2019 Discoveries

Something I thought might be fun was to do a post of things that I learned, discovered, or re-discovered over the past year.

Podcasts/Media:
There are some podcasts and other media that I discovered, love, and wanted to share.

The first is Buck Off Banter which Amanda from $900 Facebook Pony recommended at some point. It is FANTASTIC! Not only are they real horse people they are very funny. They share the bad with the good and just enough about their family and non-horse things to feel like you're talking with a friend over a cup of coffee instead of listening to a podcast. 100% recommend.

The second is the Confident Rider Podcast. I actually found this through the Olivia Towers podcast (which I also really enjoy) but while that one is still fairly young and there are a lot of topics that I just don't connect with as much, I LOVE Jane Pike. She talks a lot about anxiety and mind set stuff and I find it really helpful. I've learned more of my current skill set around mental health from her than I did from the therapist I was seeing for awhile. Even if you aren't struggling with mental health stuff at the moment this is a fantastic listen.

The Hackett Equine Youtube channel is my third item for this group. I talk a lot about how much I enjoy Youtube but I also feel like I have a pretty good handle on which channels are out there and which I enjoy. Hackette Equine was a new one for me this year and she's lovely. I definitely recommend if you enjoy equine youtube channels!

Planning:
I got a planner around black Friday and it’s been something I’ve used off and on since then. Recently I think I’ve hit my stride with using this. The main thing I’m still struggling with is how to plan for future rides with all of the variability that entails. Ultimately though it’s more important for me to be able to plan when I’ll be able to ride and for now as long as I have a main theme for my rides on any given week I can always shift around if needed based on the weather or Katai’s behavior. The main thing it’s help helpful with is being able to look ahead and identify which days in the future I won’t be able to ride. That way I don’t miss a ride that I could have made and then realize that I have plans the next evening so suddenly miss multiple days in a row. That had been a huge issue. Visually looking at my month and which days I won’t be able to ride has helped me prioritize to ride on days when I can especially on weeks where my schedule is tighter.

Consistency is Good:
Both with time at the barn and mindset around change consistency feels really positive right now. I’m so tired of being so transient. I’m tired of moving homes, states, jobs, barns, etc. Knowing for the past year that I was going to be applying for and moving to a new job was stressful and applying and interviewing is always stressful and frustrating at times. Moving into a role at a great company that I’ll likely spend at least several years, if not the rest of my career, with is a huge weight off my shoulders.

Now we have our own little house :)

I’ve talked a fair amount about moving somewhere but knew that was less likely when I met my bf. I’ve also dreamed of having my own little farm and I think that thinking about that all the time always had me with one foot out the door at boarding places since it was easy to think about how that would solve all of the little annoyances. Now that we won’t be moving forward in that way it makes it easier to be solution focused with finding a great boarding situation and just staying there. Moving to the house and having a job that I’ll be at for a while also means that I’ll be living in one place and not moving around and therefore won’t have an additional reason to move barns. To me all of this means finding solutions to things like cold winters, hot humid summers, finding a great trainer etc. That’s a good place to be and feels much more settled and relaxing than constantly feeling like I should be picking up and making a big move. Also knowing that my disposable income will increase significantly in the near future means that I’ll have additional options for problem solving. I’ve already been doing this and it’s so nice to just be figuring it out vs. constantly having that foot out the door.

Down Time:
Taking some time off of lessons has been fantastic for me. I was feeling really burnt out after weekly lessons for a year and while I’m 100% confident that’s the quickest way to make progress, at this point as a working adult amateur with a high stress professional career, a new relationship, a new home, and a puppy that’s just too much. I’m looking forward to being able to have more consistent lessons (my goal is once per month or so) but for now this is exactly what I needed. I’ve been able to get my head straight and some of the training that’s needed with Katai is not in the arena but ground work and training items like working with the hose, relaxation and patience training, and being able to get out on trails. While I’m certain that some people could do this with weekly lessons I was just not feeling like I ever had enough time to work on my “homework” much less that I had time to work on these other things.

Pretty sure my boyfriend needs this mug

It’s been good for me and Katai’s relationship to step back, she’s getting more well-rounded, and her ulcer symptoms had completely gone away prior to the move. I contribute the improvement in her ulcers to several things but I’m also fairly convinced that the step back in arena work has helped. We will be slightly stepping this back up again to at least 2-3 days in the arena each week so it’s my goal to keep her tummy feeling just as good.

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 ;)