IHSA Update

Hey everyone! I just thought I would update you on my IHSA team stuff. Monday was my first ever team practice and let me tell you, I am sore in places I never thought I would be sore; my thighs especially. We did so many exercises for our legs, I am definitely going to be doing the gym more often now.

Just to clarify, the pony above is Molly. I rode her in my lesson. She is 12.1 hands tall and just a little bundle of energy! She shares a stall with a little mini who is adorable!

Before we went to tack up for the lesson, we did a little workout. We did 40 squats, 40 crunches and a 30 second plank. The team officers are really pushing for rider fitness and I totally agree with them. We riders don't want to pull a muscle while riding when we have a show the next day. Once we finished that, we then went a tacked up and waited for our tack check. Basically, our trainer Kim comes and checks our tack and makes sure everything is in order before we get on the horses.

Once we were on the horses (I was in a group of 3), we warmed up the horses by walking in both directions. Then we started our mounted exercises, which were very brutal. We started with marching steps; we basically lifted each leg one at a time without scratching the tack. Then we did frog kicks where we picked up both legs, opened them and put them down. After that we did an exercise where we lifted both legs up in order to touch our knees over the horses withers. All of these exercises were beneficiary for our hips and core strength.

We then did exercises for our upper body. We started with arm circles in both directions for both arms. You definitely feel it in your shoulder as well as the muscle on your side. We then did some stretches on the horses. We would lean forward from our waist, touch the horses ear and then rotate to touch the rump. And might I add, it is very difficult doing that exercise on a 12.1 hand pony because I felt like I was going to fall over her head while leaning and touching her ear.

Once we finished warming up and stretching, it came time for exercises at the trot. We did exercises where we sat 2x or 3x and then stood our stirrups 2x or 3x. This helps build up leg strength. We then worked on slowing the trot for 5 strides while sitting and then maintaining that speed at a posting trot. At the canter we did something similar. While cantering, we would sit and stand every other stride, basically posting every other stride. That was probably my favorite because I really loved Molly's canter. Such a great little rocking horse canter.

But other than that, I just ordered my team gear! Once my mom brings up my checks, I will pay my riding dues and then my gear costs as well as turn in my physical. I am so excited for the first show in November!