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!