Lauren Semple from Equestrian Fitness Scotland is back, with her follow up blog to ‘Why you don’t want to emerge from winter like an unclipped pony!
Hi everyone, we are back again for Week 2, and well, I survived writing my first blog… so apparently we’re doing another one!
And what a week it has been!
Last time I talked about getting ourselves back into that autumn/winter routine and actually making some time for us, rather than spending the entire winter concentrating on our horses and this week has probably proved exactly why I need to practise what I preach!
Just 10 minutes a day…
We’ve just finished our September 10-Minute-a-Day Mobility Challenge, and I have genuinely loved it and even though I teach this stuff and spend my working life talking about rider fitness; doing something consistently every single day has been a really good reminder for me too, and I definitely feel better for it.
But probably the biggest thing I’ve taken from the month is discovering where I’m actually tight compared with where I thought I was tight, which has been really eye-opening.
We can become so used to how our own bodies move that something starts to feel “normal”. Then you try a particular mobility exercise and suddenly think, “Oh…that’s not moving very far!”
Or one side moves beautifully and the other side appears to have absolutely no intention of joining in! I hope everyone who joined me for the challenge has learned a little bit about their own body too.
That’s actually one of the things I love about rider fitness. It’s not always about doing more, working harder or trying to burn hundreds of calories.
Sometimes 10 focused minutes can teach you far more about your body than an hour of throwing yourself around a gym, and once we know where our restrictions are, we can start working on them.
From mobility… to two days in an arena!
Last week was also the Scottish Equestrian Coaching Conference, where I spent two full days in the arena working alongside a variety of exceptionally talented coaches.
I was talking about our holistic approach to equestrian fitness – looking at the rider as a whole and considering strength, mobility, cardiovascular fitness, balance, coordination and everything else that contributes to how we perform on the horse.
It was absolutely exhausting, but equally exciting!
We even had some Canadian trainers over who were really interested in what we do and how we deliver it, and there has been some talk about having further meetings.
So you never know… Equestrian Fitness Scotland might be going international! Or I might just be using this as an excuse to try to get myself a trip to Canada! We can live in hope!
Meanwhile, back in reality, winter is definitely coming, and Mr Paddington is getting hairy, which can only mean one thing – winter horse routine is incoming.
More time in the stable, more mucking out, more rugs, more jobs, more wondering how one horse can produce quite so much mess overnight, and of course, less daylight to do everything in!
This is exactly where that structure I talked about last week becomes important for me.
My classes are moving onto their winter schedule, my horse routine is changing and family life continues regardless, so I’m having to properly look at my week and decide where everything fits – including my own training.
We’re also looking at introducing an evening EquiTeam fitness class, which I’m really excited about. It would be brilliant to get as many of the EquiTeam community joining in as possible and create something that works for everyone.
And apparently I’m show jumping this weekend… because my week clearly wasn’t busy enough, I’m also heading to the BRC 80cm Show Jumping Championship on Sunday with Mr Paddington.
There’s just one tiny issue – I haven’t jumped him since April (although he has been jumping regularly!). Minor detail.
We did win the qualifier, so technically we have demonstrated that we can do it, but whether all the poles remain in their cups on Sunday is an entirely different matter!
So I’ve managed to squeeze in an extra training session with Paddington this week in an attempt to remind both of us what we’re supposed to be doing.
I suppose this is another example of real life fitness and training.
Things aren’t always perfectly planned. Sometimes you just have to work with the time you’ve got, prepare as well as you can and turn up!
Next week…the winter training properly begins
I’m actually really looking forward to next week because life should hopefully settle down slightly and I can properly get stuck into my own winter training.
I’ve learned a lot from the mobility challenge, I’ve identified some areas I want to work on, and now it’s time to start building on it.
Remember what I said last time:
Winter is for training – and not just for our horses.
Oh, and one final important update… I’m currently on soup number three of the week.
Apparently my autumn/winter routine now consists of fitness, horses and making a fresh batch of soup every three days.
So I need your help! Share your favourite soup recipes with me, because if I’m going to keep this up all winter, I’m definitely going to need some inspiration.
See you next week – hopefully after a successful show jumping championship with most of the poles still standing!
Lauren x
