Week 62: Fit and Happy

                  I know, I know, I have been bad. Somehow I have managed to neglect the blog for an ungodly amount of time that I would rather not cite. In the last couple weeks I have gone through some major life changes; not only have I been off of horses since December 19^th, I have also had my jaw broken and screwed back together! I must say, the first 48 hours were pretty hellish but it seems that I am on my way to looking almost normal. With the swelling down and my spirits up I can’t help but obsess over every aspect of my horse's training. It is hard to be the observer. It is hard to relinquish my grip on the reins. It is hard, but it is necessary. I have been proud of my training with Finn. I also recognize that there comes a time when someone else might be able to find some buttons that you just can’t find. When I went in for my TMJ surgery I knew that the dynamic between Finn and I was about to change. I knew that I was going to have to trust the professionals and accept the fact that he might grow more quickly than he had in my hands.

                Most of the focus in Finn’s training as of late has been on elevating and balancing his canter. Finn has a great canter, and always has, but like some horses he has struggled with truly engaging behind. While I have been able to get some pretty impressive trot work out of Finn, I really believe that Megan (trainer at Bit’ O’ Woods farm www.bitowoods.com) can get much better canter work out of him than I can. Finn is currently only in three days of work a week because I am poor and applying to college because of some constraints, but he seems to be doing pretty well. However, it does seem that he is a litttttlllleeeeee too perky outside. Some things thoroughbreds never change.

                Now that I am feeling better I have started to think about what to do with the next eight seemingly useless weeks of my life. I mean, come on, what even is life without horses? I have decided that it is time to get fit. After reading some great posts from upper level event rider Meg Kep I have come to the conclusion that my horse really does deserve a healthy rider! We ask our horses to be fit, we tell them they need to workout and we manage what they eat. If you asked any person in the barn what their horse eats they could tell you, so why should we treat ourselves any differently? I have decided to come up with a workout plan for myself and become as fit as my horse. I will be combining a ‘Couch to 5k’ workout with a weight training regime as well as a diet plan. I have decided to include both in this post but before you read further I feel the need to also say that fitness and weight loss are very different. My goal is actually to gain weight:muscle weight. Becoming fit isn't about getting skinny or looking good in leggings, it is about being the best you possible. Below are some stats and the diet plans that I am looking to follow.

 

Starting Stats

Age: 17

Height: 5 foot 3

Weight: 98 lbs.

Goal Weight: 115 lbs.

Goals: 5k Tough Mudder Run, Novice 3 day event, American Eventing Championships, Dressage @ Devon

 

 

 

Work Out!

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 90 seconds of jogging and two minutes of walking for a total of 20 minutes.   ~push-ups 3 sets of 12   ~ Military press 3 sets of 12 @ 40 lbs.   ~frontal raise 3 sets of 10 @ 25 lbs.   ~ Upright row 3 sets of 12 @ 45 lbs.   ~Lat. pull-down 3 sets of 12 @ 45 lbs.   ~bicep curl 3 sets of 12 @ 25 lbs.   ~hammer curl 3 sets of 12 @ 25 lbs.   ~kickbacks 3 sets of 12   ~dips 3 sets of 12   ~swimmers 3 sets of 50   ~crunches 3 sets of 50   ~oblique crunches 3 sets of 50	~leg extensions 3 sets of 20 @ 80 lbs.   ~squats 3 sets of 20 (with bar) @ 100 lbs.   ~leg curl 3 sets of 20 @100 lbs.   ~lunges 3 sets of 20   ~leg press 3 sets of 20 @ 100 lbs.   ~swimmers 3 sets of 50   ~crunches 3 sets of 50   ~oblique crunches 3 sets of 50	Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 90 seconds of jogging and two minutes of walking for a total of 20 minutes.   ~swimmers 5 sets of 30   ~crunches 5 sets of 30   ~oblique crunches 5 sets of 30   ~push-ups 3 sets of 12   ~lunges 3 sets of 20	~push-ups 3 sets of 12   ~ Military press 3 sets of 12 @ 40 lbs.   ~frontal raise 3 sets of 10 @ 25 lbs.   ~ Upright row 3 sets of 12 @ 45 lbs.   ~Lat. pull-down 3 sets of 12 @ 45 lbs.   ~bicep curl 3 sets of 12 @ 25 lbs.   ~hammer curl 3 sets of 12 @ 25 lbs.   ~kickbacks 3 sets of 12   ~dips 3 sets of 12   ~swimmers 3 sets of 50   ~crunches 3 sets of 50   ~oblique crunches 3 sets of 50	Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 90 seconds of jogging and two minutes of walking for a total of 20 minutes.   ~leg extensions 3 sets of 20 @ 80 lbs.   ~squats 3 sets of 20 (with bar) @ 100 lbs.   ~leg curl 3 sets of 20 @100 lbs.   ~lunges 3 sets of 20   ~leg press 3 sets of 20 @ 100 lbs.   ~swimmers 3 sets of 50   ~crunches 3 sets of 50   ~oblique crunches 3 sets of 50	Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then run 1 mile for time.   ~swimmers 5 sets of 30   ~crunches 5 sets of 30   ~oblique crunches 5 sets of 30   ~push-ups 3 sets of 12   ~lunges 3 sets of 20	REST

  

 

Meal Plan! (General-you can cheat a little bit!)

 

 

 

I will also be pulling some recipe ideas from http://www.paleoplan.com/recipes

 

More to come next week with some updates on Finn and me! Happy New Year to all.

Week 56: When Horses Became a Lifestyle

                

                Riding is the kind of sport that takes over your life because, in all seriousness, it is impossible to truly be prepared for an event without investing a large amount of time. In a month I will be undergoing a surgery to correct a severe jaw disorder called TMJ and because of this surgery I will not be able to ride for up to 3 months. Just the thought of not riding for 3 months pretty much makes me feel lost. At what point did riding stop being a hobby and start being a lifestyle? I go to school because I want to be a horse vet. I go to work because I want to pay for my horse and for college. I spend time with friends because I like hearing about their horses. I online shop because my horse looks good in pink and I like to think I do too. At some point in the last 7 years riding stopped being something I did and started being something I lived. Do I regret that? Do I wonder how things would be had this not happened? I am not sure.

                I look around myself sitting on my high school benches and I realize a strange dichotomy; some sort of self-selecting separation of the students that I see every day. There are those with passions and those with interests. I see kids who play 3 sports a year. They cross-train and switch focuses with the changes in the seasons. When the snow starts to fall, the boys come in from the soccer fields and change into their basketball shoes only to play for a couple months and find their lacrosse sticks in spring. Sure, most of these kids have a favorite sport. They have a focus, an interest, an abiding love for one of the three sports. However, what makes that different from a lifestyle? When does something that you do, something that you love begin to overtake everything else?

                Every grade has a dancer, a horse girl, an actor, a dedicated musician and an ice skater. Please, forgive me for these generalizations but I fear that they do hold true. These students find a way to take their lives and mold them around the one thing they really love. They read books about it, write papers about it, dream about it, skip eating to act on it and they fantasize about a day when they can live it. They spend nights and days and even their time spent sleeping trying to find a way to rationalize why they can’t imagine living without their thing.

                I think back to my room at home: the ribbons on every ledge, the photos on every wall, the dressage tests tacked to cork boards. I think about how horses became the biggest part of who I am and who I will be. Frankly, I couldn’t tell you when the transition happened. When I stopped being a lesson kid and became a barn rat. When I stopped reading princess stories and started reading Heartland. What I can say is that, no, I don’t regret it and, no, this isn’t easy.

                The moment your life becomes horses is the moment that your life becomes both extremely rewarding and extremely difficult. The financial and emotional strain of owning horses can take a lot out of a person. Every day I walk into the barn and I see people that put everything aside to make horses part of their life. They struggle to make ends meet, they miss social functions, and they sacrifice sleeping in on Saturdays. To an outsider these people seem foolish, they seem nonsensical: why would you give up everything for horses?

                As an equestrian you give up a whole lot to gain an insurmountable amount of satisfaction. To those who laugh at your binder covered in horse stickers, to those who say that you will never be able to be happy and have a horse, to those who say that you will never find love, to those who say that you will always be poor, to those who say that you will never be part of the ‘real world’- you’re wrong. Sure, as equestrians we give up a whole lot. We pour every ounce of energy, money and dedication into what we do and at times it may seem like the return, or at least measureable return, is little. But there is one thing that equestrians have. We have horses.

                I am scared to get this surgery. I am scared that three months without sitting on my horse may actually cause me some form of bodily harm. How will I keep my thighs looking toned without my little bay horse? I ask. The reality is that no matter what, horses will still be here. I will be in the barn watching my horse be ridden days after my surgery and I will be every bit the control freak that I have always been (I am sorry Megan). The ribbons, the pictures, the old dressage tests, they will only remind me of what I have done and the person that horses have made me.

So what do you think? Is it really worth it?