Living the dream

A wise man (William Shatner) once said "live like you're gonna die....because you're going to." Using this reasoning, I have made the decision that I would like to need to pursue a career as a professional rider/trainer/and possibly instructor. This has been my dream ever since I was a little girl, and I'm not sure whether it was people telling me that I was too smart to just ride, or the seeming financial impossibility of becoming an equestrian professional that dissuaded me, but it has become quite clear that I will not be happy doing anything else. If I don't at least try to make it happen, I will regret it for the rest of my life.

While I'm still not able to train a horse through Grand Prix (though I'm confident that with Doug's help I will get there one day), I can train a horse to walk, trot, canter, jump, and move off the the leg as well as anyone. With most horses in the area being general english or western horses, my abilities suit the needs of potential clients just fine.

This, of course, will require a great deal of planning, and some source of income to get everything started, but I am truly committed to making this happen. If I don't wake up and start living my dreams now, chances are I never will.

My crooked nature: an update

As riders, we expect our horses to be strong, flexible, relaxed and balanced. Why not expect the same of ourselves? I started doing yoga to improve upon my equitation, and in the process have found that I am now holding myself to the same standards to which I hold my (hypothetical) horse. After about a months time, I am starting to see several benefits from the practice.

Mental benefits:

1. A greater sense of body awareness, especially concerning my overall posture. It turns out my position flaws on horseback are also present on the ground.

2. The ability to induce a relaxed state of mind. Or more specifically in my case, the ability to effectively deal with stress-induced insomnia.

3. A sense that I can be in control of each part of my body.

Physical benefits

1. Greater muscle definition over my entire body.

2. The return of that thing I used to have in my early 20's. What's it called again? Oh right. A waist.

3. Greater flexibility in my legs, hips, and abdomen.

Is my position perfect now? Absolutely not. Is it improving more quickly than it was when I was just making corrections on horseback? Most definitely! The increased body awareness allows me to recognize when there is a problem with my position, and as I get stronger, I am more able to make the proper correction.

Because yoga is helping me so much to develop into a more effective rider, I have decided to write a series of posts addressing common position flaws, and yoga positions that can be used to correct them. Feel free to chime in with your particular position flaw.

Gus practices "sideways facing cat" as I practice "downward facing dog."

World class riders and the return to lightness

Currently, the FEI European Dressage Championships are underway. Today marked the end of the team competition, and team Great Britain walked away victoriously with their first ever gold medal. Not wanting my subscription to FEITV to go to waste, I watched as much as I could.

Dressage has changed a lot over the years, and for the past several years has been moving in a direction I found most disheartening. Along with the use of rollkur at epidemic proportions amongst top riders, the emphasis on lightness and harmony seemed to be lost. It became evident that riders were becoming much more reliant on their curb rein than on their seat. Instead of a dance between horse and rider, Grand Prix rides appeared to be more of a fight.

During the European Championships, there was no doubt, a great deal of heavy-handed riding, including Matthias Rath on the great Moorlands Totilas (pictured left), and Laura Bechtolsheimer on Minstral Horis (pictured below). In all fairness to Laura, Mistral Horis did appear hotter than normal, and seemed to be running away with her, but I have never seen her ride with light hands in competition.

I was most pleasantly surprised by the superb test put in by British rider, Carl Hester, and his horse Utopia. Utopia seems to be a fitting name for the horse since almost everything about the ride was perfect. Seeing the pair was a reminder that their are still top riders that strive for lightness and harmony, and I'm happy to say, with Carl Hester topping out the individual scores (BEATING TOTILAS!), judges are beginning to reward this type of riding again.

Addressing my crooked nature

So many of my friends reading this may be expecting me to confess my devious nature despite a somewhat innocent appearance, but I am in fact crooked in a much more literal sense. Some may even call me left leaning and be referring to something having nothing to do with politics. I am just crooked. This as you can imagine creates quite a conundrum when trying to teach a horse to be sensitive to my body weight, while giving it mixed signals with my poor position. Aside from hindering good equitation, my crookedness comes with sciatica as an irritating side effect, which I have mostly learned to ignore, but would be delighted if it would just go away.

My poor riding instructor has been addressing this issue from the beginning, and after almost a full year, I have made zero headway on the problem. He does a pretty good job hiding his frustration, but I suspect he feels similarly to how I feel after spending a whole term explaining the null hypothesis to a biology class and still not having the concept sink in. I take improving my skill as a rider very seriously, and for that reason I feel that it is time to address my crooked nature in earnest.

After seeing doctors, chiropractors and physical therapists, it has been confirmed that my crookedness is the product of uneven strength and flexibility on my left and right sides. My left side is both stronger and less flexible than my right side causing my 4 lower vertebrae to be pulled out of alignment. My left hip flexor is also incredible tight when compared to the right. Based on that diagnosis, the solution seems simple. Do strengthening and stretching exercises to even everything out.

After having no luck with chiropractic work and the physical therapists offered by the OSU student health center, I have decided to take matters into my own hands. I have taken up the ultimate form of strength and flexibility training, yoga. Yoga is great for stretching, strenghtening, improving balance, and let's not forget the intended purpose, achieving a meditative mind state.

I've been at it for almost two weeks now, so it's probably a bit early to see any physical results, but I will write in update post in a month or so to fill you in on how things are going. Until then, Namaste!

Ever After Mustang Rescue

People are often baffled when I tell them I am adopting a mustang to be my next equine partner. While mustangs do require a bit more time and patience to train than domestic breeds, their strong desire to gain approval from the alpha horse in a herd (which hopefully in a training situation is you) makes them try their little hearts out. Who doesn't love a little horse with a whole lot of try?

I acquired my love of mustangs while working for Mona Jerome at Ever After Mustang Rescue in Biddeford, ME. Ever After takes in mustangs from a number of sources. Some are adopted from BLM auctions, some are surrendered by owners who have decided they can't handle or don't want their mustang, and some are seized from situations of abuse and neglect.

In order to fund this operation, Mona hosts several money-raising events, many of which are riding clinics. I met Mona when I started attending a fantastic, week-long eventing clinic at the farm. The clinic was so fantastic, that I attended 5 years straight (once on one of Mona's mustangs). One fine spring day, I received a call from Mona, and I assumed that it was regarding the clinic dates for that year. Instead, Mona asked me if I would be interested in coming to ride and train for her. I enthusiastically accepted the offer and packed my bags for Biddeford.

After arriving at the farm, Mona took a lot of time teaching me the art of training wild horses. I learned so much while with Mona, and I will now and try to condense what I learned into a few succinct bullet points

* When training a wild horse, there is very little room for error. While domestically born horse can tolerate quite a bit of incorrect training and turn out ok, mistakes made while training a wild horse can produce dangerous outcomes. In order to avoid these dangerous outcomes, it is important to correct bad behavior as soon as it happens.

* Attempting to muscle around a horse, regardless of how big or small, is a futile endeavor. Just don't do it.

* Be aware of the horse's body language as well as your own. Initally, body language is the only way you can communicate with your wild horse.

* Demand obedience and reward profusely when it's given. You'd be surprised how much a simple pat on the neck and a "good boy" means to your horse.

While these concepts are essential to successfully training a wild horse, I have also found that applying them to the training of any horse can lead to a deeper connection and better partnership between horse and rider. I am very grateful for all that Mona taught me, and I look forward to applying my knowledge to a mustang of my own. Please take the time to visit the Ever After Mustang Rescue website and see all the good work she is doing.