Photography

Hibernation. Sort of.

Hard not to do in the -50 wind chills we’ve had lately….

I haven’t written a “what has katmah been up to lately” post since mid-december.. and figured I’d write a quick update and what I’m looking forward to with the beginning of a new semester.

So, what have I been up to since finishing off exams?

Hibernating.

Well.. trying to.. then getting bored and doing something else.

Since we talked last I’ve gotten 3/5 of my final grades back. I’m pretty happy with my results, so far:

Pathology in Sport Medicine: B (B+ on post-concussion review paper)

Assessment of the Upper and Lower Extremities: B+, with a 92% on the practical (#nailedit).

Taping and Splinting: A, ended up at the top of the class!

I received my First Responder results Friday, which are definitely a low point for me right now. I will be retaking the practical component of the exam soon, to finish my certification, as the first time around I didn’t “make the cut”, so to speak.

My three weeks of holidays ended being relatively productive. I started to get the usual end of exam cold the first week in, but fought it off by keeping just the right amount of busy. And sleeping. A lot. While at first I had planned to have two weeks off of work, that plan changed before it even begun as the program director at HC un-expectently resigned and I took on the position of Manager while the board figures out where they are going next.

Luckily this position doesn’t require too many hours (I work maybe 3hrs/day pretty much everyday), and they have given me the option to delegate out any hours I don’t want or can’t do. It’s been actually a fun experience, putting to use many skills and helping make some decisions throughout their transition.

Possibly half my time at HC is spent chasing the kittens….

Between HC, the horses at home, and riding at M&C’s where I could (and when it wasn’t -5billion)- I spent quite a lot of time in barns this holiday season.

I also spent quite a bit of time brainstorming on the class I am running at MORfit starting January 12. Finally, everything is falling into place and most of the fine details have been sorted out. Now it’s just actually doing it! I’m both excited and nervous for this opportunity. Nervous only because this will be a first for me, and a new thing for the MB equestrian community- so I have no reference material (other then, you know, my education). Also, exciting- because I’m starting something new. I really hope others get excited about it as I am!

Something cool that happened with the blog over the break, too! An article I submitted to the CATA (Canadian Athletic Therapists Association) newsletter got published, and AT’s throughout Canada read this post. It was very cool to see my writing on another venue, and to hear feedback from some of the therapists I know who read it (Claude at MORfit included, who’s biggest comment was “You could’ve used my name!!!”).

New Years was brought in with a few of my closest friends, the same group I’ve been celebrating New Years with since our high-school days (about 7-8 years now!). In my opinion, the best way to welcome a New Year!

And, so, here we are- the second semester of my second last year looming ahead. Looming is such a dark work. I am actually looking forward to it. On the course load this term is:

Ergonomics (applied biomechanics)- a course I’m really looking forward to. I really don’t think it’s going to be easy, the prof has already told me about the trigonometry component. But I know how interesting I found Biomechanics last year, so I’m hoping this class challenges me in the right ways.

Rehabilitation of Musculoskeletal Injuries- Now that I know how to assess and injury, I guess I should know how to rehab it!

Therapeutic Modalities

Exercise Physiology- some people love it, some people just get through it. I’m not sure which will be it for me, yet.

Practicum 1- which I’ve already completed half of- now to finish my 50 clinical hours.

I’m also a lab demo for Prevention and Care of Injuries this semester, which I’m very much looking forward to, and of course continuing with the Older Adults Fitness class from last term!

Over the holidays I’ve been able to do some reading, that isn’t a textbook- which has been really nice. I also acquired a juicer and a massage table, both of which I’m excited to put to action. I’ve been doing a lot of reading on Nutritional sciences, which is mostly confirming that habits I’ve gotten into the past year are the right ones. Currently I’m reading Whole by T. C. Campbell, which is based on his lifetime of research on nutrition and how it affects every aspect of our lives- taking on a very wholistic (or holistic) approach. Great read after spending 3 weeks living off chocolate, dainties, and other varieties of Christmas.

I’ve actually had a decently productive past week, between redecorating my apartment (some binge Ikea shopping occurred), finalizing the details of my Functional Training class, and designing my program (and testing it out on myself and a friend- I figured it would be unethical to put clients through a workout I couldn’t handle..). I even got about 30hrs of work in too! If the temperatures weren’t bordering antarctic levels, I would have been in the saddle as much as possible. Here’s hoping these temps break some time soon!

Here’s hoping it stays this tidy!

I’m sure this coming week is sure to be full of interesting things, I’m planning to attend an open house put on by the Kin graduate studies program at UofM early in the week, because why not! As well as being back at MORfit for my regular 21 hrs a week (plus ~10hrs at HC), and a full class schedule again. Its definitely going to be an adjustment after having close to 3 weeks running on next to no set schedule! Can’t wait!

Focused assessment

Holy crap that semester flew by! As of yesterday I was officially DONE all 9 exams, and the first semester of my 3rd year. Half done the legendary 3rd year (aka the year of 9’s). Now there’s time to do not a lot of anything for a couple weeks…

I’m already bored.

I figured since I have nothing really super exciting to write about, since my last two weeks has been completely encompassed by exams and work (aka studying for exams), that I’d take a look at how I did this term on the goals I set at the beginning (in this post).

My number 1 goal for this term was Keeping my nutrition on track. Why was this important? Evidence has shown that I do so much better when I eat right. What’s right for me? All the veggies/fruits, lean proteins, and minimal starch/processed foods (no gluten, minimal dairy, minimal sugar). So, how did I do?

There was a couple iffy points throughout the term.. The first being when I decided to try adding oats (gluten free oats) and dairy back into my diet. It worked great for like a week, until I started feeling like crap again. It only took me a couple weeks after that to clue in that maybe that was why I was feeling awful and tired all the time. Then there was the “I am lazy and I just want to eat all the things” week where I gave up not eating gluten and ate way too much of it. Again, horrible outcome. But then there came the lead up to exams, where I got real serious about all things healthy again (serious enough to basically cut out Starbucks- going from once a day to once every two weeks…), and switched back to exactly what I know makes me function the best. After making those transitions, I was back in the good books with my body- I concentrated better, slept better, had better energy, was happier, and everything fell back into place. So, all in all, I didn’t do horribly- even if it was just proving to myself that nutrition is still important- and this remains a huge goal for me for next term.

Goal number 2… Not over scheduling my already over scheduled schedule. Who wants to wager a guess on how well I did with this?

Yeah, I sucked at this one. HOWEVER. The positions I was outlining in the original post (aka the Older Adults Class) turned out to be one of the highlights of my semester. The other opportunity I said yes to way back then (Horse Connection) also turned into a great experience (and a nice source of extra income when it turned into a paid position). Actually both those turned into paying position, as I accepted a research student position with the Older Adults program and a trainer position with HC. Did I stop at saying yes there? HA. I did learn to say no, too, though. Or at least balance my opportunities better. I learned (the hard way) what burn-out feels like few times, how to predict it, and how to prevent it. Or at least be proactive about it. So while I did kind of fail at not over scheduling, I did get better at choosing the most proactive way of over-scheduling… Does that make sense?

My third goal was following the work out program I designed. This was a success. Mostly because the initial phase of my program (offseason) was basically not pushing it in the gym. This was easy, as I hardly had time to make it to the gym most of the semester (see above goal comments). I did quite a bit more riding then usual for me during the school year with HC and at M&C’s, consistently went to yoga, and did my best to get to the gym at least once or twice in a week. This is basically exactly what I had designed for an off season program. Chilled out work-outs to recoup from the competition season and stay in shape.

This goal is getting amped up a little for the next couple months, as I’m finalizing the programming for the newest MORfit Training Centre class: Function Conditioning for the Equestrian Athlete. That’s right, I made it into a class and am getting paid for it. Because I have the best boss ever and I love my job. I was amazed by the interest within the riding community I got through my preliminary feelers, and really hope that interest sticks around once it actually gets rolling.

Next was.. Actually using textbooks. Another goal I did not half bad on! And saw some results because of. Of the 4 textbooks I bought, 75% of those I read front to back, and the other one I did read the important parts of. First responder text saved my life, and Assessment (all one billion pages of it) was a huge help as well- same with taping.

I still can’t believe how fast this semester went. And how much I’ve learned in what feels like a very short time. Was it really only a few months ago that football practices were a huge source of anxiety for me? Lets not even talk about how I felt thinking about practical exams earlier in the semester. I started the semester absolutely freezing when asked a question, or asked to do something in front of someone. Now it’s become something I do everyday without a second thought. I’ve managed to become fully comfortable within the things that used to terrify me.

The day before my practical assessment exam, Claude at MORfit had me do a full assessment on a real patient… alone (well, he was in the next room listening and watching my every move). Even a couple weeks ago I probably would have freaked out at him even asking me to do that (he used to joke around about having me run an assessment alone). That night, I somehow flowed right on through a half decent assessment without any problems- and my exam the next day went quite similar. If you had told me three months ago I’d be designing a class to teach this winter, a class that I’ve been dreaming of designing for years, I would have laughed at you. If you had told me that I would feel confident dealing with injuries of all kinds both alone and in front of peers (this used to terrify me most)- again- I would have probably just thought you were hilarious. Yet, here we are. Almost every day at school, or at work I’ve found another reason why I love my job and future career (#nerd).

I managed to face all the challenges I predicted (and some I didn’t) head on, with some freaking out, but always with confidence (often acted). I put into action the theory of “acting confident to become confident” quite a bit this year, and thankfully the acting did become real confidence (insert sigh of relief).

And now to wait impatiently for marks to be posted…..

A super productive weekend.. studying.. (…sleeping)

If one dreams about reading notes and making study guides.. does that count?

This week seemed both really long, and like it disappeared way too quickly. I’m going to keep this one brief, as I can’t really remember many events from the week right now anyway. Here are some of the memorable moments:

Coconut pumpkin cashew chicken curry, on sticky coconut rice noodles, courtesy of Wednesday night wine and dine with Emily. Probably the best recipe we’ve made yet!
Walking onto the IG field for our final game on Friday! If you want to feel like a real badass, that is how to do it. Plus, they had sideline heaters. Seriously. I had to compete with players half the game for a spot in front of it.. I lost majority of the time.. because, well, they are twice my size.. BUT STILL. It was super cool to play on the “big kid field” under the lights. Makes one feel important!

And so my football season is over. I have Friday’s back, but I haven’t figured out what to fill the time with quite yet. While I don’t have the energy to reflect on it now, trust me- there will be a full katmah style reflective post on football coming soon.
Grandpa’s birthday dinner with the famjam. Always a good time when the Rance’s go out. 85 and looking young!
My hair is long! Almost!
When taking a selfie, silly faces are mandatory.
Sonny at HC actually listened to me this week. Huh? It’s like we’re making progress or something. We’ve been working so hard on getting the left lead and balancing his canter out. This week we actually picked up the lead with little to no issue. While we did do more bucking then smooth cantering.. the bucking was at least on the correct lead. I’m taking that as a win.
I accomplished nothing this weekend. Besides sleeping. And hanging out with a dog I’m dog sitting. I did open my Assessment textbook for almost 2 hrs today. Whether or not any of the information got off the page into my brain is another story. I also started to study my First Responder text, but then I fell asleep… Soo.. there’s always tomorrow.. right?

This coming week I’m looking forward to more studying, and practicing. I live such an exciting life! The countdown is on til the series of 9 final exams hit and my life becomes even more exciting. Can’t you wait to hear me whine about it?!

Back road running

Okay so sometimes I take more pictures than I do running. Until my phone dies and I decide that maybe I should keep moving.

My week in pictures (and some words)

Because it’s the middle of midterm season and I am still working on a legit post for you I’ll give you a quick run down of my week in mostly pictures, and some brief words!

Monday: Leaves and pizza. Not a bad day, eh? I was late for the older adults class I help run because I was changing batteries in the pedometres for the class (if you ever want a frustrating and tedious job, that is a good choice). Whatevs. Then during my 5 hr break before Massage class, I made almond crust pizza (yes it’s as amazing as it sounds), and had a follow up with my ND- who took away all my grains again. We had been experimenting with adding other grains like Oats, spelt, barley, etc back into my diet. With no luck. I can have dairy though! Which isn’t really that exciting as I’ve gotten pretty used to living without it anyway.

Tuesday:

Spent the morning practicing my taping with my football supervisor (she was great enough to run me through scenario after scenario, putting some pressure on me in prep for my practical exam). Then was in a horrible “dart” accident in first responder class, where my lab partner did an excellent job securing my wound..

After class I headed to work where I had a quiet evening spent with a text book, and got to do my first forearm deep tissue massage on a client with the AT. Holla.

Wednesday:

During my second 5 hr spare of the week, I did a whole lot more taping practice with my lab partner. Running through some of the same scenarios I did with Nikki the day before.

Spent some time in the gym with my bff (like omg) Emily and after class headed home for some downtime where I made some cake before heading to yoga class.

Mm, paleo chocolate zucchini cake.

Thursday:

I don’t have any pictures for Thursday.. it’s always my craziest (but also favourite) day of the week.

Headed for my shift at Horse Connection, where only 2/4 of the kids for the day showed up- so I was re-delegated to doing some saddle time with Sonny boy. I realized that morning that I was living my 13yr old self’s dream job.. as a horse trainer and teaching riding.. and getting paid to do it. #awesome

After work, since I was done a bit early, I went home and ate some left overs before heading to school for class and my first midterm(s) (gulp). Taping and splinting written and practical. Written was a breeze, and although I got a little bit nervous sitting outside the room waiting to walk into my scenarios for the practical (who wouldn’t get nervous in that situation), as soon as I walked into the room and got my first scenario I flipped into “Trainer Kat” mode and there was no looking back. Thank you football for giving me the ability to at least fake confidence and get things done. I feel pretty good about how I finished the practical exam, and I haven’t remembered too many things that I forgot to do- so that has to be a good sign.

After my exam I headed to my second workplace of the day, MORfit. The AT was much busier this evening and he had me do quite a bit for him. After sitting in on an new assessment while stepping out every once in a while to teach exercises to another client, I got to do deep-tissue on plantar fascia and calves as well as another full fore arm massage. Plus stretch out a few clients. My hands were pretty useless after the past few days- taping, more taping, lots of massaging, and writing. Hopefully they build up endurance!

Friday:

One word. UNBURGER. Man I love that place. A classmate and I headed there for lunch after she finished class and I finished getting a deep tissue massage of my own.

From there I headed home to get ready for football, and when I went to leave for football my car decided it had plans to not start for me. Seriously. After accepting the fact that I wasn’t going to get to Transcona in time to be of much use to the team, sorting out a tow truck and seeing my car get taken away, realizing our game was actually quite close to my apartment, and convincing my roomie to drive me to it- I was back on track for my Friday night. Nikki told me she had a minor freak out when I texted her telling her I wasn’t going to be there for pre-game stuff- realizing she had to tape the entire team alone. It was kind of nice to hear in that context how much I do help! I was glad I was still able to make the game, even though it was uneventful injury wise- it was my first game “under the lights”!

After football, since I really just wanted ice cream, but had no transportation, I decided to go for a run (at 9:30pm in a storm) to get a pumpkin pie blizzard. Why not, right? The walk back with my ice cream was so worth it, even if I was walking into the wind pummelling me with rain. You gotta do what you gotta do.

Saturday/Sunday: Let the eating begin! I love thanksgiving.. so so much! And I get two weekends of it!

Sunday also brought a quite productive lesson with my private client. It’s so nice to see her and her horse progress week to week, and hear about the small changes she is seeing in herself and in her horse as the weeks go by!

Over the hill and through the woods (literally)

A weekend in the country is a cure all. Nothing like home cooking, good family, and hiking in the valley with a good friend. Running, jumping, climbing shale walls, sliding back down shale walls, letting minnows nibble your feet in a creek, exploring- relaxing. Just what was needed! Hope everyone out there had an equally awesome weekend!

It was hot, then it got hotter

Another season has come to an end in the hunter jumper world. And I have absolutely no complaints about anything that happened this season. It was for sure another up and down kind of summer for me, but the consistency I saw in my rides in the shows I was able to go to is truly encouraging- and the way my rides when this weekend at Fall Harvest sums up, as this show always seems to, how much I’ve progressed.

Our warm-ups Friday went by with ease. We warmed up in the hunter ring first, and were probably done in about 20 minutes- everything went so smoothly! C and I were wondering how it was going to go, as the night before during my lesson Willard seemed to have taken the equivalent of 50 caffeine shots. It was a little bit crazy. But, I guess either the heat took some of that out of him Friday, or he actually just chilled out a bit- because he actually acknowledged the human on his back this time. After jumping around the hunter ring, we headed over to the Jumper ring.. Our first jumper school at Bird’s Hill (or anywhere.. usually there either isn’t a jumper schooling or I miss it..). It was pretty intimidating, even with Lauren and Megg there with me. Lauren is an old pro at jumper schools, and Megg was there for the first time on her new horse. My horse surprised me with how well he handled everything. I expected him to be good for the jumps, but wasn’t sure how he would handle the natural obstacles such as the ditch and the bank/table top jumps. The ditch took a couple tries to get him to gallop down and jump out with confidence, but not as long as I thought- and the bank, well, he just loved that! Loved it so much that when we did the table top ride (jump up, three strides, jump down), he decided that it was so much fun he need to buck his way across- hop down- and buck away. Hokay pony. That evening Megg and I went out for a lovely supper. One of my favourite parts of shows is getting to spend time with the amazing friends I’ve made through training with M&C.

Saturday came bright and early with Jumpers beginning first thing. Will and I were competing in the .85m divisions. We went into the ring with the mentality of “ride like it’s a lesson”, and had no major issues. Will loves jumpers. Saturday we placed 4th in our .85 Junior Ami division, with a rail and a time fault. Later that day we moved over to the hunter ring for our Child/Ami Non-Pro Hunter division. We put in some good rounds and ended up top 5 in both over fences and the under saddle. Quite respectable for the competition there, and the fact we’d just come from Jumper land! C was happy, I was happy, and that’s what mattered. It was a great feeling to get out of the heat that night, I can say that much!

Our Sunday jumper rounds were even better then the previous days. In our Open .85, Willard decided to have a good long look at jump 6- so long that he forgot to jump it the first time. This provided us with a great set up for our JA round right after, as it was over the same course. That round was perfect, except for a lazy rail early in the course. Click here to watch it. I decided to drop our Open Low Hunter that day, because it was so hot (+40 degrees, crazy humid, and zero wind), and I could feel my horse’s energy (and mine) starting to dwindle. I wanted to save something for the $500 Hunter Derby later on that day. It was so hot my sunglasses would fog up while I was wearing them. I would be able to cross competing in a sauna off my bucket list, if it had been on there in the first place.

So, finally came time for the Derby to get started. As myself, a fellow McMullan teammate, and M&C were walking the course- I was informed that I had been misinformed earlier and the class was a sign up order of go (I thought it was posted order, in which case I was in 5th). Since I hadn’t signed up they had listed me as first to go, and were taking no excuses- if I wasn’t at ringside, with my horse (who was still in the barn, untacked) in 7 mintues then I would be disqualified. I am blessed with amazing teammates on my side. Megg and Lauren sprinted ahead of me to the barn and by the time I had also completed the ~1000m sprint (thank god I’ve been doing interval training this year) my horse was ready to go. I had time to just barely take a couple warm up jumps and get to the ring, where M&C instructed me to gallop into the gate (not usually hunter style) and gallop straight to the first jump, which was about 50m inside the gate. So, that’s what we did. The video unfortunately missed the first couple jumps- but the rest was caught- it’s definitely worth a watch!

No time for any second thoughts, we had one of the best rounds I’ve ever ridden. My horse left it all out there for me, and I could not have asked him for anything more. As we came over the last combination, a two stride, I couldn’t contain my smile- and it was so cool to have everyone at ring side burst into cheers. We achieved a score of 88/100 that round, a personal best! After the class of 10 finished- all very competitive rounds, we ended up 4th. Another personal best for us when it comes to special, classic, or derby classes. If there is a way to end a season, that was it!

So what else have I been doing in this heat wave? Since getting home from the show on Sunday, I’ve been spending my mornings at football practices taping ankles, thumbs, and fingers, covering blisters, abrasions, lacerations, and assessing injuries. Oh, and learning. So much learning. I’m learning quickly to trust my instincts when it comes to this stuff, and more often then not they lead me in the right direction. Classes begin next week, and I’m pretty ready to get back into things. This year is going to be one giant challenge, but I’m excited to take it on. The other thing I’ve been doing a lot of this week is writing- obviously not on here, but a lot of it stemmed from topics I have covered here. One piece was for a scholarship entry, another an article for Horse Country on the EC Hunter Classic, and one more piece as a writing contest entry- all focused around how riding has impacted me in one way or another.

Other events happening next week, my first time covering (or being at really) a football game. In Brandon of all places. From what I’ve heard game days are pretty crazy, but if there is one thing I’m good at- it’s crazy. But, right now, I’m heading into a long weekend. I had the entire afternoon to myself yesterday- which I spent going for a ride with Lauren at the barn (I’m going to miss those this winter!), then with my old friend Netflix at my dad’s. Today I had the entire day to do exactly nothing, and I’m just about to head for another ride while my horse is still this close to me. He moves home tomorrow, where I’ll only be able to hack now and then when I’m out that way and time allows. Sad face. Saturday I do my one work shift for the weekend and then more freedom until Tuesday. I have no solid plans for those days- which is a new concept for my over scheduling brain- but I’m also looking forward to have some time to just chill out before the crazy train hits my life next week.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Beat this summer

Dirt road hacking with my boy- what could be better?

Flowers, dresses, football, gluten, and competition prep

This is another “week in the life” post. As you might know from reading or even glancing at previous posts, my life has a large spectrum of activities filling up my schedule. This past week was no exception.

Mom’s wedding went off without a hitch (relatively) this past weekend, and it was so great to see everyone so happy and be a part of that joy. All the flowers got picked and the hall decorated by close family and friends- working out to look absolutely gorgeous and a great experience. The food was amazing, and most importantly the happy couple looked fantastic and everyone had an amazing time.

Aren’t they adorable? Seriously though, it was one of the most gorgeous and happiest weddings I’ve been to (not even being biased). It’s now four solid days later and my feet are still sore from dancing. What I’m sure did me in was trying to keep up with Grandpa- he is much more adept than I am on the dance floor.

Sunday morning after all the main festivities, the now even bigger family joined together in the age old “pancake breakfast”. Mom even made some gluten free pancakes for me! Even though my gluten free ways took a serious dive the last little while, more on this later.

As much as this weekend was all around awesome, it was also exhausting- however I gave myself no time to be tired as bright and early Monday I headed off to start my latest adventure as asst. athletic trainer/therapist for a high school football team. The first day was quite an adventure! Along with being in a basically entirely new situation for me (I’ve never worked in the field before, or clinic really, but I spend enough time in the clinic as a patient it is definitely more familiar..), the first practice of the season brought some unconditioned athletes, heat, full equipment, and full contact drills. What does that equal? A lot of random injuries and a lot of heat exhaustion. Which leads to a pretty hectic first day! Within my first hour I had assisted with two different knee injuries, at least 3 or 4 cases of heat exhaustion, asthma attacks, bicep charlie horse, and a potential fibular fracture. Thankfully I wasn’t alone, the head trainer stayed for majority of the practice and guided me through everything. I’m also realizing how much the variety of issues/injuries/ and experience from the patients side of the table is going to help me. I picked up on number of things already, without needing any explanation, because I’ve had the same assessments, or diagnosis on myself. Learning to do by doing, as usual.. Needless to say I was a zombie after practice that day. I hardly remember how I got through work that evening.

The last couple days have been a lot less crazy- and I’ve already learnt so much! I’m so lucky to have a great teacher as the head trainer- in any spare time we have she has me practicing taping and talking through scenarios. Much more then I could ever get out of just reading a text book! I’m very glad I took this opportunity- not only is it teaching me a number of valuable skills, but also the extra time I now have (due to leaving my full time job to do this experience) is allowing me to do some much needed catch up. Because believe it or not, I haven’t had time to do the little things- like clean, or cook, or just sit around and breathe. Sometimes the little things are just as important as the big things that keep us busy.

As I mentioned earlier, my gluten (and sugar… and diary..) intake has sky rocketed in the past week. And yes, yes I do notice a difference in how I feel. Mostly due to the gluten and sugar, I think. Dairy doesn’t seem to affect me as much. It all started Friday, at the rehearsal dinner, where there was homemade lasagna and garlic bread. I only had one piece of lasagna, but ate more than enough garlic bread (seriously, I have zero will power when it comes to garlic bread), plus sampling (more like gorging, but sampling is kinder.. lets stay there) both dessert options (cheese cake and lemon torte cake). I kid you not I looked 6 months pregnant when I got home that night. Massive food baby belly. Massive, I tell you. The actual wedding food wasn’t bad (paleo wise), and consisted mostly of meat and salads (the largest variety of salads I have ever seen!). It was later on when things got gluten-y (is it a coincidence that gluten and glutton are very similar words?). With possibly the world’s best carrot cake as dessert- not much was stopping me from doubling up on servings. No regrets.. Sunday morning brought pretty good things diet wise, however Sunday night brought pizza. Multi-grain crust, but still pizza. And I ate all of it, over Sunday night and Monday. By Monday night I figured, hey what the heck, might as well finish off the last 4 pieces now rather then keep the gluten trend going all week (because everyone knows it’s a sin for a student to through out pizza leftovers).

Finally, Tuesday brought time to make something a little more healthy. I found that even though I was eating enough (more then enough) with gluten in my diet- it wasn’t filling me up. I would be hungry half an hour after eating- every time. Which only resulted in eating more, feeling gross, and being hungry again. Vicious cycle. There is something to be said for a diet that focuses on lean proteins and veggies, keeps you feeling good and satisfied, and fulfills your nutrient needs. Not only did the trip off the wagon make me realize that, but it also solidified how much better (energy wise) I am without a whole lot of gluten in my diet. I mean coming off a weekend and week like the one past one is bound to be a bit exhausted- but being so tired you can hardly function? I’m chalking that up to poor nutrition. The rest of the summer my goal is to enjoy all the delicious veggies the gardens are producing, try out some more paleo inspired recipes- and get my nutrition back on track. Especially with Fall Harvest coming up in a few days!

Willard and I did a real jumper themed lesson last week, in prep for the .85m division we are doing at FH. It was a blast! We even popped over the two big scary walls M&C have on their outdoor course- with no hesitation or problems! I was so proud of my boy! Along with the jumper division, Willard and I will be competing in our usual 3ft Hunters as well as the Hunter Derby on Sunday! Very excited for the Derby, last year we had such a fun round and a good round (except that pesky rail). I’m excited to see how we do this year, with so much more experience and consistency going for us. This show is always a little bittersweet, as it is the farewell show for the MHJA season, and the outdoor season in MB. Which means soon it will be back to the books, and missing riding, and the people that come with it. I couldn’t be happier with how this season has gone already, all things considered, and can’t wait to have some fun this weekend out in the park!