Centered in the Saddle

So far I’m very proud of myself in my two “No Weakness November” challenges. I have done no-stirrup work in every ride except my lesson last night, and I’ve done my planks every day as planned.

I planned to do some no stirrup work in my last night’s lesson, whether as part of the lesson itself or afterward for a few minutes. However, it turned into one of those lessons where we tackled some very foundational problems (like connection and forwardness and which comes first, and straightness and bending).

Plus, Duke had his school horse brain installed last night so we were not communicating at the same level. Sometimes he takes over the ride, which isn’t ideal. It leads to him insisting we should go one way around a standard and me insisting we go the other way, with the result that he basically runs into it with his face, slams on the breaks, and nearly unseats me. Oh, and he once rammed my knee into a standard hard enough to knock it over. #ow

I think I need to dedicate a whole post to Duke’s school horse brain / show horse brain, and differences therein and the benefits of each. 

But for now I’ll just tell you all about my plank challenge spreadsheet. ARE YOU RIVETED? 

I love a good spreadsheet. Other people might be annoyed by creating one and filling it out, but that is pure motivation to me. I get to TRACK MY PROGRESS OVER TIME? Sign me up! 

Why do I love my spreadsheet so much? Several reasons. Well, I find organization inherently pleasing, and it helps me see my progress over time.

For example, on Tuesday I felt a little bummed because I could only hold a plank for a minute and a half. But then I looked back to the first day of the challenge, a mere six days prior, and could see that my first attempt was only about 1 minute. That’s a 30 second improvement. 50% growth week over week! I AM AMAZING. 

And also my dad told me he made it to the 1 minute mark for his plank, and that pushes me to do better than him because I’M GOING TO WIN THIS THING.