I wanted my aunts to sit on the floor and play a board game with me. They declined and said they would be in too much pain. I remember I was shocked. I vowed right then and there; I would NOT be that person that couldn't sit and play a board game with the kids.
Fast forward 50 years and guess what, I was that person. Not only could I not sit on the floor to play a board game, but my horse riding had suffered since I just had lost my flexibility and was so stiff and sore. Even putting on my socks was a challenge.
I tried this and that and there was improvement but not a complete solution. I tried yoga but hated it. I tried exercising but I already get enough of that with the farm. I tried eating different but that was just a challenge to know what to eat, what not to eat, I just didn't have directions. What happened to our owner's manual? Life would be so much easier.
Well, the wonderful Marth Krejci, gave me the owners manual. It came in the form of an 11-day jumpstart that I did the beginning of January. It has the food to eat. When to eat it. The Water to remove the toxins. The supplements to latch on to toxins and allow the water to remove them. It was easy. Step by step. For the first time in years, I am looking forward to spring riding! I am looking forward to the grandkids visiting.
I feel GREAT! The flexibility and balance I have gained reduced my anxiety getting on my horses!
If you would like to check out the 11-day program (and the bonus stuff I am throwing in for horse people!), just click here!
This is a GREAT question. Think about it, do we ask, how do you drive a car safely? Or, how do we walk down stairs safely? Or, how do we walk through the shopping mall safely? All of these things can be dangerous but we don't ask all the time about their safety. I think because riding a horse, is an agreement and a partnership between two beings, it is a little more daunting but really, driving a car is an agreement with all the other drivers if you think about it.
So, there are things we can do to improve our safety riding. First of all, mentally, we need to be ready to ride. Think about going to the shopping mall with your friend, and the entire time, she is worried about being robbed, that person doesn't look nice, what if that person has a gun, etc. You would be a stressed mess and not enjoy it. We do this to our horses when we are not mentally in a good spot to ride. There are so many exercises we can do to get our mind right, before getting on our horses (and I love using CBD under my tongue to also help just take the edge off, to see the one I use, just click here),
We need to make sure our horses are ready to enjoy a nice ride. I have created some pre-ride checklists, like a pilot checking out a plane for flight, to make sure our horses are ready and look for signs that we may need to make a different decision. If we can have bad days, our horses can too! I also love to put a big pile of hay in front of my horses while I groom and tack up. A full stomach keeps their stomach acid from sloshing while riding so they want to be ridden the next time. If it always hurts when you are ridden, you wouldn't want to do it again.
When we go to get on our horse, are they standing quietly, waiting for us to get on? This is a big one! If they are not super quiet and relaxed, I don't get on, ever. We work through what is causing their worry and stress. It may mean I don't ride that day. I think the best thing we can do for our horses, is to always give them a choice. A partnership is about agreement of both parties and our horse deserves that respect from us.
If you enjoyed this, I did do a short video talking about it too!
I used to think that riding, was a great way to tone my body and get my exercise, but then I realized that getting in shape, especially balance and flexibility would help my riding and my courage!
Riding does help keep my body toned and in shape. People say the horse does all the work and I just offer to let them take a horse around a course of jumps. It is a lot more strength than anyone really thinks about. Riders are athletes just as much as their horses, except maybe those that just relax on easy trail rides (which I used to do).
Let's take it a step further. If we can improve our balance and our flexibility, we can be better riders and then gain even more strength and benefit from the riding. I recently did an 11-day jumpstart program to reduce inflammation and I was shocked at how much better I felt overall. My wedding ring fit over my knuckles, which it hadn't done in three years! I could touch the ground at my feet, which I am not sure I have ever been able to do.
This newfound flexibility is a breath of fresh air. I can't wait to get riding this spring now that I feel GREAT, my body feels better, and even though I didn't want to, I lost weight. Most of all, with reduced inflammation, my energy levels are through the roof! That means cleaning the tack room, cleaning tack, mucking stalls, and all the other chores are so much easier.
So, back to the question, how does horse riding affect your body? Well, the riding improves how my body is toned but all the other things I can improve about my health, improve my riding and that to me is everything! Bring on SPRING!
If you want in the next 11-day jumpstart for riders, Click here!
What if we turn it around from how do I stop obsessing over what if, to how do I obsess over amazing what if's? There are a lot of times we worry and stress about what might happen, what could happen in a bad way, the worst-case scenario. Nobody says we have to stay in the negative mind yuck.
Let's change our what ifs around to the best possible outcomes. The amazing things that we want. Fill ourselves up with what ifs that support our dreams and become our reality. This was more powerful that I could have imagined. I first wrote down the main yucky what ifs that were stuck in my head when I would think about riding. I looked at them from the root. For me, it was not being in control. Surprise, that shows up in other areas of my life too! How could I change it around to what ifs that let me be in control?
I just dove in. What if my ride is relaxing and we enjoy every minute? What if I feel the rhythm of my horses' feet and we are in sync for the entire ride? What if we get to see amazing things, feel the sun on our backs and the breeze on our cheeks. The more I wrote down the what if's the filled me with joy, the more I felt good. The less room there was for anxiety and fear. I wrote down 10, powerful what if's and practiced them 5 times a day for 7 days. WOW. I could hardly remember the original what if's that had caused so much stress. They had faded. The more I fill up with great, amazing what if's, the more the yuck fades. The best part, my horses seem to feel the shift in me, they are more attentive and in tune. They want to be with me instead of running from me.
If you would like to see a short mini-course I did on creating better what if's, just click here!
There are so many things that can be done to improve rider balance, before ever getting on the horse! Let's look at the areas of balance to improve and why.
Left and Right balance. This is important for being able to stay in the center of gravity of you and your horse as one. There are times where you want to add a little weight to just your right or left stirrup to balance through a turn. To practice right and left balance, stand on your feet, making sure your feet are balanced. You want to feel the inside and the outside of the ball of your foot and your heel. Really feel solid on both feet. Stand with them about the width of your stirrup when you ride. Play with keeping your balance and shifting the weight between your feet. Really feel keeping your body centered but heavier weight into each foot. When you get on your horse, feel that weight on in both your feet even and then play with weighting each foot heavier. See what happens when you shift your weight at the walk, what affect does it have on your horse?
Front and back balance. This is important for guiding your horse and also for feeling secure. Front to back balance is the hardest for me. I tend to ball up and lean forward when I get nervous. Watching the police clinic and how they ride through rowdy crowds really helped me to realize that looking up isn't just something the trainer used to yell at me all the time. It has purpose. Looking to where you want to go helps with your front to back balance. Looking down throws your center of balance forward and onto your horse forehand. It also puts you into a position where if something happens, you have a lot less control. This one is fun to play with on the ground. One of my favorites is pushing the shopping cart. Lean a little bit forward with your arms out in front and the cart goes faster and faster, just like a horse that is heavy on the front end. Then, lean a little back and try and go forward with the shopping cart, it is so much harder. Another good one is to stand on your feet square, width of the horse apart. Look down at the ground and lean forward. Look up and lean forward. Practice looking up and feel the difference when you look down and lean forward. Play with it.
Here is a video showing how I do the front back and right left playing with my balance! Click Here
If you enjoyed this, I would love to invite you to join my Fear to Courage Facebook support Group! Just click here.
