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 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

Lesson 4: Cool-down! You arrived at the barn or horse show, warmed-up before getting on your horse (see Part 3), finished your ride and now you need to cool yourself down. Why is a cool-down important? Facilitates the recovery process and allows the body to adapt to the training stress, which will ultimately improve performance in the long term. Can help to decrease delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). Particularly if you have had an extended break from riding. Reduces mus

What are some words that come to mind when you think of an athlete? Perhaps words like skill, strength, focus, commitment, passion, sacrifice, and drive come to mind. Do those words fit what you do as a rider? Do you think what you do as a rider is difficult? How do you feel after a long day of showing? Fatigued, sore, mentally drained? Think about those questions for a minute. How often do you mentally prepare when you compete at your show? Do you walk the show jumping