“Being grounded for months was not in my 2018 plan. All the old demons such as, ‘you’re too fat to ride,’ ‘you’re too uncoordinated to ride,’ ‘you should just give up and let yourself go,’ ‘why don’t you just accept your age and grow old,’ etc., etc. screamed louder than ever before.”
“Let me say that again: the notion of ‘fatness’ is mental. And I have been constantly re-embedding the mental programming ‘you’re fat, not fit’ and that I have a long, arduous journey still ahead in order to get fit.” Fat to Fit to First Level is rebranded!
Every Friday, Horse Nation teams up with Ovation Riding to spotlight an individual or organization doing good work in the horse world. Today, we recognize Shangri-La Therapeutic Academy of Riding (STAR).
Shangri-La Therapeutic Academy of Riding (S.T.A.R.) wants YOU — if you are a draft-type horse in good health who could help carry a veteran in the organization’s therapeutic riding program.
“Our jobs, our family commitments, our hobbies, and — perhaps most especially — our self-imposed high expectations of ourselves can seem like ‘just too much’ sometimes. Feeling overwhelmed? Read on.”
Healed from a nasty fall after her mustang Kaliwohi spooked, Esther Roberts is re-committed to improving her relationship with her horse, and heads to the round pen to find a new routine.
Weight and fitness are two separate entities: while the number on the scale might remain the same, Esther Roberts noticed some major differences over the course of a year.
“Another way of asking the question ‘do I enjoy riding’ is far more fear-filled: ‘What happens if I get injured so badly I can no longer fulfill my responsibilities and obligations?’ That, friends, is a question only a mature rider must face. Adulting is not for wimps!”
While Esther is grounded from riding to heal from a fall, she has three options: try to ride (bad idea), do absolutely nothing (also a bad idea) or come up with a creative Option C…
