The core of the problem-June goals

It's a little late, but I need to write down goals to keep me focused and disciplined on my riding. Knowing how to fix myself doesn't work if I don't use it. My horses have been good lately and I'm really proud of them. My riding is another story.





My main problem and how to fix it:

 I'm riding in a forked seat.

  

Why: The first reason is because I hurt. This is putting me into a position where I'm focusing on avoiding pain instead of riding correctly, carrying myself over the saddle instead of dropping my weight fully onto my seat bones and into the saddle. This isn't a good excuse, so I can just start dealing and ride right no matter how much it hurts.

The second reason is my core has gotten weak. I used to have a really nice long leg in the saddle. I HATE CHAIR SEATS WITH A PASSION and I've worked very hard to make sure I don't have one. I'm not to that point yet, but too close for comfort. Avoiding that involves developing a strong core.

The fix:
A) Stretch my hips everytime I get on by moving my seat forward in the saddle, put my legs up over the knee rolls, then putting my legs back down underneath me, while keeping my seat bones on the saddle. I had Ty help me stretch them back today. This hurts like hell initially (hello cramping glutes and hips), but it worked well for me in the past and really does help.



B) Stay sitting back on my seat bones without allowing my legs to come up/forward or hallowing my back.

C) Keep my shoulders relaxed and back. I once had a clinician tell me to think about trying to keep my sternum behind my pelvis and that actually helped quite a bit. Doing this actually puts your sternum behind the points of your hips, not behind your entire pelvis, but you get the idea.

D) 30 day core challenge- I haven't found any on-line that includes all of the exercises I want so I'm doing my own. It will include planks, side-planks, various crunches, seals, and agilities (assuming I can find somewhere I can do them where the whole racetrack won't see me and think I've lost my mind) among other exercises. Most of the excercises will come from what I learned in track and basketball. I'll keep track of what I do and put it in a post. I don't have time for the gym, so this may become a trial and error DIY.



E) Lots of stretching- Pretty much all of my muscles are giant knots and my flexibility sucks.

F) Eat healthier- I've already been doing decent with this since I started cooking instead of us eating out all of the time, but I could still do better.

*My current cheat is the Lindt Dark Chocolate Orange bar. One bar lasts me several days, so maybe it isn't all that bad? Oh yeah, and about a six pack of beer per week. I can cut down on the beer, but the chocolate stays damn it!



What I need to remember while riding:

*Don't let my frustration with myself transfer to the horses

*Be patient, focus on improvment instead of perfection.

*I have no one to please but myself and I'm not on any specific time schedule, so stop stressing over riding.

Why I need to work harder:

Because they deserve better...

I know I should have goals for the horses too, it's just that I'm going to have to fix myself before they can move on. So, June is going to be pretty much all about me. I'm selfish like that.