Are you guilty of trying to catch some zzz’s at your desk, or yawn your way through meetings while sipping on your triple espresso? Whether you are a busy executive, full-time student, stay-at-home parent, or athlete your days are likely long and demanding. In fact, chances are you have probably mastered the art of certain activities of daily living while sleeping! Work days can be long and stressful and weekends may not be that much better. Add on traveling, academic respons

You’ve tucked Buster to bed with a belly full of hay and as you are about to head home your friend asks you to join her at the gym for a workout. You look at her as if she has sprouted 3 heads…”Uh, no, nope, nada, not going to happen!” Your friend pleads with you to give a workout a try. “You know fitness is important to us riders” she states matter of factly. She goes on to rattle off some of the benefits of exercise: Mood booster, stress-reliever Decreases your risk of

You may have heard your trainer yell out these phrases many times: “Use your core!” “Engage your core!” “Sit deep!” or “Drive into your seat!” In response you may flex your abs a little bit, or try to breathe out to create a bracing effect, but all you end up doing is creating more tension in the saddle and that tension moves up to your shoulders into your arms and ends up in your hands. Your horse responds by pulling, losing the softness in their mouth, and the suppleness

THE EQUESTRIAN ATHLETE - PART 6 Lesson 6: Nutrition Let me paint you story: It is 5 am you have pressed snooze a couple of times and are now rolling out of bed and running out of the house to get to the showgrounds to prepare you & your horse for the long day of showing. As you make the drive your tummy starts to growl and you realize you left the house without eating or packing anything to eat, and you are starving! You know there is a really good food truck on the ground

THE EQUESTRIAN ATHLETE - PART 5 Lesson 5: Basic Fitness Program Design As you have progressed through this equestrian series, you have started to change your mindset that you are an athlete. It is now time to look at how to design a basic fitness program that will allow you to train for optimal performance. Like most sports we look at equestrian sports as having seasons. We can break down our yearly calendar into phases based on these seasons: off-season, pre-season, in-se