I was not a person who dreamed of horses her whole life, but I ended up with a daughter who did. We finally relented and bought her a horse for her 12th birthday. I ended up with my own horse 2 years later when I was 48. Goose and I worked together on the ground for a long while, getting to know each other, and helping me become comfortable with horses in general.
Last year I decided I was going to start riding consistently. I started riding my horse and realized I was in really bad shape. It was hard to mount. It was hard to ride. I could stand to lose a few pounds, so I started looking for ways to get in better shape that worked for 51 year old me.
I’ll tell you, Facebook read my mind and started throwing a ton of options my way. I tried a few of them and holy moly… they were overwhelming, I was too sore to walk, even less ride, and I just couldn’t stand the energy of the programs.
One day I went into a Facebook horse group I belong to and asked what people were doing. Someone mentioned Team Body Project. I took a look and tried one of their workouts and I was hooked. The energy of Team Body Project is just completely different than the ones I’d tried before. The focus was on moving your magnificent body, and being consistent, instead of lifting heavier and more and more and more to get as strong as you can be.
At the time I was also reading some books about habits, and the mentality of Team Body Project fit right in with all of that. Daniel is my favorite trainer, though, honestly, I love his workouts so much I haven’t really tried many of the other trainers. There are workouts that are short, medium and long, easy, medium and hard! There’s always something to do, no matter what state of mind or body you are in that day.
After a couple weeks I found my legs were so much stronger. Mounting was easy! I could just step right up there. I found my balance was better, my core was stronger. It was EASIER to ride, which made it me want to do it more and made it more fun. Riding more also made me stronger, so it became an upward spiral of positive change.
Team Body Project offers a lot of free workouts on Youtube. You can try them out, see if you like them. They also have a subscription site with hundreds of workouts that aren’t on youtube. I love being able to try something before I pay for it, so I started out with the Youtube workouts, but it didn’t take me long to know I’d found a home base for fitness and join the subscription.
Building muscle, strength and balance is not the only things you need to ride over 50, you also need to be flexible. I love yoga and Yoga with Adrienne is my go to source for amazing yoga sessions. Her energy is uplifting, comforting and welcoming. I love that she encourages you to listen to YOUR body, and do what your body can do today. Her videos are free on Youtube too. And her sweet dog Benji is alway there as well.
It’s pretty easy to think you have to join a gym or pay a lot of money to get fit, but there are a lot of great choices that don’t cost you anything to just get started.
The more fit I get the better I ride, and the more fun it is. I don’t always love working out, but I do love being the best me I can be for my horse, so I keep at it. It doesn’t take hours a day, even a short 20 minute workout will keep you making progress, or at least moving your body for the day. Creating the habit of moving my body most days of the week has really helped me move forward and gain confidence as a new rider over 50.
