Tosh.0

Since my last post about riding, I have ridden Skylar in a saddle (it went well), Chi in a surcingle (also went well, although cantering left was tricky as I couldn't get my left seat bone off his back and he didn't care for that feeling -- at least we knew what the next thing to work on was!), and yesterday I got to ride Tosh, a grey anglo-arab gelding who was bred to do long distance endurance by one of T's good friends. 

T had texted me on Wednesday or Thursday to ask if I wanted to try him since he is not normally available on Sundays. I quickly replied, "Sure!!" And the rest is history. 

Me when I got the text about riding Tosh on Sunday!

She gave me a choice of saddle or surcingle, and I chose saddle, knowing he is a bit cold-backed. I wanted to experience his version of cold-backed (compared to Promise's version which often included a very tight back and lots of bucking) before I tried fumbling onto his back with a surcingle! From what I had seen of Tosh prior to yesterday, he basically gets a bit tight through the back and then just kind of scoots around T as she leads him off in a circle. He walks out of it pretty quickly.

T suggested I lunge him since the temperature has dropped 20+ degrees in the last few days, and it's been raining so much that they were inside for 3 days. So, I lunged him for about 20 minutes or so before my lesson time. Between that and me being new to him, he walked off with just a bit of tightness through his back. 

Tosh was AH-mazing. 🤯 I thought G was sensitive, but this horse is a level or 2 up from him! I was feeling a bit uneven through my hips, so T had me trot a lap in 2 point in each direction to level out. I turned him to the right first, since that side was feeling shorter, got into 2 point and was just thinking, ok, let's trot, in my head, and Tosh started trotting. Same thing to the left, I got into 2 point at the walk and thought about trotting, and off he went.

After that we got down to work, she had me pick up rising trot to the right. I got my diagonal quickly and easily and immediately started focusing on keeping my body up and back and also not over-using my hands. Since he was so responsive to my thoughts, I knew he would be very responsive to my body. Plus, one of the smaller things we've been working on the last few weeks is keeping my right hand quiet and still -- through all of these different horses, we've realized that my overactive right hand has a big part in prohibiting my left side from working properly. Once my right hand takes over, my whole right side takes over. A couple of times, taking my right hand away from me completely (in the air, on my head, on my hip, whatever) has made me fix my body and ride properly. Weird? 🤔

We did lots of circles and loops, changed direction through the sitting trot in a serpentine so I could focus on changing the bend through my body. The whole time my shoulders were staying where they needed to be, I was turning my body, riding inside leg to little squeezes on the outside rein, and keeping that right hand quiet and steady by his withers so I wasn't tempted to pull him around the turns. She did have to remind me to breathe a few times, though.

After a few laps, had me do a thigh release to halt in front of her, and asked how I was feeling now. I said, much more level although I felt like I was tipping forward. T commented that I was really even left to right now, even though 1 stirrup was markedly longer than the other 😂 She wasn't too worried about the tipping forward (and it did seem to lessen as my ride continued -- defense mechanism, I guess?) since I was so steady left to right.

After a little more trot work and another break, she had me head right again in a working walk and told me to put my left leg back and think canter when I was ready. Holy shirt. Chi's canter last week was like a sitting on a big cushy cloud. But Tosh's canter is like nestling into your favorite recliner for a nap. I instantly had a huge grin on my face. My butt didn't even move in the saddle, and as long as I kept thinking about cantering, I didn't have to work very hard, he just kept going. We circled at C, and on the second half of the circle, I felt myself start to crimp to the right. T reminded me to sit up and we finished our circle and then came down the long side at halted at F. She said, so what do you think? I said, omg, that is a REALLY nice canter!! I stopped for water, and then reversed and walked a lap before asking him for a working walk and again putting my outside leg behind the girth, exhaling and thinking canter. His departure was instant and like the gorilla I am, I snatched his mouth as soon as he started. He kept going, I relaxed my hands and relaxed my body into the gait, and we were fine. After a couple of laps and circles, she told me to thigh release to either a posting trot or a walk. We slowed to a trot, I lost control of my body and slammed on his back, so scratched his withers in apology, and then we came down to a walk and a halt.

After another lap of walk she asked if I wanted to canter in either direction again. I said, yes, I'd like to try the left again and get my hands quieter in the depart and my body quieter in the downward transition. She said, ok, rest your knuckles on his withers and when you're ready ask. So I did, and it was a quiet, prompt departure that earned lots of clapping from her. We did a lap and then she told me to come back down to a rising trot. I squeezed with my thighs and engaged my core, and we started trotting and I didn't lose my balance! So we halted in front of her and she clapped more!

All in all, it was a great lesson. She asked if I wanted to canter to the right one more time and I said, I think I am good ending where we are. I don't want to push it too much and go downhill. She agreed, so I cooled him out and as I was getting ready to dismount, she said she thinks the normal people that ride Tosh are still gone next week and asked if I wanted to ride him again next week. I was like, if he's available, definitely!

Q3 health and fitness goals mid-quarter check-in!

We are nearly halfway through Q3, and my weight loss challenge ended yesterday. I'm sad it's over! But, we were only about halfway through that when she announced the next challenge and I signed up without even thinking about it LOL. The next challenge starts on August 19, with the first official weigh-in happening on August 26. So it runs until September 30. Since I've met most of these goals, and signed up for a new challenge, I decided I needed a goal refresh for the rest of the quarter!

• Complete 6 week keto weight loss challenge from 7/1 to 8/12. 
• Track inches and pounds lost by completing weekly weigh-ins -- this is for accountability, plus chances to win giveaways! 
• Follow meal plans and stick to macros. 
• Increase and then maintain water intake. 
• Do not fall off the wagon on the weekend!

ALL of this: DONE-ZO! 

I weighed in and checked measurements every week. I tracked every.single.meal the night before to make sure I stuck to my macros, which is totally tedious and I hate it, but it WORKS. I didn't cheat once, although I did go over macros significantly 2 or 3 times, it didn't seem to affect my overall losses too much, since I stayed keto. I drank an average of 120oz of water per day. AND, I lost 17lbs and 14in in 6 weeks! I got new macros last week and I am going to stick to them for the next 15lbs!

• Workout at least 4 days a week, plus 1 riding lesson.
• LIIFT4 (not hybrid, didn't care for it) round 3 from 6/25 to 8/23. 
• 4-week measurements 7/23.
• 8-week measurements 8/24.

Mostly done!

I'm a little behind, and still have half of week 5 to do before I move on to the last few weeks of the program, but I'm still tracking to finish by the end of August. My alarm clock and I have been fighting (I'm either sleeping through it or not setting it at all...who knows)! But, I did take 4-week measurements as part of the keto challenge.

• Work on hip flexibility and stretching at least 3x a week. 

Success!

This definitely happens when I workout in the mornings! I've noticed a lot of improvement in my riding since being more aware of my body needing these stretches.

• Meal prep as much as possible over the weekend.
• Plan to double most breakfast recipes and freeze half so I have a stash in case the hubby really likes something, plus less prep in future weeks!
• Prep breakfasts, lunches, and snacks so I can start (and stay) strong each week.
• Prep veggies and sauces for weeknight dinners to save time.

Success! 

I spent an average of 2-3 hours on Saturdays prepping meals for the following week. If I had a lot of leftovers, I would freeze some to save for other weeks. Like last week, after all of my prep on Saturday, I literally didn't have to cook again (other than throwing a fully prepped casserole in the oven on Monday) until the following Saturday, which was my birthday. So, prep this past weekend didn't happen due to the festivities, BUT, I had leftovers from the BBQ, plus a bunch of stuff to unfreeze and some stuff I had vacuum sealed to marinate that is working great for dinners!

New goals:

• Lose or maintain current weight in the 2 weeks in between challenge weigh-ins. 
• Complete 6 week keto weight loss challenge from 8/19 to 9/30, with the same sub-goals as above.
• Goal for 2nd challenge is to lose at least 15lbs.
• Stay keto. No cheats!
• Finish LIIFT4 by August 30. Start round 4 of LIIFT4 on 9/2.
• Continue to work on hip flexibility and stretching.
• Meal prep on the weekends to avoid scrambling and making bad decisions. Same sub-goals as above.

Gush fest

I got to the barn around 10:45, as I have been doing for the last several weeks. I think I've mentioned before that like to get there early so I can get all my stuff together, groom, boot, take the horse to drink, and then I let him chill until about 20-25 minutes before my lesson (T and I agreed I should get on 10-15 minutes early to warm-up, particularly when I'm in the surcingle), and I go watch the class before me. 

T was waiting on a horse to be trailered in, so I watched J warm up the woman riding 2 classes before me on the little halfie gelding she leases. He's really quite cute, and he just turned 5, so he's still pretty green. They did a lot of serpentines, circles, changes of direction, and worked on trot to canter transitions, which I guess he's been struggling with. It looked great to me! 

When T got back, they started jumping, working on her folding more and looking up. They did a single diagonal a few times in each direction and it was really nice, so T asked if she wanted to do a line. She said, hell, yea, and off they went to do a vertical to a small oxer, heading toward the barn. It was a beautiful ride, straight through the line, and her release and position were great. The gelding really was super proud of himself. T said she had goosebumps it was so good, so they ended on that note.

Then it was off to the indoor to watch the next class until my phone rang. I had a friend from the other barn, L, ask if she could come watch my lesson. She got a little lost, so it was a good thing T was running late! I managed to get her heading in the right direction and then hustled over to get G tacked up. It was a little hairy for a minute, but it all worked out, and L got there right as I was getting ready to mount. 

G and I did our 2 laps of walk and then came back to where T sits and she asked what I wanted to work on. I said, "Well, last week in the saddle, we realized that my right leg needs to soften, which to my brain right now means take it off the horse completely. I feel like I just pull it away about 6 inches when you tell me to soften it, and then he can move his right shoulder and starts bending around my left leg again." She chuckled a little and said ok, anything in particular you think might help with that? So, I said I thought serpentines and circles might be helpful. Then she asked, how is your body feeling today? I said, tight, and my lower back has been really tense this week. So, she stretched my hips and then had me basically do mountain pose, which if you do yoga, you know is NOT an easy posture to maintain when you're truly doing it correctly! My favorite yoga instructor likes to say that you SHOULD be sweating after doing mountain pose 🤣

So, I lifted my hands/arms STRAIGHT above my head, palms facing each other. I had to take 3 breaths in through my nose, out through my mouth, and stretch up from the waist without bending my arms. Then, on my third breath, she had me slowly bring my arms down to parallel with the ground, still keeping them straight, and turn both thumbs to the right before twisting to the right, from the waist, until my left arm just barely started to bend, and my right arm is behind me, basically over the horse's rump. After 3 more deep breaths, I slowly came back to center, lifted them over my head again, and 3 more deep breaths, brought them back down, and turned everything left. Rinse and repeat, once more in each direction. I literally was shaking and sweating profusely at the end of this, but I felt MUCH looser. All of this got a couple of huge sighs from G and lots of licking and chewing, so apparently he felt better with the softness, too.

After that, she had me start right away in a working walk on the rail and do a 2 loop serpentine from C-X-A. It didn't go well due to another horse making me feel like I had to cut my 2nd loop short. She called me out on it, saying I can ride rail to rail or quarter line to quarter line, but it has to be the same on all loops. I laughed and ended up turning around and starting again.

The quarter line path worked better, since horses were cooling out on the rail, so we did that. Then we did it again from A-X-C. My right leg was a lot softer this week, and I wasn't struggling nearly as much getting a left bend as I have been. After a few more small serpentines, she had me pick up a sitting trot (have I mentioned I'm glad she doesn't make us post in the surcingle?!), and we started doing some circles. 

I had a few issues with tipping forward or to the inside, which makes G slow down or stop. It's greatly improved and I am so much more aware of it. T ended up handing me a crop to keep G going, because while he is doing his job of wanting to slow down and "catch" me, I am not truly unbalanced, so she wanted me to be able to tap him and keep going through my mistakes so I can work on fixing them. It really does help!

Our trot work got better and better, and straighter and straighter. Like, leaps and bounds from even a week ago. Our halts were beautifully straight and square every time. And every halt resulted in a deep sigh from G. She told me she got goosebumps from my ride, too! I was like, really? you did?! 😃 

After walking a couple of laps and getting some water, she asked if I had enough energy left to canter. I said, yea! Let's do it! She said, ok, do you want to start to the left since that is your weaker direction? Sounded good to me. So, I got a working walk organized, put my right hand on the surcingle handle, and asked for a canter. I tipped forward, and got a fast trot. We came back down and tried again, really nice depart, although not exactly as prompt as I was aiming for. Once I got him going, I actually felt like I was wrapped around him well enough that I let go of the handle completely. Guys, I cantered bareback without holding on! But then I got excited and I tipped in the 3rd corner and he broke, so we came back to the walk and tried again. She wanted me to hold it together in my corners by talking myself through it in my head, outside shoulder forward, inside shoulder up and back, turn my head in the direction we are going, eyes up, outside leg back, inside leg on. When we got through the 4th corner reasonably well, she had me halt before the 5th corner. Beautiful, square, straight...and I wasn't holding on! 

We switched directions and I felt comfortable enough to let go to the right, too. (Now my smaller goal will be to feel like I can ask for the canter without holding on, but one thing at a time!) We worked on the same thing, getting through the corners without breaking gait or tipping in or forward. It was a bit harder, even though the right is my easier direction, because I was running out of steam. She told me to try to get all the way around the ring but if I felt like I was losing it, to halt before I actually did lose it. I must have been thinking loudly (and tipping forward) because in the far corner, G slowed down and stopped. I laughed and said, I'm guessing my entire body said, I'm ready to stop, so he obliged. She laughed and agreed. Then we did it one more time just to end on a halt that was my conscious decision.

At the end, she told me she is really proud of me and she hopes I can feel the difference as much as she can see it. 

L walked with me while I cooled G out, and she exclaimed, I've never seen anyone teach like that before, it's SO COOL. It is so cool, and I told her, I was so angry and hurt when the other place basically told me I was too fat to ride their horses, but it was a blessing in disguise and I am SO, SO happy I found T and her horses. I get to the barn feeling excited instead of anxious, and I leave feeling content and fulfilled, and HAPPY. I've really missed this feeling, and I didn't even fully realize I was missing it until I got it back.