The Rider's Body - Movement Education For The Smart Rider

31/10/2022

Don't wait for 2023 New Year's Resolution making that you never stick to... Lisa's starting a balanced rider revive series - starts next week! 18 sessions before Xmas. Wahoo. Imagine how different you'll feel? Details in the post comments. Lisa

🖐🖐 Hands up if you are guilty of wanting things to be different yet you're not doing anything different to create that change?
Keep reading to hear what I've got planned to help you kick start a new way of being!

Maybe you know you'll feel better, ride better, live longer, have more energy, be stronger and fitter, sleep better, if you did more exercise, lifted some weights, ate less chocolate, drank less wine, ate more whole foods?

Equipilates and walking alongside a good diet and not too much alcohol used to be a daily part of my life - I was happy with how I looked, and the exercise helped massively with the uterine pain I was often in. Cancer surgery meant I had to stop and I'll be honest I really haven't got back to the same good daily habits! I had started more group equipilates teaching which forced me to do some movement and the habit was starting to be formed. But then we relocated to a new town and then I got a really bad COVID whilst over in the UK and I've struggled since.

Moving and enjoying the life in the Bay of Islands I've been drinking more than before, eating more and well exercising a lot less! I've gained a lot of weight and I just feel tired a lot of the time.

I wanted my body to feel better and look better so I joined a challenge at my local gym. I went guns a blazing into serious cross fit workouts and to begin with I was feeling energized. But after just a few short weeks I was feeling worse than ever! These cross fit high intensity workouts pushed me into unhealthy cortisol territory and made me feel even more depleted than ever!

I felt disheartened because after a month of five times a week hour-long mega workouts and commitment to a strict diet I actually felt I had more weight and felt more weighed down.

If I change nothing, nothing will change. I want much more energy. I want to shift the belly a bit, I want to sleep better, I want to be stronger and feel fitter than I do now as I navigate surgical menopause and beyond. I know if I don't create better habits now the harder it will be as I age. I want to keep riding and being active for as long as possible, don't you?

So, I am going to start equipilates 3 x a week again, add in some weights and some accountability for eating, drinking and adding more movement to your day. I don't want to call it a challenge because I want it to be creating a way of life again.

Who is going to join me? No experience necessary, you'll need a Mat, a resistance band and some light hand weights.

Starting next week - three nights a week online. 20-30 minute sessions all the way up till Christmas. Let me know in the comments or send me a DM if you'd like to join me! Let's start creating some new healthier habits to take us in to 2023. Eeek 2023!

Lisa x

03/10/2022

Here's a snippet of Lance in action! Be sure to follow The Balanced Riding Centre to find out about simulator lessons, clinics and retreats.
Lisa & Lance x

02/10/2022

Hello Riders!

Please come and join me over at The Balanced Riding Centre.

This is where I'll be sharing ways to help you improve as well as more about Lance the riding simulator and what's happening at the balanced riding centre! I will no longer be posting on the rider's body- if you have messaged me via the rider's body page I cannot respond :(

Lisa x

29/09/2022

I'm feeling a lot like my weirdo lovable cheeky Tui today. Sometimes wet weather postponements are a blessing so I'm going to cut myself a little slack this weekend!

What have you got planned with your equine friends for the weekend? I'm going to be writing for my dressage judge good friend on Sunday; it's a great way to watch lots of riders and test myself- what am I seeing in the rider being reflected in the horse's performance and results.

Enjoy your weekend!

Lisa x

26/09/2022

Have you purchased Franklin Method® Balls and looking for more ways you can use them in the saddle? Want to learn how you can use them at home to release your muscles and fascia to improve your riding and have a more comfortable body?

I'm often sent messages asking what else can I do with my Franklin Method® balls; so am thinking to put on a class, once a week for six weeks to give you plenty of ways you can experiment in the saddle and incorporate them in to a home routine to feel better and ride better!

I'm a level one Franklin Method Educator (one of only two in NZ) and am certified to teach classes with Franklin balls and using Franklin Method, so you'll be sure to get the best information about how to use them best!

If you're interested to join me please flick me an email to [email protected] with subject Franklin Balls

Look forward to sharing with you!

Lisa x

25/09/2022

Great morning passing on knowledge that I've been lucky enough to learn from some of the best movement and biomechanics coaches in the world!

The lesson today was teaching through embodied movement breathe flow and dynamic core control with a lovely fun bunch of riders at Kaikohe Showgrounds.

Rider's found more relaxation in their own bodies which in turn helped horses relax and use breathe to develop more rhythm and flow.

Did you know that the common strategy of pulling in your tummy to 'engage your core' is not actually engaging your core at all?
Want to know more? Why not organise a workshop with a group of friends and upgrade your riding! PM for details.

Lisa x

22/09/2022

Going to get stuck in to this today!

Adding more skills to my toolkit to help riders become more balanced, efficient and effective.

Looking at visual, vestibular and proprioceptive function. Testing, assessing and correcting how it impacts rider biomechanics.

With equipilates HQ teaching team and Rider Reboot

21/09/2022

"Of course, there are ways to improve our riding to reduce the chances of causing LH. One way, is with “simulators, simulators, simulators!” says Hall. “When you ride a simulator, you can develop better balance, core strength, and familiarization with movement patterns, without causing lasting harm to your horse.”

Super excited to be soon offering balanced rider simulator seat training!

Mr B.A Lance or Lance made a huge trip over from Europe all the way to Kerikeri and has already made some profound changes to riders who have been the lucky ones to experience him before he starts working!

He's helped change a top dressage rider's canter seat which in turn allowed her horses to offer more cadence in the canter and trot.

He's helped a rider's sciatica and gave her the best balanced feeling in the saddle she's had.

He transformed a rider's unmounted pelvic posture, something she's never been able to do before. In the saddle she can now ride in balance without feeling braced and behind the movement.

He's helped another rider with her canter seat and the result has been better transitions.

Working with Lance is enabling me to help riders experience positive changes fast, without the distraction of the real horse and without the compensations a real horse makes for the rider, we are left with only the truth of the rider and because he is moved by the rider and not a motor riders with my guidance find the new feeling and cement it in their nervous system much faster than before.

Each rider talked excitedly about how with his help they achieved the improvements so quickly! And their horses said a great big Thank You!

Want to have a lesson on Lance yourself? Get in touch.

Lisa x

https://thehorse.com/179955/the-slippery-slope-to-learned-helplessness-in-horses/?fbclid=IwAR243SdahFTT8nSWMV-oNm28HfO0Byr0ih_v58wmSwI4ELWRKfQUGVX6s8M

Many training styles and riding mistakes can make a horse less responsive to cues, pressure, and even pain--and that's often the early stages of learned helplessness.

20/09/2022

Nice to get an email with feedback from Deanna after the very first equi-ball class she felt some improvements in the saddle!

What do you think of my new logo? More to come on what I'm working on up here in Kerikeri to help riders improve! Super excited :-)

Lisa x

20/09/2022

Who else stayed up to watch? Wasn't it incredible! The end of an era.

Amid the spectacle and grandeur, there were moments of real personal connection at Queen Elizabeth's state funeral.

18/09/2022

Day two of our combined unmounted/mounted rider biomechanics series with the working equitation team. I had my great friend Ingrid up from Auckland and she helped me demo on the saddle stand stacking patterns and the difference this can make to dynamic stability. We explored some bony landmarks in our pelvis and ribcage for alignment awareness and elbows.

We then played with the lesson in the saddle and we saw some lovely changes in rider posture and horse posture as well as accuracy of turns with horses staying straighter.

And the weather was good for us too!

Lisa x

16/09/2022

What do you notice? Which seatbone do you think this rider would feel more weight into? which leg would you think has less contact?

Which rein will her horse be falling in on? Why would that be?

Leave your thoughts in the comments!

Lisa x