Making a Rider

Now that we've talked about Katai I thought it would be fun to talk a little more about me and what I'm doing outside of lessons and rides to make progress.

First, I'm a HUGE proponent of rider fitness. I truly believe that if we're going to ask our horses to be athletes we should as well. That doesn't mean that we need to be out running marathons but at a minimum I want to be able to make it through a 45-60 minute lesson without becoming a burden to my instructor, clinician or horse. Not that they may not as for something at some point that wears me out but I want it to be the exception rather than the rule.

I ran Ragnar in 2014

A few years ago when I was early in my weight loss journey I started running and while I'm extremely proud of myself that I made it through I realized that running just isn't my thing. I hate it so much that I wasn't exercising at all because I felt like I needed to run and I REALLY didn't want to run.

Running pictures are always funny

Recently I've switched to just making sure I'm active. I go for long walks with my dog (and sometimes run or jog a bit), go for hikes, ride, and do body weight work outs at home. I'm happier, love it rather than trying to avoid it, and feel stronger than I have plus I'm continuing to get leaner which is a nice side effect :)

In addition I've always had really bad anterior pelvic tilt. I didn't know that's what it was but I'd always had a sore back and had a tough time not always having a really hollow back when I rode. Once I started working with Jane I started looking for answers and found some great tips and exercises to fix it. Now I'm doing the exercises in these videos along with many others and it's been making an amazing difference!

My absolute favorite workout video right now. 

I also enjoy the rest of this youtuber's videos

These changes in my strength have been a big part of the change in my position and the improvement in my riding.

I've also really changed my mindset around Katai as I've mentioned. I've become much more gentle with her thanks to Jane and we're working together as partners rather than me feeling like I need to be the instructor/leader all the time with her as the student/subordinate. I think it was partially tough for me since I've had her from the beginning when she was a baby and a brat and partially it's just a mindset that I have in general. It's been nice to change this both around Katai and in the rest of my life.

It's pretty cool when you get to improve your riding and a good therapy session when you pay for riding lessons ;)

Mare-ish

Well, I survived the Great River Ragnar!

From Friday at around 9:00 to Saturday around 10:00 I ran 11.8 miles in three stages the first being the longest at 5.4 miles. I truly would have told you beforehand that I was going to die so I'm very pleased to not only be alive but to have really enjoyed the entire experience and not feel half bad only a couple days after. 

Pre race at 4:30am on Friday (furthest on the left)

Post race at about 6:00pm on Saturday (in the middle)

So, for pony things.

I've posted a few times before that Katai is very into the boys. In the past, however, I haven't felt her to be especially moody or cranky when she's in heat but once I started riding that changed. On the ground she is her same sweet self with slightly more separation anxiety but when I try to ride her during that time she is impossible. At first I felt it to be behavioral because when palpating her back she had no reaction and she was only slightly more tense than normal. Recently though she's been getting so, so much better that I started to question whether it was behavior or pain and now I'm convinced it's the latter.

At a walk she is perfect. Her back is loose and swinging and she stretches down into contact but at a trot she becomes so inverted that she's almost gaited. Her feet fly in something between a canter, walk, and trot and she is so tense that she feels like a piece of steel. Most of the time her trot is better and has continued to improve but in heat she is impossible to work any faster than a trot and she has been in heat for the past week! Most of the time her cycle seems to be only a few days but this one's been a doosey :(

I finally decided it was time to do something about it and I've ordered a supplement to try. I've also got her back on a magnesium supplement since that is supposed to help loosen back muscles and is calming.

I will post more about my experiment as soon as I know more :)

My Crazy Weekend

My barn was having a schooling show this Saturday. I hadn't planned on entering but at the last minute J told me that there would be a sport horse In hand class and I REALLY wanted to show Katai. There were a few problems including that I have a white pony who is still pretty sure that the hose is going to eat her so a real bath would be tricky, I have no idea how to do sport horse in hand, plus I haven't ever made Katai trot next to me and even if I could get her to it certainly wouldn't show off her trot very well. I hate being unprepared so I decided to skip it this time but on Friday evening J asked if I would scribe and I jumped at the chance.

It really was great to scribe and get a feel for what the judge was looking for. This was my first time and I was a little nervous but the judge was very patient and helpful and I feel like its a good life skill. I was glad it was a schooling show and that no one showed over 1st level since those tests were already difficult enough.

It was great to spectate and help out, and I would certainly scribe again in a heartbeat, but hopefully I can ride in the next one!

Then on Saturday I ran my first 5K, not an event just on my own, with only one short 15 second walk in the middle! It was my first time running over two miles and I hadn't done that since last year. Tonight I ran another 5K and cut off 3 minutes :)

I'm really glad that I'm making some improvement because I'm entered in a Ragnar in August https://www.ragnarrelay.com. I'm excited but extremely nervous because this will be the first sporting event that I've ever been a part of. I never did any sports as a kid other than riding and even with riding I never had lessons or anyone to push me so I sort of putzed along and just had fun, which is great don't get me wrong but it doesn't encourage any type of fitness. I was certainly never an athletic kid and while my family did lots of hiking and we would sometimes go on long bike rides it was never easy or especially fun for me. I was never thin but going through college and grad school I was starting to get a bit tubby. It's not something that I've ever really brought up on this blog but it was seeing a picture of myself riding Myshla that made me decide I had to change something. 

I started running last year but never made it over two miles and only did that a few times. This winter I didn't run at all because I didn't have access to a treadmill so this year I had to start all over and I am so glad that I did! I'm actually starting to enjoy it and I can tell how much more fit I am just since I got back to it at the beginning of May. Since I started working on my diet and exercise about three years ago I've lost over 40 pounds and my goal is to lose about 15-20 more. Training for the Ragnar this summer will certainly help! 

Finally on Sunday my sister came to visit and came with me to the barn. I was able to convince her to take some pictures. She rocks! They are a little blurry but they are also almost the only pictures I have of me riding Katai so I don't even care.

Can you tell how much I love this pony :-)

Please forgive the wonky elbows and hands. Between the green baby pony things, the fact that J wants my hands a little low and wide right now to help her stretch down, and the fact that I haven't really ridden much at all for the last month since Katai got to the barn my position has certainly been better. Now that I finally have a saddle that fits and a pony that behaves I can start to do the work to bring it together.