Building Blocks: Balance Your Head!

As I'm thinking about teaching Centered Riding to adults new to Centered Riding, I work on the Building Blocks. I balance each part of the rider's body, top to bottom. Head to foot.

I have discovered that starting with the head and neck is important. By starting with
the head, which weighs 10-14#, I have each rider nod back and forth, and move
their head side to side, to find that middle spot where the head is in neutral
position.

Before I do this, I have each rider look at the wall and remember where they
are looking. After we balance the head, I have the rider look at the spot again. We
always look a little higher after balancing our neck.

We raise our head a little, and by doing so, we raise our shoulders up and back,
and raise our whole body up. This is the desired effect.

We also bring our neck up and back. Think about your head being pulled up by a string. This image causes us to lift up and straighten our neck. This image doesn't quite do it for me. I understand it, but my body doesn't move. Another image is the turtle sticking his head out of his shell. My neck looked like that. Squished down and out. I asked the Instructor of my Level 1 clinic to demonstrate what I do. When I saw her tuck her neck down and out, then pulled her chin back and straightened her neck up, I got it. I practiced all last fall, and I am starting to carry my neck straight. I will say that my neck and shoulders ached a little all the time for at least 3 months. As I practiced every day, I'm sure that I kept a little strain in the muscles that supported the neck. Over the winter I didn't practice the exercises since I wasn't riding. I think it gave my neck time to relax and to become used to the new building block position.

Take your time when you stretch your muscles or reposition your body. There will be some strain and you will want to go slow with changing your body.

Try it now, sitting in your chair. Try it when you get on your horse.

I'll talk about other body parts next time.

I sure hope this humidity stops soon so we can get out and practice and ride!

Turkey Creek Trail Ride

August 27-29, 2010



Turkey Creek is just a wonderful place to ride. Lots of hills. Long, sloping up and down hills with great scenery and lots of trees! Well marked trails. Some go higher and further and is was great to have Brenda, the owner, as a guide.

There is always great food and friends to ride with. Gretchen, from Georgia, came back to Nebraska for her yearly visit. She left to work at a horse camp that specializes in handicap riders, as well as youth camps in the summer and riding lessons for adults and youth year round. Gretchen loves to cook in a Dutch oven over a campfire. We had 3 fantastic meals, and leftovers for 2 other meals. Creamed potatoes and ham casserole with homemade bread. Chicken and vegetable stir fry and cherry German chocolate cake. Egg and sausage casserole. Apple crisp. Just delicious.



Gretchen stayed with me the evening before. She had already shopped and we repacked her groceries into 2 coolers and my small trailer fridge. I had the trailer ready to go with hay, grain, extra drinking water for the trail rides, and my clothes. I could outfit a family for the weekend with all the clothes that I take, but hey, I have the room so I take extra.

Friday morning, after feeding the dogs and cats, we loaded the horses. Savannah went right in with little resistance. Maybe she was on good behavior because she had Dixie ready to load right behind her. Dixie loaded and the 2 horses were ready to go.

We had a 3 hour trip. We headed north towards Sioux City, taking a short rest room break as well as to fill up with gas. We drove northwest, driving through Newcastle, and arrived at the campground.



We were there before noon and we were the first to arrive. We unloaded horses and put them into pens. We decided to eat our sandwiches and relax a moment before picking a spot to park. We thought we would wait on Tammy to show up to decide where she wanted people. In the meantime, John and Brenda came and she showed us what area she wanted our group to be in. I backed the trailer into the spot closest to the new pavilion.



Isn’t it just wonderful?

Gretchen and I decided to take a short ride while we were waiting on Tammy. We were just leaving camp when she pulled in, but told us to go for a ride while she unloaded her horse and got her trailer parked. Gretchen only had about 2 hours to ride as she needed to be back to start the campfire and to begin preparation for the first meal. Gretchen and I rode the beginning of a lot of the trails. Not knowing how far each trail went, we turned off to stay close to camp. One of the trails was called Whitetail and we kicked out a deer. Another trail was perfectly named as Prairie Ridge, and we came out onto a field of shoulder high native prairie grass. I could imagine what the settlers felt when they saw a field like that. We had perfect weather Friday afternoon. Mid 80’s and a breeze to keep the flies off our horses.



We rode back to camp and Brenda and Tammy were getting ready to ride out for a short ride. Since Gretchen said it would take her a little while to get the fire going, and to start to prepare the first dish, she wanted us to ride again. We waited while Gretchen unsaddled Dixie. I told her to let the saddle sit by the trailer, and I would care for her tack and Dixie when I get back. We rode another 2 hours, I think, and had perfect views of the area around us.



Our group arrived after we got back, and throughout dinner time. The first evening, every one was tired of traveling and getting horses settled, and we were all in bed early. We wanted to eat at 8 the next morning and start our ride at 9, but that would mean that Gretchen would have to get up at 5:30 to start the fire. We pushed everything ahead another hour. Who wants to get up that early on the weekend? 6:30 was early, but when I went out at 7 to feed horses, almost everyone else was up. We ate, we rode, we ate, we rode. You can see how our weekend went!



We rode Saturday morning from 10 - 1. There were 2 other groups of riders, and Brenda led the trail ride, taking us places that we normally could not ride. We saw so many wonderful views of the hills and lower areas. Just breathtaking and very green this year! We have had a very wet summer and it showed in all the green around us. We rode out again at 4 and rode until 6, riding the hill tops.



Most of us were done riding so that we could help Gretchen prepare and chop up meat and veggies. We had that delicious German Chocolate Cherry cake for supper and no one was ready to move. We enjoyed our beverage of choice and I also brought out a bottle of Merlot to share. What a relaxing way to end the day, sitting back on soft chairs, chatting with friends, and sipping wine.



Sunday morning, I fried the leftover potatoes and some sausage links. Sandy cooked scramble eggs. We rode out again at 10 and rode to around 1 again. This time, we rode to the river. Beautiful. To the north was the South Dakota border.



I needed to head home, so I started breaking camp, unplugging the electric cord, putting the trailer living space in order, packing up horse buckets, and cleaning out pens again. I usually have my trailer picked up early the day that I leave, but with cooking breakfast, it took my free time to clean fry pans. I did have all the dishes put away before the ride started so that saved me some time, as well as having the 2 food coolers packed into the trailer. The little stuff takes so long, doesn’t it?

Savannah loaded just perfect, and Dixie hopped into the trailer before I even had Savannah tied off. Dixie is a good girl. I said my goodbyes, and thanked Brenda for the wonderful trail ride.

3 hours later, at 5pm, I pulled into home. Once again, temps had reached 91 at home and humidity was high. Hubby helped me to carry in coolers, dirty clothes, food out of the fridge, and misc items, like my laptop that I didn’t use. Oh well. I just didn’t get my early mornings to type like I usually do on trips. But I used the camera a lot!

And my friend Tammy from Horsetrailriders.com has me hooked on using a GPS. My new GPS is the wrist type, and now we can see our paths that we rode when we plug into the computer. How much fun is that?

As always, I was tired this morning, but had to get ready for a training horse to come in. I am really enjoying my trail riding time with Savannah. She only had a few goosey moments and jumps, but they are getting less frequent, and with less intensity. My first CTR is in a little more than 2 weeks, so I hope she is on her way to becoming conditioned for that.

Come ride a trail with me sometime! I can’t wait until the next ride!

Some Day

I am going on a trail ride to Turkey Creek this weekend. It has me thinking, and it has me a little sad. This is the first place I went to after Finny died. I’m having bitter sweet feelings tonight. I am taking Savannah, who happened to be raised by the people who own Turkey Creek. Coincidence? Maybe. I feel like I am going full circle. I don’t want to think about it, I just want to relax, and forget that terrible day,10 ½ months ago. Forgive me for still feeling this way, but hopefully by the end of this post, I feel the peace that I need to have inside me to get over this hurt that I still carry somewhere inside me.

Some day… I keep telling myself, some day….

Some day, you are going to forgive yourself. For all of those things that happen and that you didn‘t have any control over. For all the things that couldn’t happen to save him. For all the things you had to do after it happened. And for all the things you hated doing.

Some day, you are going to understand. Why did it happened? Why couldn’t you prevent it? Why couldn’t he get better? Yes, you did the things that you did. Why didn’t you do what you should have done? Why didn’t you do what you had planned to do?

You have hated that day. The Sickness. The Death. The Finality of it all.

That day your heart did break. Into two. Into many pieces. You felt as if it will never heal. You think about the sadness, and your heart breaks in two again. And the hurt and pain and sadness starts all over again.

For many days, you are in pain. The pain that sinks down into your core. Pain that doesn’t go away, no matter how long you cry. Or don’t cry. Pain, and depression, and an overwhelming sadness lasts, and lingers, forever it seems.

Some day you are going to be sad all day. Many days of sadness. Months. And months. Maybe not all day long, but part of each day. And slowly the sadness begins to lessen.

Some day you are going to hurt less. The sadness starts to go away. But the little hurt is always there. There is always a dull pain. Always a little “something” in its place. An emptiness that begins to grow. And something more grows. A desire to fill the emptiness.

Slowly the sadness and pain leave. Acceptance and understanding takes their place. There is the beginning of the peace that is necessary to calm my soul.

Some day you are going to like yourself again. Because you have forgiven yourself.

And some day you are going to love again. And find another special horse in your life.

And with that love becomes another special bond with a special horse.

Is some day… today?

Another horse has come into my life. He is extra special because he has helped me through the difficult time of losing a loved soul mate. He has always been here, waiting his turn. He is quiet, and kind. He makes me think that he knows how I feel. But how can he? He lost a pasture mate, too. Are horses sad when one of their buddies leave them too?

And now the realization that everything that I had to go through on that fateful day, and since, has brought me this wonderful horse who is so gentle, and kind, and caring.

I am grateful for you, my new friend. You have made me discover the peace that was buried deep in my soul. You have given me a reason to move on.

And so continues the circle of my life with horses. The love and excitement for one horse, to pain and hurt, to understanding and forgiveness, to a life with love and excitement for another new horse.

It is a journey which is hard to embrace at times. But a journey that you need to embrace with your whole being, because, if not, when the terrible things happen, it will devastate you. You have horses embedded deep in your soul and you will not be whole again until you continue your journey.

No matter what happens, “Embrace the Journey!” The peace will be there when you least expect it. Search for it. You will find it.

I am whole again. I feel it. I will always miss you, Finny, but Shaggy is helping me through my pain. I remember you with fondness now.

Yearly Physical

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

I just did the Dr thing...all you women know what I am talking about. Gynecologist. But don’t stop there. Now it’s all about menopause! Hematologist. Technicians. Pelvic exams. Blood work. Machines. Time for supplements! Ok, how much else do I need to do???

I just about shot my hubby the night before my appointments, as he was making fun of me. I told him that how would he like his "parts" put between 2 pieces of equipment and squeezed tight. LOL!

Blood work to see what my blood is doing. Just a little wetness to the palms of my hands. I'm glad I didn't know how much blood they were taking and didn't watch them fill the 3 vials. I would rather see the vet take my horse's blood or doctor a wound, then see my own blood. The blood will be checked for levels of different nutrients. I’m sure cholesterol. That should be fine as I have always had low levels. I’m not eating as much ice cream as I used to, so that should help. Vitamin D needs to be at a certain amount so that the Calcium will be absorbed. Then there was a whole list. Hormone levels - yes, I definitely know they are low. And other things for other reasons. I forgot which ones, another sign of menopause.

Checking the uterus and making sure things are still fine in there. Checking ovaries and making sure they are “normal”. With the effects of menopause, the night sweats, not sleeping, dreaming, I still do not want to supplement with estrogen. I’ll live through these darn sleepless nights somehow. Usually, I sleep restlessly for 5 or 6 nights, then crash and don’t wake up at all on the 7th night. That works for now. If I can just train my husband to sleep well on that 7th night. I think he is also learning to be restless and sleep uneasy, because now he is starting to wake me up at night! Geez!

Because of my "age", we had to do the bone density thing - no sweat to that test and machine. Lie day, rest legs on this foam block, and lay still. They scanned the hip on the less dominant side. I did get a sneak peek of my bone density test. The hip joint was just starting to be in the negatives. The neck of the femur was the lowest number, and was just at the point where it was going towards osteoporosis problems.

One other test and was done. The worse for last. Mammogram! Lift up, pushed, squeezed, hold your breath. Relax. Repeat for 5 more times! How many more times? Ok, now don’t touch me again! Not for another year.

Well, that just shot a morning. Taking my calcium and vitamin D won’t bring back the density that has been lost, but it will build up the bone and help to prevent any further lose. I will be diligent now.

oh... I knew I shouldn't have stopped those multivitamins and calcium pills during the winter. I did start back up a while ago, then stopped on vacation. Who knows why, I just left it slip. I had the pills with me, just didn't take them. Now, it's time to be diligent, and I encourage all of you to do so. Now is the time for Calcium and Vitamin D, not later. I feel so much better when I take a multivitamin and glucosamine supplement. I can't take them first thing in the morning, as it feels too heavy on my stomach. I set out my pills and take some with my lunch. I will take some at afternoon slump time. I will not let myself off the hook. I hope you don’t let yourself off the hook either.

Why? so we have lots of horse years left in our body!

Centered Riding Introductory Lesson

Sunday, August 22, 2010

I had a great group of riders here for a Centered Riding Introduction lesson Sunday morning. Three of the riders where new to me for lessons and 1 of the riders is already taking lessons from me. We started at 9 in the morning with exercises on the ground. Here is a brief report of how much we did in 2 1/2 hours!

We first had some stretching exercises. We worked on opening the chest muscles, both out and up.

We worked on having Soft Eyes and how much more you can see when you use soft eyes as compared to hard eyes. We broke out into pairs, with one person standing still and staring with hard eyes at something on the wall. The other person walked around them, and put a mark on the sand when they walked out of the view of the person who was staring. Then I had that person take a deep breath, and then used soft eyes without staring. Their partner walked around them again, and remarked an area in the sand when they walked out of view. Each time, the person could see at least a foot further with soft eyes.

We worked on deep Breathing and how to do that. I think breathing deep and using your diaphragm is one of those things that you hear about but don't do unless you are a singer and have been taught how to breathe deeply. Everyone only moved their chest when they breathed. I had them put a hand on their belly, and breathed as deep as they could, making an effort to fill their lungs with as much air as they could. This will cause the diaphragm, the largest muscle in the body, to push down, which causes your belly to move.

We talked about out Building Blocks and how to balance our bodies, starting with our head and working down. Our head weighs 8-14 #, and tipping it slight forward puts that much more weight on the horse’s withers and front end. Tipping our head back puts the weight on the back part of the horse’s back or loin. We rocked our head back and forth, and side to side, to find that point where our head is balanced. I find it interesting that every time I do this, I look a few inches higher than I did before.

Then we talked about out Center, where our center is, how our center moves, and how to relate that while on the horse. We have an imaginary ball within our center, spinning at the speed the horse is moving. We can regulate the speed of the horse but slowing or speeding up our center’s motion.

Clear Intent is riding with a purpose and we didn't talk about that except to mention it. During lessons, I talk about having a plan or purpose about where you want the horse to go.

We Grounded our feet, and talked about where to place our foot in the stirrup, which is usually a little further back than where we traditionally put the stirrup. Each person grounded their own feet, finding where that spot is on the bottom of their foot where they feel a “zing” up into their leg. Unless they are like me, and I only feel a dullness.

We did the same exercises on the horse. I Grounded everyone's feet, so they felt that place again on the bottom of their foot. They felt the sole of their foot in the stirrup.

We worked on Balance, starting with balancing our heads and where we are looking. We balanced our upper bodies, rocking back and forth until we found that spot where we weren’t rocking any more. We “woke up” our leg joints, by doing some leg stretches. We rotated our ankles, we moved our legs up and down, we stretched our knees by marching, and the hardest stretch, moving a straight leg from the hip joint. You need to swing your leg slowly, as when I do this, I can feel a “catch” in my hip. We repeated the arm and chest stretching exercises on the horse.

We found our Center and our Neutral Pelvis. We placed one hand in front of us, thumb on our belly and fingers pointing down. The other hand was on our lower back, directly in line with the first hand. Then we felt our hip joint as we swung our leg. By imagining a line between the hip joint and the center of our hands, we found our Center.

To sit balanced, we should be sitting on our seat bones. To find this area, we placed first one leg, than the other, onto the pommel. Slowly dropping each leg and picking up stirrups, we are now sitting correctly. I also did a hip release on 1 rider, showing the correct alignment for the leg. I showed the riders how they can do a hip release by themselves.

We worked on the Following Seat, allowing the horse to move freely and to feel the movement. Imagine a ball in our center, spinning backwards, and imagine the size of the ball. To increase the speed of the walk, imagine the ball growing, spinning larger and faster. To slow the horse's motion down, spin the ball in your center slower and decrease the size. To maintain a slowness but with an extended stride, imagine a large ball spinning slowly. Every now and then, I reminded the riders to use Soft Eyes and Breathe.

We worked at the trot, posting while using our leg joints. While in a revised seat, standing balanced in our stirrups, we worked on allowing the ankle, knee and hip joints to take up the movement of the trot. By doing so, there will be less stress on our joints, allowing our bodies to move with the horse. We worked on Dancing Knees, allowing our knees to move while the horse trotted.

At the end of the 2 ½ hour lesson, 3 of the riders practiced the lope. I had one of the riders practice loping off with their center, by thinking of sending her center forward in time with the horse’s hind leg. I had her maintain a feeling of sitting up as she loped. I wanted her to lope with a feeling of “up” through each stride when the hind leg pushed off and into another lope stride. By just thinking up, the rider had a more correct and gracefulness to her body. It was exciting to see the change in the horse‘s movement also, as he maintained a more collective stride.

Each rider worked at their own level within each of the basics. That is exactly
why Centered Riding works for all disciplines and all riders. Everyone is a
different point in their riding skills but you can work on the exercises and
maneuvers at every level of ability.

I'm excited that 2 of the riders were new to me and they are continuing lessons.
One of the riders wants to continue lessons and learn how to work with desensitizing her horse and to ride balanced if her horse should be jumpy while riding. I can't wait to have my next group lesson!

Click here to check our more about Centered Riding.

The journey has begun for a few more riders!

“Embrace the Journey!”