Winter is a time to rest, recuperate, and rejuvenate to get ready for spring riding. I remember sitting there on the edge of the bed, struggling to put my socks on and it was like a slap in the face. I was becoming "that" person. The one that couldn't sit on the floor and play board games. The one that made the "oof" sound getting on my horse. The one that just didn't feel so good anymore, I was feeling old. Like many of you, this stuff creeps up slowly, inch by inch, to steel our joy.
I knew I wanted to go into my senior years enjoying riding and part of that was flexibility, balance, and energy but how?
I tried EVERYTHING. Some things helped, some things didn't help and some things were AMAZING.
Flexibility - this started with healthy eating. I got rid of grains and refined sugar and this helped some. I worked on doing things like lifting my knee to my chest, alternating this while I was doing dishes. I played with lunges and side lunges to stretch my inner thigh. I just played with flexibility and movement. I was actually shocked to find out that I could not move my arms like a bird flying but I could move them like a swimmer. It took me some time to get my bird flying shoulders going again. The more I moved, the more I could move.
Balance - this one again I play with. I will see how long I can stand on one leg (practicing with both legs) while brushing my teeth or folding clothes. Chores became a great time to play with balance. Could I load the dishwasher standing on one leg or the other without falling over. This also improved my strength.
Energy - this was by far the most challenging and the most recently solved. I didn't feel like working on balance, flexibility and riding again. It just seemed to take too much energy. The diet helped but wasn't the whole thing. I had to add in a coaching program (more information here if interested) that changed it all and put all the pieces together. The coaching linked the anti-inflammation, the dehydration, the energy, the brain fog, the balance, flexibility and boy do I feel AMAZING!!!! When all the pieces come together, just like a gorgeous jigsaw puzzle, You want to keep feeling better each day and the call to ride returns. It has been missing for me for a while. I love the horses but haven't been called to ride and now I am feeling like I want to get everything lined up and ready to start riding this spring.
I will be documenting my journey back to riding (I hope) with my new podcast starting episodes I am working on now. I will have more information coming soon!
Sitting there on the living room floor with the Monopoly game all set up, ready to play with my aunts when I was 5 and my world shattered. Ok, it wasn't that bad but to me, it was a defining moment. My aunts came in and said there was no way they could sit on the floor to play a whole board game, I had to move to the table. I was shocked. In that moment I vowed, never to let myself get to the point I could not sit on the floor with the kids and play a board game. Like many of you, I was not taught how to improve with age, I just assumed things were going to go downhill.
MYTH #1 We get Stiff as we age!
One morning, I was sitting on the bed to put on my socks and it wasn't easy. WHAT????? Me???? I had let myself down. I tried EVERYTHING to get the flexibility back and things helped but nothing was the answer. Now, after doing the 11-day jumpstart, I am as flexible (if not more so) than I was as a kid! I feel amazing! It was a combination of eating better, the timing of the eating, adding in an amazing anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and joining a coaching program that has a great support group!
MYTH #2 Our skin thins as we age!
I was always getting scratched and cut, doing the little things. One day, Doone jumped up and clawed my face. Dean and I both thought it ripped my face open. It hurt so bad; I was sure it was going to need stitches. When I pulled my had down, it wasn't even red! Again, Dean and I were both shocked! The changes I had made for my flexibility and adding in an amazing collogen, have my skin healing and actually getting as healthy as when I was a kid! Even my wrinkles are starting to run away. NICE!!
MYTH #3 We forget what we went into a room for!
It has been a few months since I walked into a room and thought, "what did I come in here for?". This one was more subtle, but Sudoku times are faster, I remember things clearer, my memory is back! I lost my dad to short term memory loss so that fact that my memory seems to be improving, is HUGE! It makes aging not quite so scary.
The 11-day jumpstart was the key. It took all the things I was doing, added in a few little bits I was missing and now I will be aging healthy and happy! If any of these myths have ever seemed familiar to you, or if you are young enough you don't want them to become familiar, I would love to have you join me in the Jumpstart!!! Click here to get the information.
There are some powerful tools out there to start the healing journey. Whether it is physical or mental, the mental healing can always aid the physical healing. Our minds are more powerful than most of us realize. Self talk, is one of the worst for keeping us from healing. I hurt. I'm tired. I don't feel good. There are so many of these words we tell ourselves or even share out loud without thinking about the power of the words. We are basically telling our brain, keep us feeling bad!
I had a friend that used to say all the time, "I am dying to have a baby". It made most of us uncomfortable she put so much passion into what she was saying. She died giving birth to her little girl, left without a mom. I WAS SHOCKED through my sadness.
It is so easy to get into the habit of looking and feeling, using words for right now. Help is on the way! I have a practice that helps pull us out of the pain and misery.
Start by thinking 12 months ahead, and how do you want to feel. AMAZING I am sure! Healthy, pain free, great energy and ready to dance through life. Write down, on a piece of paper you can keep in front of you, "I remember that day, 12 months ago, when I didn't see hope to be free from pain. I remember that day with so much compassion. I remember that was the day, that I started to feel better. I felt better and better every day after that day. Today, I feel amazing but I will always be grateful to remember that day, that I changed my thoughts." As you read your statement, picture the feeling you will have 12 months in the future and really feel how good that feels. Do this 4 or 5 times a day for a year!!!! You will be amazed!
If you want to jumpstart your healing and feeling better today, we are seeing amazing results in just 11 days! Imagine, feeling great after 11 days. Just click here for more information and to jump in!!!
I am going to share the most powerful secret I have learned recently.
I was sitting on the edge of the bed, trying to put my socks on and I was STIFF. I didn't feel amazing.
When I was 5, I had invited my aunts to sit with me on the floor to play a board game, and they declined saying that they would hurt. I vowed to never let that happen to me.
Have you ever felt that twinge, that reaching for something and you think...ohhh, that didn't feel so good?
You start to have those thoughts of "I am getting older, it is normal" creeping in. You realize that you have put on a little weight, in areas that you don't want to have added weight. Your joints creek a little more than they used to.
This right here, STOPPED ME IN MY TRACKS. I remembered that vow I had made, and thought, wow, I am my aunts. I had to figure out how to get back to feeling like that kid again, physically.
I tried EVERYTHING. Keto, whole foods, paleo, intermittent fasting, more sleep, more exercise, I felt like I had tried everything, and I did feel better, a little bit, but I still didn't feel like I did when I was a kid.
I realized that riding my horses was also not feeling like it did as a kid. It was a little harder to get on, a little less balance, a little less flexibility. My hands on the reins hurt a little and I couldn't even put on my wedding ring my knuckle was so swollen.
I have a friend in her 80's still jumping and another lady running 100-mile ultra marathons and doing great. I knew I had to get it figured out. One way or another.
Do you have friends that are just like the energizer bunny and you haven't figured out what they are doing? It was really having me feel down.
Then, in January 2023, I found the SECRET. I signed up for the 11-day Jumpstart. The coach was doing the program for free and I just had to get the supplement. I had tried the supplement for a few years and loved it but it hadn't given me the results I wanted. Our amazing coach, and support group, had put together a program that changed everything. It is a lot like preloading supplements for our horses! It is also like putting the best nutrients into our bodies at the right times of day.
What would you do first if your body felt like you did as a kid? What would your horse think if you got on and your horse didn't have to compensate for you. Can you imagine, going into your golden years, feeling just like you did as a kid?
If you want to feel amazing like a kid again, click here: 11-Day Jumpstart
How often do people get hurt riding horses is such an interesting question. There is so much fear and anxiety around getting hurt riding horses, but I wonder, if the hours spent worrying are more than the hours spent actually recovering from an injury. I am just going to go with my experience and share with you.
My first pony, an unbroke 2-year-old Shetland pony stallion, that we gelded, and I trained to trail ride, when I was 5, I fell off once. I had probably an hour a day with him, for a year and a half, so let's go conservative and say 300 hours. The one time I fell off, he had just had his feet trimmed and he jumped over me to keep from stepping on me and clipped the back of my head. It was 5 stitches and no recovery time. So let's say 5 hours of injury recovery.
My second pony, also a 2-year-old unbroke, but this time, POA filly. When I was about 9, I actually had to stop counting because I had been bucked off over 480 times. Having her for 3 years, and hundreds of hours of riding, and 480 times hitting the dirt, I had no injuries, just depressed from not being able to stay on her. We even had a mountain lion attack us once and we both made it home without her bucking me off! No injuries.
I think my next 6 or 7 horses, from when I was 10 until I was 24 or 25, I didn't have any falls or accidents. I competed in hunters, equitation, worked on a ranch riding their horses, trail riding, etc. and would have added up to 1000's of hours of riding. I then had a fall in a jumper class, no injuries, got back on and competed in the next class. I had a few more falls here and there but no injuries. Then, I had my major accident which I talk about in my book. That one still didn't have any injuries other than bruising, to my physical body but it was the start of the emotional battle.
So here are my thoughts. The more time spent in the saddle, the less chance of getting injured. You get more in tune with your horse, with you, and with your reactions. So, if getting back into riding, start out slow, and build on the riding. Accidents do happen. So prepare your body the best that you can. I take care of my health. My skin was getting thin, I fixed it. My body was getting stiff and sore, I fixed it. I was gaining a little weight, I fixed it. I have a passion to ride. I want to ride. I love to ride. The thousands of hours of joy are worth the chance of getting hurt, but I also do everything in my power to eliminate the risks.
If you are intersted in hearing more about how I have improved my health, here is a link to the amazing coaching program and support group that I am part of. Would love to have you join us! Get Healthy Now!
