Yes, the fly season in Montana has arrived but that is not the buzz I am referring to.
You don’t have to search too far on the internet endurance blog world to feel the buzz. With the Tevis less than a week away, the ultimate in endurance races, lots of riders that are busy preparing to attend are experiencing pre-ride jitters. My heart jumps right along with them as I log on to the Tevis Cup website or Endurance.Net to stay up on the lastest pre ride happenings. There are various ride stories, recent trail updates, news bulletins or past footage of the ride that anyone can log on and read about. No, it's not like being there in person, I am certain, but at least it makes me feel like I am part of the excitement on some very small level. I can’t deny that part of me is wishing I was one of those getting ready to race, but on the other hand, I am not so sure if I have near enough sand to prepare for such a difficult race and I certainly don't think I have the horse for such a race at this point. All of that aside, someday I hope to try.
For now I will have to settle for logging on to the Webcast on August 1st to keep track of a few riders and living vicariously through them. The riders won’t be able to hear my "Echeers" from "Espace " but I hope they know I am riding every mile with them , along with thousands of other “hopefuls” and fans.
It's amazing how much goes into preparing for a ride of this caliber. Not only the years of preparations to get yourself and your horse into a fine tuned machine, but the mental preparedness, the organization to get yourself , your crew and your horse(s)to the race all in one piece. I logged on the Tevis site to see the map of the ride and where the vet checks and holds are. Just orchestrating a crew to get to the key meeting points is enough to makes one's head spin! The people that ride this ride are courageous determined and driven individuals and I hope to someday be so fortunate to be one of them. Good Luck to all of those attending and thanks for the inspiration to keep working at the endurance dream!
I 'll be watching!
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Thursday, July 23, 2009
New Attitudes
What a week this has been. No , its not over yet, but only one more day to go. This was the first full week I have worked since before the 4th of July. I am not whining, I promise, but it was a real a challenge to get back into the thick of things at the office and get my brain back into “analytical” mode. To add to the challenge, there were several celebrations and fund raisers going on in the office, and ofcourse with that... comes food…
Lots of food. Evil food , like biscuits with sausage gravy, and spaghetti with meat sauce. Yes, I walked away from all of it… every last bit! Even the most sinful of them all .. Carrot Cake.
Streamlining my food choices and maintaining will power is an ongoing challenge but I think I am getting the hang of it. Today was The Spaghetti feed school fundraiser. As good as that plate of spaghetti and garlic bread would have tasted, I just kept reminding myself how horribly I would feel after the fact. And..then? I got the HELL out of the building for lunch!! I dashed for the gym for a workout.
…Nothing like the smell of a locker room to make one lose their appetite.
By the time I was done with my workout and had just sweated out what seemed like atleast a gallon of water (do the staff at the gym have something against air conditioning?) there was no way I was going to sabotage that 45 minutes of hard work for a carb and corn syrup overload (Costco canned pasta sauce). Nope, not me…My tuna with fresh veggies would keep me satisfied and I wouldn’t have to forgo the walk of shame later that day. Many thanks to the great resources that Tamara of In the Night Farm has posted on her site, along with many of the helpful comments her followers posted. They have definitely helped me to continue to get a new attitude and stay the course in the face of spaghetti and carrot cake.
Speaking of new attitude’s ,JB has himself a new attitude these days. It has been wonderful to see my special boy transform from a tense, hyper alert Stallion to a loosey goosey , driven by the next meal gelding. His whole body looks more relaxed, almost like someone unstitched a few stitches that were too tight. Initially I I had some reservations about how much change gelding him would make as he is 7 years old but it really has been amazing. I wasn’t that concerned about how he would do with the other horse because up until he was 3, he was turned out regularly with the other horses. Eventually, his herd behavior as a stallion was just too much for the geldings to bear and I had to cease group turnout.
Over the last couple of weeks, we have slowly introduced JB back into the gelding lifestyle/ We began with shared turnout with the older two, Roman and Rebel. The first time was a little surprising. JB literally ran out to them and attacked at full speed, all teeth. He did get a hold of Rebel and poor Rebel lost some hide in the process. I think JB caught both geldings by surprise because they were quietly grazing and didn’t even look up as he approached at a gallop, ears pinned. Roman was the one to take action and promptly laid the law down with a fairly aggressive attack of his own, catching JB a couple of times with both barrels. From the sidelines, the loud “THWACK, THWACK” that could be heard was Romans hind feet catching JB in the chest. JB moved off and went on to graze, certainly feeling the wrath of Roman. Apparently JB got the message and now has the highest respect for him. Ever since then , there has been no trouble. Rebel has decided the safest place for him to be is behind Roman…
JB was turned out with these two for a solid two weeks before I felt it was time to introduce the rest of the herd. For the first few days, he completely ignored the other horses and grazed quietly at the opposite side of the pasture from the rest of the horses. Never even once tried to get in their business, which surprised me a bit. He has now begun to try to find his spot in the herd and so far he is second, Roman being first, then Rebel, then Brego , then Cassidy. Maggie is left out of the mix completely for now until her hormone levels drop off for the year. ( no need to complicate matters). Cassidy tried to challenge JB yesterday but found himself the receiver of JB’s nasty little teeth. Ooooo, that makes me so mad but they have to sort it out. Brego is rather fascinated with JB and it’s really amusing to watch him. When JB approaches or vice versa, Brego does the baby chomping thing with his mouth and the promptly pees all over himself… no joke… I imagine its just a submissive thing but he seems rather embarrassed of himself when this occurs. I can’t help but laugh! Sorry Brego.. I just can't help myself.
I truly enjoy watching the herd and the herd behavior. I have learned a lot about my horses just from watching them from a distance. It’s not uncommon to find me sitting in the pasture from time to time observing.
I would love to hear what some of you have witnessed or learned from your herd of horses? Do you find that certain breeds tend to stick together if you have a mixed breed herd? I know ours do. The Morgans stick together. Does the hierarchy change from time to time, season to season? What happens when you removed the dominant leader of the group? Tell me all about it.
Riding plans for the weekend:
This weekend in the Flathead is buzzing with activity from Heritage days, to State champ swim meets to road rallies for bikers, and since the weather will be hot, plenty of boaters looking for respite from the heat. It’s the perfect storm for brewing up a few traffic jams along with plenty of road ragers out there. As for me, I will try to avoid all of that craziness and sticking mostly close to home, with maybe a quick trip to the lake one afternoon. The weather will be hot and so I will ride early in the day. On Sunday morning, we will be hosting dressage lessons at our outdoor arena but as soon as those are wrapped up, I do plan to attend The Event, a world cup qualifier 3 day Event held at Rebecca Farms. It’s great fun with lots of vendors and an opportunity to see some of the country’s top riders and horses.
Lots of food. Evil food , like biscuits with sausage gravy, and spaghetti with meat sauce. Yes, I walked away from all of it… every last bit! Even the most sinful of them all .. Carrot Cake.
Streamlining my food choices and maintaining will power is an ongoing challenge but I think I am getting the hang of it. Today was The Spaghetti feed school fundraiser. As good as that plate of spaghetti and garlic bread would have tasted, I just kept reminding myself how horribly I would feel after the fact. And..then? I got the HELL out of the building for lunch!! I dashed for the gym for a workout.
…Nothing like the smell of a locker room to make one lose their appetite.
By the time I was done with my workout and had just sweated out what seemed like atleast a gallon of water (do the staff at the gym have something against air conditioning?) there was no way I was going to sabotage that 45 minutes of hard work for a carb and corn syrup overload (Costco canned pasta sauce). Nope, not me…My tuna with fresh veggies would keep me satisfied and I wouldn’t have to forgo the walk of shame later that day. Many thanks to the great resources that Tamara of In the Night Farm has posted on her site, along with many of the helpful comments her followers posted. They have definitely helped me to continue to get a new attitude and stay the course in the face of spaghetti and carrot cake.
Speaking of new attitude’s ,JB has himself a new attitude these days. It has been wonderful to see my special boy transform from a tense, hyper alert Stallion to a loosey goosey , driven by the next meal gelding. His whole body looks more relaxed, almost like someone unstitched a few stitches that were too tight. Initially I I had some reservations about how much change gelding him would make as he is 7 years old but it really has been amazing. I wasn’t that concerned about how he would do with the other horse because up until he was 3, he was turned out regularly with the other horses. Eventually, his herd behavior as a stallion was just too much for the geldings to bear and I had to cease group turnout.
Over the last couple of weeks, we have slowly introduced JB back into the gelding lifestyle/ We began with shared turnout with the older two, Roman and Rebel. The first time was a little surprising. JB literally ran out to them and attacked at full speed, all teeth. He did get a hold of Rebel and poor Rebel lost some hide in the process. I think JB caught both geldings by surprise because they were quietly grazing and didn’t even look up as he approached at a gallop, ears pinned. Roman was the one to take action and promptly laid the law down with a fairly aggressive attack of his own, catching JB a couple of times with both barrels. From the sidelines, the loud “THWACK, THWACK” that could be heard was Romans hind feet catching JB in the chest. JB moved off and went on to graze, certainly feeling the wrath of Roman. Apparently JB got the message and now has the highest respect for him. Ever since then , there has been no trouble. Rebel has decided the safest place for him to be is behind Roman…
JB was turned out with these two for a solid two weeks before I felt it was time to introduce the rest of the herd. For the first few days, he completely ignored the other horses and grazed quietly at the opposite side of the pasture from the rest of the horses. Never even once tried to get in their business, which surprised me a bit. He has now begun to try to find his spot in the herd and so far he is second, Roman being first, then Rebel, then Brego , then Cassidy. Maggie is left out of the mix completely for now until her hormone levels drop off for the year. ( no need to complicate matters). Cassidy tried to challenge JB yesterday but found himself the receiver of JB’s nasty little teeth. Ooooo, that makes me so mad but they have to sort it out. Brego is rather fascinated with JB and it’s really amusing to watch him. When JB approaches or vice versa, Brego does the baby chomping thing with his mouth and the promptly pees all over himself… no joke… I imagine its just a submissive thing but he seems rather embarrassed of himself when this occurs. I can’t help but laugh! Sorry Brego.. I just can't help myself.
I truly enjoy watching the herd and the herd behavior. I have learned a lot about my horses just from watching them from a distance. It’s not uncommon to find me sitting in the pasture from time to time observing.
I would love to hear what some of you have witnessed or learned from your herd of horses? Do you find that certain breeds tend to stick together if you have a mixed breed herd? I know ours do. The Morgans stick together. Does the hierarchy change from time to time, season to season? What happens when you removed the dominant leader of the group? Tell me all about it.
Riding plans for the weekend:
This weekend in the Flathead is buzzing with activity from Heritage days, to State champ swim meets to road rallies for bikers, and since the weather will be hot, plenty of boaters looking for respite from the heat. It’s the perfect storm for brewing up a few traffic jams along with plenty of road ragers out there. As for me, I will try to avoid all of that craziness and sticking mostly close to home, with maybe a quick trip to the lake one afternoon. The weather will be hot and so I will ride early in the day. On Sunday morning, we will be hosting dressage lessons at our outdoor arena but as soon as those are wrapped up, I do plan to attend The Event, a world cup qualifier 3 day Event held at Rebecca Farms. It’s great fun with lots of vendors and an opportunity to see some of the country’s top riders and horses.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Peanut and MM
The last two weeks have been an absolute whirlwind and it's probably high time I gave an update. Believe it or not, I have been riding, in fact, quite a bit. Beginning the 4th of July weekend, I was on "staycation" and had family visiting from the east coast, cousins I haven't seen in over 15 years. We had an absolutely fabulous time . In between the boating, hiking, swimming and sightseeing, I did manage to stay disciplined enough to get up early and get my riding done first thing, leaving me the rest of the day to enjoy family time.
So here is the run down. I purchased a Duett saddle from another endurance rider and blogger and it has worked out to be quite a good fit for JB. Surprisingly enough the saddle also does ok on Maggie Mae (previously known as April), So with the new saddle, I have been putting quite a bit of time on Peanut (JB). As a side note, JB was gelded a little over a month ago now and is enjoying his new life as a gelding, getting to have pasture mates now regularly, although he often chooses to be a loner. Gedlinghood has changed a few things for him in training as well. Suddenly , all the arena work and excercises that I had been working on for the last several months are all coming together. When I ask him to travel long and low and stretch his back at a trot, he no longer fights it, now he welcomes it. His canter transitions are improving in leaps and bounds and he is jumping 2' now with ease and some pretty darn cute form too!
What about endurance you say?
All in good time....
No, I haven't forgotten , nor do I plan to. I decided that , in JB's best interest, we needed to just put endurance on the back burner until next season. I am seeing now that it was definitely the right decision. His hoof issues seem to be resolving. I have had him on Farriers's Formula for 5 months now and it is really helping. I never work him without his Easyboot Epics and pads, even if it's in the roundpen that has absolutely no rocks. He has to have the boots on. Otherwise, he starts short stepping. We think alot of it might be memory from the pain he went through last year with the heel/sole bruises because he hoof tests out just fine. there is no more actual detectable soreness. As long as the boots are on, he seems to finally be able to reach with his front and moves much better. A few weeks ago, we had a minor setback , but realized right away what the problem was. His feet had grown (imagine that!) and the size 0 boots were squeezing his feet just a bit more than he was comfortable with, so we went back into the 1's and now he is moving better again. I am really enjoying our time together and he seems to be much happier as well. Now that he is a gelding there is alot less mental energy exterted in his surroundings. As a stud, every other horse, bug, piece of dust, blade of grass or whatever else happened to fly by his sight was a total distraction for him. As a result, he is "talking "less and listening more. That has allowed our arena time to be much more productive.
As for M&M ( MaggieMae), well , all I can say is, wow, she has been a trip. She is the total opposite of JB. I spent a solid three weeks of round pen work only to establish some sort of relationship and give her some excercise with the added burden of rider. She was quite overweight. The time we spent getting to know each other in the round pen ?? My gosh, she is a quick study. She listens so well and is moving nicely up and down through her gaits with only a slight shift in my body position and a verbal cue. She has lost about a 1oo lbs and is feeling much better as well.
In the beginning, she would get very agitated with the feeling of any pressure at her side and would literally squeel and wheel even if I touched her there while on the ground. I got her to a point where she accepted in on the ground and would step her hind quarters over nicely but while I was in the saddle she hated the feeling of any pressure against her side. I had never experienced that with a horse before. Eventually with more work from the ground and in the saddle, we got past that. However, right about then, she decided to pull out her next trick. We would be trotting along and all of sudden , she would slam on the brakes, literally stop dead . And mover her forward??? forget it. .. She planted her feet and there was no moving her. She would turn and back up and maybe go foward a step or two but then she would pin her ears and kick at your foot in the stirrup when you would encourage her forward with your leg. Each time she would do this, we would go through the same thing. She would throw what appeared to be a temper tantrum and I would pateintly ask forward or ask her to take a step to the side , hoping tounlock her feet . We would do this and each time, she would eventually get out of her snit and then just walk forward like nothing happened. However, each time she did this, I was noticing she was "upping the anty" a bit more. I realized that I had better get an upper hand on the situation, as it seemed to be becoming a bad and dangerous habit because she was beginning to throw her head and offer to rear. About a week ago, I strapped my helmet on extra tight and went to work. As predicted, she did her slam on the brakes maneuver and I thought, well, here we go, not really know how she was going to react to what I would do. When she stopped, I asked her to move forward with my leg, her response was throw her head and kick at my foot in the stirrup. At that moment, I had an extra long rein and I had the extra length ready. When she kicked at my foot, she caught the end of my leather rein on her heiny. She jumped sideways and kicked out again. I offered her to move off my leg forward, again, she kicked at my foot in the stirrup, so again I caught her with the end of the rein. Now she was beginning to realize I might be serious because when I asked a third time with my leg to move forward, she moved forward. Wow, did we move forward. She trotted out a ways and then she tried to stop and kick at my again. This time, when I asked with my leg, she opted to listen to that cue and she moved off, quietly and without kicking at me, throwing her head or any of that other nonsense. I am pleased to say we haven't had an issue since. She moves off leg pressure now and there have been no other temper tantrums. Now that she is a bit lighter and feeling better, she will occasionally kick out as she moves up into a canter but it's not anything to be concerned about. It's almost more of a playful thing from what I can tell. I am seeing that Maggie likes to go and go fast.
Very much unlike JB, my focus with her will be speed control right out of the gate. This weekend we started introducing the half halt and she is picking it up quickly. She will be a tough little mare and I hope to ride her next season in her first limited distance.
So, that's the news with us and the horses these days. I have been busy riding two horses, both at totally different points in their training. This coming week, we begin a big project with putting up a 24x32 haybarn. Yay... I can hardly wait...
So here is the run down. I purchased a Duett saddle from another endurance rider and blogger and it has worked out to be quite a good fit for JB. Surprisingly enough the saddle also does ok on Maggie Mae (previously known as April), So with the new saddle, I have been putting quite a bit of time on Peanut (JB). As a side note, JB was gelded a little over a month ago now and is enjoying his new life as a gelding, getting to have pasture mates now regularly, although he often chooses to be a loner. Gedlinghood has changed a few things for him in training as well. Suddenly , all the arena work and excercises that I had been working on for the last several months are all coming together. When I ask him to travel long and low and stretch his back at a trot, he no longer fights it, now he welcomes it. His canter transitions are improving in leaps and bounds and he is jumping 2' now with ease and some pretty darn cute form too!
What about endurance you say?
All in good time....
No, I haven't forgotten , nor do I plan to. I decided that , in JB's best interest, we needed to just put endurance on the back burner until next season. I am seeing now that it was definitely the right decision. His hoof issues seem to be resolving. I have had him on Farriers's Formula for 5 months now and it is really helping. I never work him without his Easyboot Epics and pads, even if it's in the roundpen that has absolutely no rocks. He has to have the boots on. Otherwise, he starts short stepping. We think alot of it might be memory from the pain he went through last year with the heel/sole bruises because he hoof tests out just fine. there is no more actual detectable soreness. As long as the boots are on, he seems to finally be able to reach with his front and moves much better. A few weeks ago, we had a minor setback , but realized right away what the problem was. His feet had grown (imagine that!) and the size 0 boots were squeezing his feet just a bit more than he was comfortable with, so we went back into the 1's and now he is moving better again. I am really enjoying our time together and he seems to be much happier as well. Now that he is a gelding there is alot less mental energy exterted in his surroundings. As a stud, every other horse, bug, piece of dust, blade of grass or whatever else happened to fly by his sight was a total distraction for him. As a result, he is "talking "less and listening more. That has allowed our arena time to be much more productive.
As for M&M ( MaggieMae), well , all I can say is, wow, she has been a trip. She is the total opposite of JB. I spent a solid three weeks of round pen work only to establish some sort of relationship and give her some excercise with the added burden of rider. She was quite overweight. The time we spent getting to know each other in the round pen ?? My gosh, she is a quick study. She listens so well and is moving nicely up and down through her gaits with only a slight shift in my body position and a verbal cue. She has lost about a 1oo lbs and is feeling much better as well.
In the beginning, she would get very agitated with the feeling of any pressure at her side and would literally squeel and wheel even if I touched her there while on the ground. I got her to a point where she accepted in on the ground and would step her hind quarters over nicely but while I was in the saddle she hated the feeling of any pressure against her side. I had never experienced that with a horse before. Eventually with more work from the ground and in the saddle, we got past that. However, right about then, she decided to pull out her next trick. We would be trotting along and all of sudden , she would slam on the brakes, literally stop dead . And mover her forward??? forget it. .. She planted her feet and there was no moving her. She would turn and back up and maybe go foward a step or two but then she would pin her ears and kick at your foot in the stirrup when you would encourage her forward with your leg. Each time she would do this, we would go through the same thing. She would throw what appeared to be a temper tantrum and I would pateintly ask forward or ask her to take a step to the side , hoping tounlock her feet . We would do this and each time, she would eventually get out of her snit and then just walk forward like nothing happened. However, each time she did this, I was noticing she was "upping the anty" a bit more. I realized that I had better get an upper hand on the situation, as it seemed to be becoming a bad and dangerous habit because she was beginning to throw her head and offer to rear. About a week ago, I strapped my helmet on extra tight and went to work. As predicted, she did her slam on the brakes maneuver and I thought, well, here we go, not really know how she was going to react to what I would do. When she stopped, I asked her to move forward with my leg, her response was throw her head and kick at my foot in the stirrup. At that moment, I had an extra long rein and I had the extra length ready. When she kicked at my foot, she caught the end of my leather rein on her heiny. She jumped sideways and kicked out again. I offered her to move off my leg forward, again, she kicked at my foot in the stirrup, so again I caught her with the end of the rein. Now she was beginning to realize I might be serious because when I asked a third time with my leg to move forward, she moved forward. Wow, did we move forward. She trotted out a ways and then she tried to stop and kick at my again. This time, when I asked with my leg, she opted to listen to that cue and she moved off, quietly and without kicking at me, throwing her head or any of that other nonsense. I am pleased to say we haven't had an issue since. She moves off leg pressure now and there have been no other temper tantrums. Now that she is a bit lighter and feeling better, she will occasionally kick out as she moves up into a canter but it's not anything to be concerned about. It's almost more of a playful thing from what I can tell. I am seeing that Maggie likes to go and go fast.
Very much unlike JB, my focus with her will be speed control right out of the gate. This weekend we started introducing the half halt and she is picking it up quickly. She will be a tough little mare and I hope to ride her next season in her first limited distance.
So, that's the news with us and the horses these days. I have been busy riding two horses, both at totally different points in their training. This coming week, we begin a big project with putting up a 24x32 haybarn. Yay... I can hardly wait...
Thursday, July 16, 2009
10 Honest Scraps
Ok- I'll bite- a couple of fellow horse bloggers out there passed the Honest Scrap award on to me; Karens Musings and Other Endurance Ride Stuff http://enduranceridestuff.com/blog/ and Confessions of a Struggling Dressage Rider http://dressagerider.wordpress.com/ so I will do my part and pass it on. First line of business however is that there are a few rules with this award.
Recognize your award presenter and link back to their blog in your post List 10 honest things about yourself that others might not know. Present this award to 10 admirable bloggers and link to their blogs. Leave a comment on your recipients’ blogs to let them know to visit your post to retrieve their award.
I will start by saying that I don't really follow too many blogs and unfortunately I can't pass it on to anyone that apparently hasn't already received it...I am sure no one wants it twice so I will spare you but for what it's worth here are my two cents.
Here are 10 honest scraps about me:
1. My undergrad studies were sociology/archeology.
2. I am afraid of large machinery , it might go out of control and attack me, (don't laugh, there are alot of us out there like this!) but wouldn't think twice about galloping a horse at speeds that might be illegal on some streets.
3. I love to garden but hate weeding so I don't garden anymore other than a couple of tomatoes and peppers occasionally.
4. One of my favorite authors is Steinbeck.
5. I just bought a Duett saddle from Mel over at Mels Boots and Saddles.
6. I have always wanted to write a book but I vapor lock when I try to think about what the book would be about.
7. My first horse was an ex barrel horse, a beautiful Palomino Quarter Horse who lived to age 32. My first Pony was a white Shetland pony who was a retired circus pony.
8. I knew I wanted to do endurance the first summer I lived in Montana and started riding the trails with my horse Rebel.
9. I have two brothers and one sister.
10. I hope to see Spain, New Zealand, and Italy some day.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Saturday's Ride
It's already Tuesday and I meant to get to this sooner but time escapes me. I hate weekends. Either I can’t manage my time very well or there is just too darn much to do to try to cram into two days. But let me start over. I love weekends that are like this past weekend. Saturday was a splendid day for JB and I.
My weekend started out with an early Saturday morning dressage lesson with my instructor, Nisca. Once a month , she travels to this area and once a month , I meet her for an hour session. The lessons were being held at Herron Park, the same place the Blacktail Mountain Classic endurance ride was last weekend. I mentioned in an earlier post that Herron Park used to be the site of the local eventing club and hosted many 3 day events. Therefore there are two dressage arena’s with decent footing, a cross country course and access to miles of trails. I love having lessons at Herron Park because after the lesson is over , I can take off and go do a few miles of trails to get in some great trail and condition time. Or take a few small jumps. The opportunities are endless!
Hauling over there meant that I had to get up extra early to make sure JB had a full belly before his day of work. The lesson was scheduled for 9:00 a.m but I like to get there about a half hour to an hour early so I have time to warm up before hand. I knew after the lesson, we would take advantage of the trails.
Ofcourse, we werer running later than I wanted and by the time we arrived, , I was feeling a bit rushed. I wrestled on JB’s easy boots , mounted up and headed down to the where the arena was , on the other side of the park. As we made our way , a dog caught sight of us in the distance (the park is frequently used by hikers, bikers and dogwalkers as well) and was now running towards us. Visions of a dog/horse collision ran through my mind and thoughts of the recent situation Tamara of In the Night Farms began to make my heart jump a bit. The owner, far off in the distance was calling the dog back but it was of no use. The dog was far more interested in this large animal coming it’s way. The dog appeared to be a lab cross of some kind and seemed to just be coming to say hi. I continued to stay our course and the dog kept coming. JB and the dog were now locked in on eachother. JB isn’t afraid of dogs but he is not particularly fond of them either. His stallion instincts tend to kick in a bit. He will attack a dog given the right opportunity , even his own dogs. The dog slowed as it approached and JB pinned his ears and swished his tail. The dog made a wide circle around us a few times to try to figure things out. I tried to keep JB on our slated path , towards the arena. The dog continued to stay near, now dashing back and forth in front of us, behind us and around us like a little yellow bullet. JB was , if anything, as irritated as I was at this distraction and ofcourse the dog was now his main focus. I could still hear the owner yelling for the dog and the dog continued to ignore his attempts to retrieve her.
If I was nice, I wouldn’t have ridden over to the owner , delivered the dog, politely informed the dog owner of the risks he creates by allowing his dog to run after livestock, and then go about my way.
I was not feeling nice at the moment.
I was feeling down right irritable.
So instead ; I kept riding right past the owner as the dog followed me....
Ok, I admit, it was a bit defiant.
But , I gave the owner every opportunity to catch his dog and he didn’t. The owner attempted to grab the dog once , yelling at him to come back but the dog had the " ignore owner" trick down to a science.
JB, myself and our new friend now made our way to the arena. Right about then, I thought “ I bet this dog, would follow us if I picked up a nice trot and headed up the trails". Maybe it would teach the dog owner a good lesson, watching helplessly as his dog disappeared into the woods with a stranger. As it was, the owner didn’t seem to be too concerned as he stood at the top of the parking lot and never bothered to actually come retrieve his animal.
I had just about decided to go ahead with my plan when the dog and, moreso the owner, was saved by the bell.
Right about then Nisca arrived and shouted out to me
“ Hello, I see we are tense today!”
“Yep, dog kind of set things in motion for us today” I replied.
Nisca could see that I was struggling to get JB’s mind on the task at hand. Ofcourse, who couldn't see that. He was more concerned about which direction that darn dog was going next. We moved around with his head up high , tense back , kinda like a camel. Needless to say, she caught us in less than a pretty moment! Thankfully, the dog finally hightailed it back to the owner , seemingly satisfied and apparently growing bored with us .
Ofcourse, the remnants the dog left behind would sabotage the first half of my riding lesson. I spent the first 15 minutes of the lesson getting JB to refocus on anything but “where is that dog”.
Once we got back to work mode, Nisca pointed out that she noticed that as JB went around the arena tense, hollowed back, so did I. "Really??? I am surprised you noticed" I said and laughed.
OK- I give..... it was time for a refresher course on my tendency to hollow my lower back in times when JB is already tense.
Have you ever tried breathing into your lower back? Unless your familiar and good at yoga, you might find it as difficult as it sounds. Needless to say, Nisca stood on a step stool next to me while I was in the saddle on JB and we worked on correct breathing.
Boring you say??
Just try it and you might find it one of the most frustrating things you have attempted in a while. The concept sounds simple enought but apparently the tensions of life teach us to only breathe using the tup third of our lungs.
Your probably saying, OK, so what does breathing have to do with tensing my lower back , right?
Wait for it....
When I don’t breathe correctly, I don’t soften my seat correctly. When I don't soften me seat and lower back correctly, I hinder the space he can lift his back into. In order for my horse to soften and lift his back , he has to have a place to lift into. Tensing and hollowing my back get in his way.
This concept isn't anything knew for me but doing it consistently tends to elude me.
So , how do I fix it?
Here is the sequence of events that Nisca took me through to get on the right path...
1. First, position yourself to allow the correct breathing. This means I have to tilt the pelvis back the slightest bit, kind of like tucking your tail bone underneath you a bit so you are on the flat part of your sit bones as opposed to the points of them. This flattens my lower back , gets rid of the hollowness, and engages my abdominals correctly.
2.Breathe into my lower back, using all of my lung capacity instead of just the top half. This fills the lower back with each inhale. This is the correct breathing that naturally occurs when we sleep. Life and stress teaches us how not to breathe apparently. ( the way I see, I should have stopped breathing completely years ago!)
3. Open my chest across my clavicle and bring my shoulders down and back so that the bottom tips of the scapula come to a point, almost like the bottom of a heart shape.
****Warning, don’t just pull shoulders back and down because this will cause your lower back to hollow again. Focus instead on moving the bottom points of the scapulas toward one another.
Sound easy?? Feel free to give it a try and maintain it while you are riding your horse. For me, I have spent the better part of my adult life at a desk on a computer and have developed some bad posture habits. Opening up the clavicle and maintaining it can be very difficult for me.
So for an hour , JB and I walked around and worked on this. We only trotted for a little bit but mostly worked at a walk. What I found was that by the time I ran through my mental check list of …
breathe
keep pelvis tilted under and back with abdominal correctly engaged
don’t round shoulders
keep elbows resting quietly at sides
look up, etc, etc ,
I had stopped breathing correctly. Ok- start again at the top of the list… and the process would begin again. Eventually with enough correct practice this should come without a second thought. Atleast that is what I am hoping for !
Once the lesson was done, we decided to head up the trail for a few miles. Ofcourse, the first 2 miles is all up hill . JB, just coming off 12 days of little to no work we took it slow and only trotted on the few flat spots we could find. We rode for about an hour and then turned around, as much as I didn't want to , I could tell that if I went any further, it may have been just a little too much. Round trip it was approx 7 miles.
Back at the park , there is also a cross country course set up year round and luck would have it that this weekend, there was also a Trail Challenge competition scheduled for Sunday. So, there were obstacles set up for it, including a freshly filled water jump. YEE HAA!!
I couldn’t resist the opportunity to cross water and work on a few small jumps with JB. Ofcourse, JB thought the water jump was just a really huge water tank and took a big drink , which was great. The jump has both a jump in/jump out approach of a walk in walk/out approach. We walked through it about 3 times. Then I attempted to canter him through but he put on the brakes and walked gingerly through. He finally caught on to the game and we made a few nice trot throughs without breaking gate. The cool water splashing him as he trotted through kind of weirded him out a bit! He is not a big fan of water but only because I haven’t had much opportunity to expose him to it. Eventually JB got to where he okay with water splashing, no thanks to Tom and Cassidy ,w ho kept galloping through and soaking us !! Laughing as he went by. JB finally figured out he would get less wet if he kept going. After a bit we even got to where he could trot in , trot across the width of the jump (about 12 feet) and then jump up and out of it, about a 2 foot jump out height. We jumped over a few of the lower level jumps like logs and few regular cross rails with regular jump standards. I had a blast and it made me miss my eventing days back when I was a pony clubber. JB seemed to really enjoy the jumping as well. He appears to be cautious jumper and picks his feet up well over the fence.
Saturday was a great day spent on the back of my horse. One of the better days I have had in some time. We did a little bit of everything and JB was a real trooper with each task I asked of him. This little horse continues to impress me with his willingness to try whatever I ask of him and give it his all to the best of his ability. If he never wows the crowd with speed on the endurance trail, I suspect he will make up for it in versatility.
My weekend started out with an early Saturday morning dressage lesson with my instructor, Nisca. Once a month , she travels to this area and once a month , I meet her for an hour session. The lessons were being held at Herron Park, the same place the Blacktail Mountain Classic endurance ride was last weekend. I mentioned in an earlier post that Herron Park used to be the site of the local eventing club and hosted many 3 day events. Therefore there are two dressage arena’s with decent footing, a cross country course and access to miles of trails. I love having lessons at Herron Park because after the lesson is over , I can take off and go do a few miles of trails to get in some great trail and condition time. Or take a few small jumps. The opportunities are endless!
Hauling over there meant that I had to get up extra early to make sure JB had a full belly before his day of work. The lesson was scheduled for 9:00 a.m but I like to get there about a half hour to an hour early so I have time to warm up before hand. I knew after the lesson, we would take advantage of the trails.
Ofcourse, we werer running later than I wanted and by the time we arrived, , I was feeling a bit rushed. I wrestled on JB’s easy boots , mounted up and headed down to the where the arena was , on the other side of the park. As we made our way , a dog caught sight of us in the distance (the park is frequently used by hikers, bikers and dogwalkers as well) and was now running towards us. Visions of a dog/horse collision ran through my mind and thoughts of the recent situation Tamara of In the Night Farms began to make my heart jump a bit. The owner, far off in the distance was calling the dog back but it was of no use. The dog was far more interested in this large animal coming it’s way. The dog appeared to be a lab cross of some kind and seemed to just be coming to say hi. I continued to stay our course and the dog kept coming. JB and the dog were now locked in on eachother. JB isn’t afraid of dogs but he is not particularly fond of them either. His stallion instincts tend to kick in a bit. He will attack a dog given the right opportunity , even his own dogs. The dog slowed as it approached and JB pinned his ears and swished his tail. The dog made a wide circle around us a few times to try to figure things out. I tried to keep JB on our slated path , towards the arena. The dog continued to stay near, now dashing back and forth in front of us, behind us and around us like a little yellow bullet. JB was , if anything, as irritated as I was at this distraction and ofcourse the dog was now his main focus. I could still hear the owner yelling for the dog and the dog continued to ignore his attempts to retrieve her.
If I was nice, I wouldn’t have ridden over to the owner , delivered the dog, politely informed the dog owner of the risks he creates by allowing his dog to run after livestock, and then go about my way.
I was not feeling nice at the moment.
I was feeling down right irritable.
So instead ; I kept riding right past the owner as the dog followed me....
Ok, I admit, it was a bit defiant.
But , I gave the owner every opportunity to catch his dog and he didn’t. The owner attempted to grab the dog once , yelling at him to come back but the dog had the " ignore owner" trick down to a science.
JB, myself and our new friend now made our way to the arena. Right about then, I thought “ I bet this dog, would follow us if I picked up a nice trot and headed up the trails". Maybe it would teach the dog owner a good lesson, watching helplessly as his dog disappeared into the woods with a stranger. As it was, the owner didn’t seem to be too concerned as he stood at the top of the parking lot and never bothered to actually come retrieve his animal.
I had just about decided to go ahead with my plan when the dog and, moreso the owner, was saved by the bell.
Right about then Nisca arrived and shouted out to me
“ Hello, I see we are tense today!”
“Yep, dog kind of set things in motion for us today” I replied.
Nisca could see that I was struggling to get JB’s mind on the task at hand. Ofcourse, who couldn't see that. He was more concerned about which direction that darn dog was going next. We moved around with his head up high , tense back , kinda like a camel. Needless to say, she caught us in less than a pretty moment! Thankfully, the dog finally hightailed it back to the owner , seemingly satisfied and apparently growing bored with us .
Ofcourse, the remnants the dog left behind would sabotage the first half of my riding lesson. I spent the first 15 minutes of the lesson getting JB to refocus on anything but “where is that dog”.
Once we got back to work mode, Nisca pointed out that she noticed that as JB went around the arena tense, hollowed back, so did I. "Really??? I am surprised you noticed" I said and laughed.
OK- I give..... it was time for a refresher course on my tendency to hollow my lower back in times when JB is already tense.
Have you ever tried breathing into your lower back? Unless your familiar and good at yoga, you might find it as difficult as it sounds. Needless to say, Nisca stood on a step stool next to me while I was in the saddle on JB and we worked on correct breathing.
Boring you say??
Just try it and you might find it one of the most frustrating things you have attempted in a while. The concept sounds simple enought but apparently the tensions of life teach us to only breathe using the tup third of our lungs.
Your probably saying, OK, so what does breathing have to do with tensing my lower back , right?
Wait for it....
When I don’t breathe correctly, I don’t soften my seat correctly. When I don't soften me seat and lower back correctly, I hinder the space he can lift his back into. In order for my horse to soften and lift his back , he has to have a place to lift into. Tensing and hollowing my back get in his way.
This concept isn't anything knew for me but doing it consistently tends to elude me.
So , how do I fix it?
Here is the sequence of events that Nisca took me through to get on the right path...
1. First, position yourself to allow the correct breathing. This means I have to tilt the pelvis back the slightest bit, kind of like tucking your tail bone underneath you a bit so you are on the flat part of your sit bones as opposed to the points of them. This flattens my lower back , gets rid of the hollowness, and engages my abdominals correctly.
2.Breathe into my lower back, using all of my lung capacity instead of just the top half. This fills the lower back with each inhale. This is the correct breathing that naturally occurs when we sleep. Life and stress teaches us how not to breathe apparently. ( the way I see, I should have stopped breathing completely years ago!)
3. Open my chest across my clavicle and bring my shoulders down and back so that the bottom tips of the scapula come to a point, almost like the bottom of a heart shape.
****Warning, don’t just pull shoulders back and down because this will cause your lower back to hollow again. Focus instead on moving the bottom points of the scapulas toward one another.
Sound easy?? Feel free to give it a try and maintain it while you are riding your horse. For me, I have spent the better part of my adult life at a desk on a computer and have developed some bad posture habits. Opening up the clavicle and maintaining it can be very difficult for me.
So for an hour , JB and I walked around and worked on this. We only trotted for a little bit but mostly worked at a walk. What I found was that by the time I ran through my mental check list of …
breathe
keep pelvis tilted under and back with abdominal correctly engaged
don’t round shoulders
keep elbows resting quietly at sides
look up, etc, etc ,
I had stopped breathing correctly. Ok- start again at the top of the list… and the process would begin again. Eventually with enough correct practice this should come without a second thought. Atleast that is what I am hoping for !
Once the lesson was done, we decided to head up the trail for a few miles. Ofcourse, the first 2 miles is all up hill . JB, just coming off 12 days of little to no work we took it slow and only trotted on the few flat spots we could find. We rode for about an hour and then turned around, as much as I didn't want to , I could tell that if I went any further, it may have been just a little too much. Round trip it was approx 7 miles.
Back at the park , there is also a cross country course set up year round and luck would have it that this weekend, there was also a Trail Challenge competition scheduled for Sunday. So, there were obstacles set up for it, including a freshly filled water jump. YEE HAA!!
I couldn’t resist the opportunity to cross water and work on a few small jumps with JB. Ofcourse, JB thought the water jump was just a really huge water tank and took a big drink , which was great. The jump has both a jump in/jump out approach of a walk in walk/out approach. We walked through it about 3 times. Then I attempted to canter him through but he put on the brakes and walked gingerly through. He finally caught on to the game and we made a few nice trot throughs without breaking gate. The cool water splashing him as he trotted through kind of weirded him out a bit! He is not a big fan of water but only because I haven’t had much opportunity to expose him to it. Eventually JB got to where he okay with water splashing, no thanks to Tom and Cassidy ,w ho kept galloping through and soaking us !! Laughing as he went by. JB finally figured out he would get less wet if he kept going. After a bit we even got to where he could trot in , trot across the width of the jump (about 12 feet) and then jump up and out of it, about a 2 foot jump out height. We jumped over a few of the lower level jumps like logs and few regular cross rails with regular jump standards. I had a blast and it made me miss my eventing days back when I was a pony clubber. JB seemed to really enjoy the jumping as well. He appears to be cautious jumper and picks his feet up well over the fence.
Saturday was a great day spent on the back of my horse. One of the better days I have had in some time. We did a little bit of everything and JB was a real trooper with each task I asked of him. This little horse continues to impress me with his willingness to try whatever I ask of him and give it his all to the best of his ability. If he never wows the crowd with speed on the endurance trail, I suspect he will make up for it in versatility.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Good Timing : Sharing My Thoughts on Nutrition and Excercise
Tamara over at In the Night Farm http://inthenightfarm.blogspot.com/2009/06/fit-to-ride-part-two.html has been doing a thought provoking series on endurance rider fitness and nutrition. It’s been fun to read her posts and the responses as well. Her decision to post on this couldn’t have had better timing for me. It’s only been in the last couple of years I had to start reevaluating my own exercise and diet routine. If you havent’ read her recent series, I suggest you do, go there now! She is an excellent writer and always does her research before her fingers hit the keyboard, which I really respect.
I realized that on one of her posts, I commented about how it would be interesting to hear what other folks did for workouts/diets, etc to stay healthy and in shape but then , I never shared my own story. (Tamara, I thought about putting this all in one of your comments but then it just got too lengthy so I hope you don't mind!)
I’ll begin by saying I am not blessed with great athletic abilities or body type for that matter. I have fought it all my life. I am genetically predisposed with slow metabolism. That fact alone has always been my #1 motivator. Pure unequivocal fear.
Most of the family members that share the same genetic pool that I happen to take after, are 250 lbs plus. Damn Italian blood.. Years ago, I promised myself I would never allow myself to get to that point. I haven't broken that promise but it would be really easy to. To add , my parents put a lot of focus on food growing up. Just like so many other people out there, I was taught to finish everything on my plate… Portion control was lost on me from the start.
Given my predisposition, I knew I would always have to stay active in some fashion. As a result, working out regularly since I was in high school allowed me to pretty much eat what I wanted and not worry too much. That had served me well, up until I hit the ripe age of 30. Then, the whole thing started to turn upside down on me. Suddenly I found that my workout routine of 20 minutes on the Eliptical a couple times a week and few weights (light) weren’t working anymore. I found myself packin it on. I suddenly couldn’t cheat like I used to with diet and exercise routine I was keeping.
Finding the motivation to workout and staying active have never been a problem for me. I love the way I feel when I am done working out. (getting there some days is hard but always worth it in the end) For me, it’s the food/diet thing. Calories in versus calories burned was now becoming a huge factor as my metabolism slows with every passing year . It's really a fact of life but can be controlled. Clearly, I had to rethink the type of foods I was choosing and become more disciplined about my eating habits. I have also had to turn up the volume with my workouts. I’ll admit, It’s been a slow process. I have good days and I have bad days. I have had my share of setbacks too ; like a foot injury, building a house, and other life events have thrown me off course in the past few years. On the other hand, turning 30 also brought me some good things as well, like wisdom. I figured out that I am stress eater and ofcourse, that is my downfall. Sweets are what I reach for in times of stress. Over the last couple of years, I have slowly figured out the mind games I need to play with myself to control those urges. Easy? No. Necessary… yes. So when the office, which is a very “food focused” environment, is celebrating a coworkers birthday with cake and other treats, I can now say no much easier and take great pleasure in watching everyone else eat it, knowing I just saved myself a lot of guilt and grief later on.
That said, with the diet changes that I have needed to make (and still working on ) the hardest part has been meal planning. I have a busy schedule and it’s so easy to grab for unhealthy meals. Incorporating the right mix of lean protein, whole grains and more vegetables into my daily meals can be a challenge. At the same time, trying to keep a husband, who is a meat and potatoes kind of guy fed also complicates matters more for me. Serving him brown rice with grilled chicken and steamed broccoli doesn’t quite do it for his gazelle like metabolism. He could eat bratwurst and beer everynight and not gain an ounce. (maybe a clogged artery or two).
So… I have to make sure meals are satisfying for him but don’t create a train wreck for me.
The answer?
Sometimes I have to cook two different meals. Sometimes, we just compromise. If he wants pasta with meat sauce , I now cook with either brown rice pasta or whole grain pasta and have him hold out part of it from the red sauce and hamburger for me. He eats his pasta with meat sauce and a green salad and I top my pasta with fresh basil, sautéed garlic in olive oil and fresh or sundried tomatoes instead, with a fresh green salad. Problem solved. ( I don't even buy or make gralic bread anymore because that is a temptation I may not have the strenght to resist!)
As far as the workouts, I am at the gym on average 3-4 times a week. I engage in 30-45 minutes of cardio , the time usually split between two machines, the elliptical, the treadmill and/or the bike. I try to stay at a high intensity. When I am on the treadmill, I usually jog for most of it or walk at an incline. Since my foot injury, running has become difficult so my dreams of being a runner may not ever come to fruition. I am not a fast runner but can manage short bursts of speed for interval training and I find that works well for me. Once my cardio is complete I have about a 20 minute strength training routine.
A couple of years ago, I worked with a personal trainer to make sure I was doing all the right things. She helped me figure out what is the best routine for me with weights especially. Turns out, while my genetics predisposes me to struggle with weight, it also predisposes a high level of strength. I can leg press 210 lbs for 3 sets of 15 without breaking a sweat. That also means, unfortunately , that I will never be one of those girls that can get away with 2 sets of 10 bicep curls at 20 lbs. Just doesn’t do it for me. I have to work a lot harder…DARN!!
I have known a lot of people that start a workout routine and do very well, make lots of gains in strength and condition but then they lose motivation and all the hard work was wasted when they return to their old ways. We all have our days when it would be easier to just go home and take a nap. So, how do I stay motivated not to slip into that roller coaster pattern? There are no easy answers but there are simple answers.....
I mentioned earlier that my motivator is the fear of ending up like so many of my family members. There are so many health risks associated with being that heavy and I have lost a few loved ones as a result. Fact is, I don't want to die from a cardiac infarction or stroke. I don't want to develop diabetes. The simple answer is health for me. It's the right thing to do to take care of this one body I was given. Additionally, I have another motivator that nearer and dearer to my heart… literally..
A few years ago, my doctor found that I have a mitral valve prolapse. It scared me at first with all the cardiac family history but with a little research, I realized it’s quite common in people. A prolapse can be mild to severe. The echo revealed that mine is more on the mild to medium side of the scale. It doesn’t cause me too much grief but I was advised that it can worsen with age. It’s not all that uncommon for people with MVP to need a valve replacement at some point. I want to keep in top cardio condition to avoid that. So, I may not have the toned body I want yet, but you can bet that I keep in top cardio health. My resting heart rate is 53-55 beats per minute and that makes me smile.
So, what motivates you to stay on course? What are some of your pearls of wisdom to planning healthy meals with a busy schedule ? I don’t know about all of you, but I can’t wait to hear what a weekly meal plan looks like for Tamara and maybe she can offer some of her time management secrets.
I realized that on one of her posts, I commented about how it would be interesting to hear what other folks did for workouts/diets, etc to stay healthy and in shape but then , I never shared my own story. (Tamara, I thought about putting this all in one of your comments but then it just got too lengthy so I hope you don't mind!)
I’ll begin by saying I am not blessed with great athletic abilities or body type for that matter. I have fought it all my life. I am genetically predisposed with slow metabolism. That fact alone has always been my #1 motivator. Pure unequivocal fear.
Most of the family members that share the same genetic pool that I happen to take after, are 250 lbs plus. Damn Italian blood.. Years ago, I promised myself I would never allow myself to get to that point. I haven't broken that promise but it would be really easy to. To add , my parents put a lot of focus on food growing up. Just like so many other people out there, I was taught to finish everything on my plate… Portion control was lost on me from the start.
Given my predisposition, I knew I would always have to stay active in some fashion. As a result, working out regularly since I was in high school allowed me to pretty much eat what I wanted and not worry too much. That had served me well, up until I hit the ripe age of 30. Then, the whole thing started to turn upside down on me. Suddenly I found that my workout routine of 20 minutes on the Eliptical a couple times a week and few weights (light) weren’t working anymore. I found myself packin it on. I suddenly couldn’t cheat like I used to with diet and exercise routine I was keeping.
Finding the motivation to workout and staying active have never been a problem for me. I love the way I feel when I am done working out. (getting there some days is hard but always worth it in the end) For me, it’s the food/diet thing. Calories in versus calories burned was now becoming a huge factor as my metabolism slows with every passing year . It's really a fact of life but can be controlled. Clearly, I had to rethink the type of foods I was choosing and become more disciplined about my eating habits. I have also had to turn up the volume with my workouts. I’ll admit, It’s been a slow process. I have good days and I have bad days. I have had my share of setbacks too ; like a foot injury, building a house, and other life events have thrown me off course in the past few years. On the other hand, turning 30 also brought me some good things as well, like wisdom. I figured out that I am stress eater and ofcourse, that is my downfall. Sweets are what I reach for in times of stress. Over the last couple of years, I have slowly figured out the mind games I need to play with myself to control those urges. Easy? No. Necessary… yes. So when the office, which is a very “food focused” environment, is celebrating a coworkers birthday with cake and other treats, I can now say no much easier and take great pleasure in watching everyone else eat it, knowing I just saved myself a lot of guilt and grief later on.
That said, with the diet changes that I have needed to make (and still working on ) the hardest part has been meal planning. I have a busy schedule and it’s so easy to grab for unhealthy meals. Incorporating the right mix of lean protein, whole grains and more vegetables into my daily meals can be a challenge. At the same time, trying to keep a husband, who is a meat and potatoes kind of guy fed also complicates matters more for me. Serving him brown rice with grilled chicken and steamed broccoli doesn’t quite do it for his gazelle like metabolism. He could eat bratwurst and beer everynight and not gain an ounce. (maybe a clogged artery or two).
So… I have to make sure meals are satisfying for him but don’t create a train wreck for me.
The answer?
Sometimes I have to cook two different meals. Sometimes, we just compromise. If he wants pasta with meat sauce , I now cook with either brown rice pasta or whole grain pasta and have him hold out part of it from the red sauce and hamburger for me. He eats his pasta with meat sauce and a green salad and I top my pasta with fresh basil, sautéed garlic in olive oil and fresh or sundried tomatoes instead, with a fresh green salad. Problem solved. ( I don't even buy or make gralic bread anymore because that is a temptation I may not have the strenght to resist!)
As far as the workouts, I am at the gym on average 3-4 times a week. I engage in 30-45 minutes of cardio , the time usually split between two machines, the elliptical, the treadmill and/or the bike. I try to stay at a high intensity. When I am on the treadmill, I usually jog for most of it or walk at an incline. Since my foot injury, running has become difficult so my dreams of being a runner may not ever come to fruition. I am not a fast runner but can manage short bursts of speed for interval training and I find that works well for me. Once my cardio is complete I have about a 20 minute strength training routine.
A couple of years ago, I worked with a personal trainer to make sure I was doing all the right things. She helped me figure out what is the best routine for me with weights especially. Turns out, while my genetics predisposes me to struggle with weight, it also predisposes a high level of strength. I can leg press 210 lbs for 3 sets of 15 without breaking a sweat. That also means, unfortunately , that I will never be one of those girls that can get away with 2 sets of 10 bicep curls at 20 lbs. Just doesn’t do it for me. I have to work a lot harder…DARN!!
I have known a lot of people that start a workout routine and do very well, make lots of gains in strength and condition but then they lose motivation and all the hard work was wasted when they return to their old ways. We all have our days when it would be easier to just go home and take a nap. So, how do I stay motivated not to slip into that roller coaster pattern? There are no easy answers but there are simple answers.....
I mentioned earlier that my motivator is the fear of ending up like so many of my family members. There are so many health risks associated with being that heavy and I have lost a few loved ones as a result. Fact is, I don't want to die from a cardiac infarction or stroke. I don't want to develop diabetes. The simple answer is health for me. It's the right thing to do to take care of this one body I was given. Additionally, I have another motivator that nearer and dearer to my heart… literally..
A few years ago, my doctor found that I have a mitral valve prolapse. It scared me at first with all the cardiac family history but with a little research, I realized it’s quite common in people. A prolapse can be mild to severe. The echo revealed that mine is more on the mild to medium side of the scale. It doesn’t cause me too much grief but I was advised that it can worsen with age. It’s not all that uncommon for people with MVP to need a valve replacement at some point. I want to keep in top cardio condition to avoid that. So, I may not have the toned body I want yet, but you can bet that I keep in top cardio health. My resting heart rate is 53-55 beats per minute and that makes me smile.
So, what motivates you to stay on course? What are some of your pearls of wisdom to planning healthy meals with a busy schedule ? I don’t know about all of you, but I can’t wait to hear what a weekly meal plan looks like for Tamara and maybe she can offer some of her time management secrets.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Back to riding, sort of...
This week I was finally able to start riding again after a bit of a hiatus due to a few glitches in the schedule. Weather played a small part for a few of those days when we had thunderstorms but the hiatus from riding was due in part to JB having been on 10 days post surgery rest from his castration. With April, I have been limited to groundwork because a saddle simply hasn’t fit the poor girl. This week, JB has returned to work. He has healed well and the swelling is beginning to diminish. It has been nice to be back to riding him this week. As for April, well, what can I say , the poor girl was about to founder if she even looked at another blade of grass just a few weeks ago. Today, she is approx 65 lbs lighter and can no longer pack a gallon of water down the crease of her back . PROGRESS!!
but we still have a long way to go. ….
With the weight loss she has had so far, she has lost a majority of the fat pockets along her spine and around her shoulders but her neck is still cresty. We have been dry lotting her and limiting her to a small portion of grass hay twice a day. Enough to keep her intestines healthy and moving but not so much that she is gorging herself. For the first few days after she arrived turned her up her nose at the hay , because she had learned with the previous owner that if she held out long enough, he would feel sorry for her and turn her back out on pasture. Fortunate for her,(although she’s not convinced) I might just be a little more stubborn than her.
She is now at the point now that she could benefit from a little more exercise. Last night, I put my very wide western saddle on her that I used to use for a 16.3 hand bulky Thoroughbred. It wasn’t the most ideal fit, but fit well enough so that she was fairly comfortable while being worked for an hour session of walking and trotting.
We began on the ground , like I usually do with all horses before riding, with some lateral lungeing. Lateral lungeing is one of my key pre flight checks I use for every horse, prior to mounting. I find that it is more useful than simply lungeing a horse because it helps to engage their mind, and teach them a level of willingness to follow your guidance. It introduces the idea of following a direct rein. The goal of this exercise is to prepare the horse to willingly move around a circle with a bend, stop, change directions and move through these paces quietly and engaged. It is done in a halter with a 12’ or longer rope. I have found lateral lungeing to be a foundation to help develop softness and lateral flexion from head to tail. It teaches the disengagement of the hind end, which will come handy when /if you ever have a run away on your hands. I will try to explain the steps below but if you have attended or read up on any natural horsemanship trainer, most of them teach it. I apologize if it appears that I am reinventing the wheel. That is not my intention, just to explain how I do it and what I have found to work best for me.
I begin by asking April to move around me at a walk, quietly and relaxed with a bend from nose to tail. Bending for April is relative. She is limited in her flexibility at this point so we define success with a broad range As she worked around me to the right , counter clockwise, I walk in a smaller circle with her, my body quiet and relaxed. I am turned into her so I am watching the shoulder and neck area as I walk along. The lead rope should have slack in it ideally but if this is new the horse , it may take some time. As the horse bends and steps under and through with the inside leg and ‘gets” on a circle, the slack in the rope will come. An important thing to point out with this is how I am holding the rope. As she moves around me clockwise or to the right, I am holding the rope about halfway down the line with my right hand and the left hand has the tail of the rope. You’ll see why shortly. As she moves around me,I am using my right hand to direct her around me, to ask her to follow the rein. When you get to where the horse is moving around you quietly, the next thing to ask is for the stop and disengagement of the hind end in order to change direction. . In order to get April to stop, I reach forward with my left hand, now taking the rope where my right hand was previously (so your switching hands)and put a little squeeze or pressure on the rope in the direction of her right hip. She should stop and disengage her hind quarters to the right or to the outside of the circle you just had her on. My right hand is now at the end of the rope where my left hand previously was. I will be essentially turning April into me and the center of the circle I just had her working on.
As she turns and disengages her hind end, I make sure not to BACK UP TO GET OUT OF HER WAY! This is an easy mistake to make. It will feel like horse and human are crowding eachother and that’s okay. If she is too close in to me, and there doesn’t seem to be room for her to turn, she is going to have to rock back onto her haunches, lighten up the front end in order to reach out to the right with her right foot and come on through and change direction. This is a good thing because it will just help to teach her to engage her hind end that much more. I guarantee you, this will happen when you are first learning or teaching this to a new horse.
As I suspected, April didn’t know what to do because she was too close in to me. So, she did what any beginner will often do and kind of got stuck half way through the turn, not really understanding what I wanted from her. She is now at a stop looking at me and swishing her tail. She is partially facing me. Her head is pointing in the direction of my right shoulder and her hips are at an angle to me and outside of the circle she was working on.
What I want her to do is to step to her left with her hind end , this is the disengaging part, and then step to the right with her front right foot , and then walk out around me to the left, which is the change of direction part. To help her understand what I am after, (remember I now have the lead rope in my left hand as the direct rein) I ask with the left hand on the lead rope, using a gently bump bump out to the direction of the left. So my left arms is extended out and asking to the left. As I am doing that, instead of backing up out of her way to give her room to turn, I walk into her left shoulder while I swing the tail end of the rope with my right hand, in the direction of her shoulder. This is the pressure to move away from. April tried backing up because she didn’t understand that she was to follow the left lead (this is going to help once I am in the saddle with following the rein). That’s fine, I just stayed with her ( we ended up at the other end of the arena the first time I tried this with her) and I keep presenting and walking into that left shoulder. Eventually she figures it out that she has to rock back or even step back once and then rock back to give herself enough room to be able to then step through and go left. When she finally does, I praise her and let her relax . Now April is moving around me in a circle to the left in a walk.
I continue this change of direction repeatedly and work to keep it slow and calm , breaking it down step by step if needed. It’s important that I don’t rush April through this exercise as it will just build a brace in her and that is the oppositive of what I am after. Over time, as April understands this exercise, and can smoothly stop and change direction I will focus more on the bend. As she works around a circle, I will use the end of the rope or sometimes I prefer a dressage whip to touch her hip, asking her to move away from me while applying a little pressure on the lead rope. Often times, I will gently touch the horse as a cue at the rib cage with the dressage whip. When the horse offers a bend by flexing at the jaw and through the rib cage, I cease the cue.
Eventually ,when she gets this down better, I will add a longer lead rope so that I can add trotting in and even a canter.
Obviously, pictures of each step would probably help to better visualize this process but there are probably oodles of websites you could find it on.
Well this post got more lengthy than I had hoped so I didn’t get a chance to move onto how our actually riding session went. I will save that for another day I guess. I will say this. She is very very very very green!!! And for a rather over weight mare, she can be more flexible than one might imagine.!
but we still have a long way to go. ….
With the weight loss she has had so far, she has lost a majority of the fat pockets along her spine and around her shoulders but her neck is still cresty. We have been dry lotting her and limiting her to a small portion of grass hay twice a day. Enough to keep her intestines healthy and moving but not so much that she is gorging herself. For the first few days after she arrived turned her up her nose at the hay , because she had learned with the previous owner that if she held out long enough, he would feel sorry for her and turn her back out on pasture. Fortunate for her,(although she’s not convinced) I might just be a little more stubborn than her.
She is now at the point now that she could benefit from a little more exercise. Last night, I put my very wide western saddle on her that I used to use for a 16.3 hand bulky Thoroughbred. It wasn’t the most ideal fit, but fit well enough so that she was fairly comfortable while being worked for an hour session of walking and trotting.
We began on the ground , like I usually do with all horses before riding, with some lateral lungeing. Lateral lungeing is one of my key pre flight checks I use for every horse, prior to mounting. I find that it is more useful than simply lungeing a horse because it helps to engage their mind, and teach them a level of willingness to follow your guidance. It introduces the idea of following a direct rein. The goal of this exercise is to prepare the horse to willingly move around a circle with a bend, stop, change directions and move through these paces quietly and engaged. It is done in a halter with a 12’ or longer rope. I have found lateral lungeing to be a foundation to help develop softness and lateral flexion from head to tail. It teaches the disengagement of the hind end, which will come handy when /if you ever have a run away on your hands. I will try to explain the steps below but if you have attended or read up on any natural horsemanship trainer, most of them teach it. I apologize if it appears that I am reinventing the wheel. That is not my intention, just to explain how I do it and what I have found to work best for me.
I begin by asking April to move around me at a walk, quietly and relaxed with a bend from nose to tail. Bending for April is relative. She is limited in her flexibility at this point so we define success with a broad range As she worked around me to the right , counter clockwise, I walk in a smaller circle with her, my body quiet and relaxed. I am turned into her so I am watching the shoulder and neck area as I walk along. The lead rope should have slack in it ideally but if this is new the horse , it may take some time. As the horse bends and steps under and through with the inside leg and ‘gets” on a circle, the slack in the rope will come. An important thing to point out with this is how I am holding the rope. As she moves around me clockwise or to the right, I am holding the rope about halfway down the line with my right hand and the left hand has the tail of the rope. You’ll see why shortly. As she moves around me,I am using my right hand to direct her around me, to ask her to follow the rein. When you get to where the horse is moving around you quietly, the next thing to ask is for the stop and disengagement of the hind end in order to change direction. . In order to get April to stop, I reach forward with my left hand, now taking the rope where my right hand was previously (so your switching hands)and put a little squeeze or pressure on the rope in the direction of her right hip. She should stop and disengage her hind quarters to the right or to the outside of the circle you just had her on. My right hand is now at the end of the rope where my left hand previously was. I will be essentially turning April into me and the center of the circle I just had her working on.
As she turns and disengages her hind end, I make sure not to BACK UP TO GET OUT OF HER WAY! This is an easy mistake to make. It will feel like horse and human are crowding eachother and that’s okay. If she is too close in to me, and there doesn’t seem to be room for her to turn, she is going to have to rock back onto her haunches, lighten up the front end in order to reach out to the right with her right foot and come on through and change direction. This is a good thing because it will just help to teach her to engage her hind end that much more. I guarantee you, this will happen when you are first learning or teaching this to a new horse.
As I suspected, April didn’t know what to do because she was too close in to me. So, she did what any beginner will often do and kind of got stuck half way through the turn, not really understanding what I wanted from her. She is now at a stop looking at me and swishing her tail. She is partially facing me. Her head is pointing in the direction of my right shoulder and her hips are at an angle to me and outside of the circle she was working on.
What I want her to do is to step to her left with her hind end , this is the disengaging part, and then step to the right with her front right foot , and then walk out around me to the left, which is the change of direction part. To help her understand what I am after, (remember I now have the lead rope in my left hand as the direct rein) I ask with the left hand on the lead rope, using a gently bump bump out to the direction of the left. So my left arms is extended out and asking to the left. As I am doing that, instead of backing up out of her way to give her room to turn, I walk into her left shoulder while I swing the tail end of the rope with my right hand, in the direction of her shoulder. This is the pressure to move away from. April tried backing up because she didn’t understand that she was to follow the left lead (this is going to help once I am in the saddle with following the rein). That’s fine, I just stayed with her ( we ended up at the other end of the arena the first time I tried this with her) and I keep presenting and walking into that left shoulder. Eventually she figures it out that she has to rock back or even step back once and then rock back to give herself enough room to be able to then step through and go left. When she finally does, I praise her and let her relax . Now April is moving around me in a circle to the left in a walk.
I continue this change of direction repeatedly and work to keep it slow and calm , breaking it down step by step if needed. It’s important that I don’t rush April through this exercise as it will just build a brace in her and that is the oppositive of what I am after. Over time, as April understands this exercise, and can smoothly stop and change direction I will focus more on the bend. As she works around a circle, I will use the end of the rope or sometimes I prefer a dressage whip to touch her hip, asking her to move away from me while applying a little pressure on the lead rope. Often times, I will gently touch the horse as a cue at the rib cage with the dressage whip. When the horse offers a bend by flexing at the jaw and through the rib cage, I cease the cue.
Eventually ,when she gets this down better, I will add a longer lead rope so that I can add trotting in and even a canter.
Obviously, pictures of each step would probably help to better visualize this process but there are probably oodles of websites you could find it on.
Well this post got more lengthy than I had hoped so I didn’t get a chance to move onto how our actually riding session went. I will save that for another day I guess. I will say this. She is very very very very green!!! And for a rather over weight mare, she can be more flexible than one might imagine.!
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