Un-tooching your booty

Hey, Horse Nation.  I have something I need to admit to you. I love to watch "America's Next Top Model."  I love the awesome clothes, great locations, and artistic photo shoots.  What?! That's a load of BS you say? Yeah.  You're right.  I really just enjoy watching beautiful people act like complete idiots.  Anyway, those of you that watch the show will be familiar with the "booty tooch."  For those of you that are unfamiliar with the term, a booty tooch involves tilting your pelvis forward, creating a little extra arch in your low back and accentuating your money maker.  Here, Tyra Banks shows Jimmy Fallon how it's done.

From Buzzfeed.com

Some of us ladies are born with a natural tooch.  I am one of those people. X-rays showed that my pelvis was tilted a whopping 61 degrees forward! Women do tend to have a natural tilt to their pelvis, but I was way beyond normal. Unfortunately I make my living in the saddle and not looking fierce in front of the flash bulbs. Unlike in the modeling world, a tooched booty in saddle can be quite problematic.  It can make it difficult to achieve a deep and fluid seat.  Also, attempting to sit the trot with an overly forward-angled pelvis is a sure recipe for both human and equine back pain.

My former seat.  Great for a photo shoot.  Less good for riding.

After acknowledging my tooch, I immediately went about correcting it and will now share my process in hopes that I can help those others who are similarly afflicted.

I started off by stretching my low back. One of my favorite stretches for the low back and glutes involves sitting cross-legged, and then extending the arms and upper body forward.  Aside from being incredibly effective, this stretch is comfortable enough to hold for long periods of time making it an ideal position for meditation or visualization exercises.

I then went on to strengthen my lower abdominals in an attempt to correct the tilt of my pelvis. Leg lifts are great for increasing lower abdominal strength.  Lay on the floor and place your hands under your butt to keep your back from arching.  Then raise your legs about two feet off the ground.  Lower your legs until they are an inch or two from the ground.  Hold for fives seconds, and repeat.

Lastly, to avoid going from riding with an arched, hollow back to riding with a rounded back, it is important to strengthen your mid-back and shoulders. You can do this by performing a variation of the "superman" exercise.  Lay on your belly with your arms extended in front of you. Raise your head and shoulders off the floor.  Then alternately lift diagonal arm and leg pairs.  Think of trotting, but you know, on your belly.

Because of my conformation, I will always have to be aware that a lack of vigilance could easily cause my position to revert back to complete toochitude, but for now, these exercises have really helped me reshape my seat.

Untooched seat!

Go riding!

Fit to ride

Generally, buying your wife a piece of exercise equipment is something done by the oblivious or suicidal, but last year for my birthday I asked for a kettle-bell and my husband nervously delivered.  For those not familiar with what a kettle-bell is, it's essentially a cannonball with a handle, and is a great tool for getting strong and toned.  The reason I love my kettle-bell so much is because it builds functional strength, and by that I mean it engages several muscle groups at a time, giving you strength you can use instead of tone that just looks pretty.  After using my kettle-bell for awhile, I started to feel stronger in the saddle, so today I'm going to share some of the exercises that helped my riding the most.

Two-handed swing:  Do you have issues engaging your hamstrings to get your leg back and underneath yourself?  This exercise is for you!  Start with your feet slightly wider apart than shoulder-width. Hold the kettle-bell with both hands and then push up from your heels and quickly contract your hamstrings and glutes to pop your hips forward.  Aside from being great for your low back, hamstrings, and glutes, 2-5 mins of two-handed swings will really get your heart pumping!

Around the world:  One of the more difficult things we do as riders is to stabilize our bodies so that we are able to stay still despite the fact we have a bouncing horse underneath us.  In this exercise we swing the kettle-bell around our bodies, passing it from hand to hand, and use virtually every muscle in our body to stabilize against the centrifugal force.

Abdominal twists: Those of us familiar with the sitting trot know that our core can NEVER be too strong.  This is one of my all time favorite abdominal exercises, and I guarantee you will feel the burn!  Sit with your feet flat on the floor and hold the kettle-bell with both hands. Lean back until you feel your abdominals begin to tighten, and then twist from side to side.

Why wait for your New Year's resolution  to start exercising when you can ring in the holidays, kettle-bell style!  I know. I know.  That pun was terrible, but I can't help myself.

Be sure to check out the Fit to Ride Facebook page to get our weekly workout challenges and submit your health and fitness questions (#askarabbit).

Go riding!

New Stuff!

When I was younger and stupider, my methods for starting a horse under saddle were a bit... well... unfocussed.  I'd take the time to get the horses use to wearing and lunging with a saddle and bridle.  Then I'd slowly climb up and hope for the best.  For the most part, this worked just fine, but now as I'm getting older and my sense of self preservation is getting stronger, I've started taking a different approach. I like to get the horse knowing as much as possible from the ground so that when the time comes for me to get on, the only new thing they need to learn is how to carry my weight.

 One of my primary goals for Helix this winter is to get him ground driving and long lining so that we have some semblance of breaks and steering this spring when it's time to start him under saddle.  The equipment needed for this task includes a training surcingle, a bridle, and some drive lines.  While I had a training surcingle, it was old, worn, and slightly falling apart. Also, Helix was in need of a cob sized bridle to fit his dainty little head. And my rabbit, Pi, needed a box for his latest art project, so I was left with no choice but to do some online shopping.

So off to Smartpak I went and ordered all that I would need. Helix's brand spankin' new training surcingle arrived in the mail on Monday along with Pi's box.  Pi has already made great headway on his art project which he is calling "box - deconstructed."  

The bridle is on back order, but that's ok.  There is plenty to do before I actually put all the pieces together.

This morning I introduced Helix to his new training equipment during his work session.  He was a very good boy lunging with his saddle pad and surcingle...

...and even tolerated me standing behind him and touching his legs with the line with next to no fuss.

Really the only thing he objected to was staying out on the lunge line while I attempted to use my camera.  He just couldn't control his curiosity, resulting in many pictures like this.

Oh well. At least he has a cute face!  More to come after the bridle arrives!!! 

Previously on ...

Previously on Dressage Gone Wild...

A woman with a dream and graduate student's budget set out to find an FEI level dressage prospect to bring along and turn into a star.  As is the case in many stories, she found her hero in an unexpected place. Not in the big, robust warmblood colts, but in this mild-mannered kid.

Alpha Helix: Kiger mustang colt at 5 months old.

Their bond was immediate and strong, and grew stronger as time passed.  This allowed them to take on the seemingly impossible.

Round-penning

Cross tying 

Saddling

Cross tying and saddling at the same time!

It seemed as if there was nothing they couldn't conquer! With these early accomplishments strapped firmly under their belts, they strode boldly forward into the world of dressage.  This is their story.

~~~~~~~~~~

It's been awhile since I've written, and a lot has happened in my life since then.  I went from training  nights and weekends to training full time. I moved to a new barn with a little more space for my business to grow. I got married (OMG!), and I got a part time research job at Oregon State to supplement my horsey income.  Life is good to say the least.

A few things are still the same though.  I still have Helix, the little love of my life, and I still have Kalvin though I am actively seeking a person to lease him, or a working student to ride him.  Helix will be starting ground driving and work in-hand soon, so I figured it would be a perfect time to pick the blog back up.   Hope you all enjoy following the progress of my little munchkin!

The time has come to officially offer Kalvin up for sale.  Despite the fact that I took on ownership of this horse with the full intention of selling him after about a year's worth of training, I have still managed to get incredibly attached.  What a harsh reminder as to why I generally don't do the whole sales thing.  We have learned a lot from one another and it will be incredibly difficult for me to send him off to a new home.

As much as I love Kalvin, we have different goals in life.  I want to ride FEI level dressage, and he wants to jump...everything.  If I had a stable of my own, there is no doubt in my mind that I would keep and recreationally event him.  With that not being the case, it only seems fair that I let him go to a rider with the same goals as him.

I feel very lucky to be in the situation where I don't necessarily need to make money off the sale, and am in no rush to place him with a new owner.  This will give me the opportunity to find him the right situation and the right person.

I'm releasing an informal ad via my blog first and will follow up with a dreamhorse ad after the new year.  So here it is.

For Sale:

SL Moushakal

Register 6 year-old 15 hand half Arabian gelding.  Shown first level dressage and schooling second level.  Experienced on the trails and will happily go out alone or with other horses.  Was started over fences this fall and has shown great ability and desire to jump.  Honest to the fences with nice scope and good knees, but still green.  He would excel as an eventing mount or a HA hunter/jumper.  Kalvin  is an experienced show horse with a regional HA sporthorse under saddle top 5 and a trip to Arab sporthorse nationals under his belt. As I stated in my blog post, Kalvin is not much of a dressage enthusiast, but he tolerates it quite well so long as his training schedule involves a fair amount of jumping and/or hacking out on the trails. Kalvin does require a confident rider with the ability to assert him or herself as the leader.  100% sound and UTD on everything.  Clips, bathes, trailers etc. Asking $5000 but very negotiable to the right situation.


Wow. That was a mouthful.  I'm getting a little misty-eyed just writing this, but I'd truly be doing the little Kalvinator a diservice if I didn't match him up with a more compatible owner.

Train like an eventer

Even though I use to event in my younger days, it turns out that at my advanced age of 28, I'm perfectly happy to ride volte circles, shoulder-ins, and leg yields all day long.  I find riding dressage to be to most fun and rewarding thing out there.  Unfortunately my horse, Kalvin, is of a different opinion.  If he is over-schooled on the flat, he becomes bored, cranky, and resistant.  It is for this reason that I'm going back to my eventing roots to develop a training plan with a bit more variety to keep him happy in his work. 

I've already started hacking a couple times a week and added a "Sunday jump school" into our training regimen.  This has had such a positive impact on Kalvin's attitude and work ethic that I've decided to go all out on the eventer training plan.  This means added fitness work on top of the dressage and jumping work.  Who knows.  If Kalvin hasn't sold by next year, he may be going beginner novice at the the Inavale Horse Trials. 

So as for the new training schedule

Sunday: Jump school
Monday: Dressage lesson
Tuesday: Hack (with fitness work)
Wednesday: Off
Thursday: Gallop
Friday: Dressage followed by trot sets
Saturday: Off

While I personally may not ever take Kalvin to an event, I'm hoping that whoever he ends up with will give him the opportunity to shine in this discipline.  He really seems to love the work, and can already do all of the dressage movements up to preliminary :-D  His jumping is coming along very quickly and I'm sure will catch up with his dressage in no time.

Hello again

Hey there, readers.  I know I've been a bit of a blogging slacker lately, and I blame the crazy folks over at HorseNation.com for taking up all of my writing time.  Be sure to check out my "Fit to Ride" column which runs every Wednesday. 

A lot has happened since last we spoke. I've graduated with my masters from OSU, discovered my love of teaching while instructing biology at LBCC, taken a "real job" at the OSU seed lab in order fund my dream of owning my owning equine facility, and acquired a horsey sales project.

That's right.  You heard correctly.  I have a new(ish) horse.  I'm trying not to get overly attached because he will be for sale this winter, but here's his story.  Kalvin is a 6 year-old, half-Arabian, half-mustang gelding.  He was very kindly given to me by his owner with the agreement that I would keep and train him for at least 6 months before reselling him. He has been quite challenging for me, but I am learning a lot in the process of training him, and I think he has learned a lot from me as well.

Selling horses has always been a tough thing for me.  While rehabbing and re-homing OTTB's, I cried each time one was adopted.  They were partially tears of happiness, but a lot were tears of fear and uncertainty about what would happen to them once they were no longer under my care. The owner of the rehab center, John, was really good about screening adopters, but it was still a really difficult thing.  One day John explained to me his thought process on selling/adopting out horses, and it helped me cope with the process much more effectively.  He told me that training horses was like raising children.  We had to do our best to make them "good citizens," and when the time was right, turn them loose on society with the hopes that they could make a beneficial contribution.  I will keep this idea in my mind while I continue to train Kalvin, and hope that it will bring me some peace of mind when the time comes to sell him.

Until next time, go mustangs!