Wednesday Morning Feed from World Equestrian Brands

Good morning Horse Nation! Hope you and yours are well. Speaking of wellness, there’s a picture that our amazing sponsor World Equestrian Brands posted on its FB page that you’ve got to see.

Oh yeah, that horse is living large. It’s Canadian event rider Hawley Bennett’s three-star horse “Chunky,” strapped in to an Equilibrium massage pad. It’s neat to see how, with each passing day, technology continues inching forward that enables us to better treat our horses as the athletes they are.

When I use the world “athlete” to describe a horse, no one bats an eye. But as the other half of the equation, we riders are athletes, too–even though we’re far less apt to treat ourselves as such. When was the last time you took yourself in for a sports massage? If you’re like me, you’re constantly struggling with pulling off your riding habit on a limited budget, and when it comes down to choosing how to allocate our resources, the horses win every time.

Lately, I have not been treating myself as an athlete. Although my spring was packed with CrossFit classes and no-dressing salads, mostly because I wanted to get married in my teeny-tiny mom’s wedding dress, as soon as the nuptials were over all bets were off. My husband and I spent our honeymoon wallowing in all-you-can-eat buffets and all-you-can-drink pina coladas, and when we got home our fridge was full of two of MY FAVORITE THINGS IN THE WORLD–cupcakes and champagne–left over from the reception. What the heck, I thought, diving into a box of buttercream bliss. The damage was already done. My willpower, and my waistline, were already shot.

Little did I know, Horse Nation’s fitness guru Biz Stamm was having a similar week–sub potato chips for cupcakes. So her “Fit to Ride” column today, about falling off the wagon, really hit home with yours truly. Thank goodness, she also offered some encouragement for climbing back on.

I’m not saying I’m done with cupcakes and champagne completely, but I think I’m going to take some of the stuff to the barn today, put them in the fridge with eat me/drink me notes, and let them become someone else’s problem. I’m an athlete, you know.

Go Riding.