Hey Knollwood Families and students,

 

Spring time is here and it has been an incredible weekend. We know you've all been out in the yard playing in the sun and if we know you equestrians, you've been playing horse show in those yards.  Perhaps forcing a parent into playing the role of a competitor, perhaps making your dog or cat play the ring master, and perhaps making your brother or sister play the voice of the announcer.  Well here's a fun yard game for you: Lawn Patterns.

 

Bellow we've posted three patterns. 1. beginner, 2. intermediate and 3. advanced for you to take on in your yard.  We encourage you to reach out to your fellow equestrians or instructors for any questions you may have on how to accomplish, or improve upon your pattern execution.  If you like, take a video and post it to our facebook page! 

 

A couple key, at-home pattern requirements: firstly, your hands show which diagonal or lead you are on.  If you're to be on the right lead or diagonal, your right hand should be in the air!  We all know what sticklers our instructors are for diagonals and leads so make sure you pay attention to those diagonal/lead changes! Secondly, mark out your "arena" with patio chairs or trees or family members, really with whatever you have at your disposal to give you an idea of how you need to space our your rails and circles.

 

Beginner Pattern:

Intermediate Pattern:

Advanced Pattern:

 

Extra Credit: Take the intermediate and advanced pattern and try it by changing two cantering leads/passes into a slow gait and a racking pass!

 

GOOD LUCK equestrians!  

Hey Guys,

Ok so we've had a lot of high intensity HIT style circuits coming at you, but this week, we are going to slow it down with some targeted isometric circuits that would work great as a combined (or in betweener) for one or two of the previous Saturday Circuits.  This week, you will see a killer ab endurance circuit to pop into your rest time between a regular circuit and a deadly glute circuit.  You can alternate these as in betweeners; i.e. standard HIT circuit, ab circuit, standard HIT circuit, glute circuit, standard HIT circuit - as many times as you can survive!!

 

As an endurance circuit, this means NO REST in between exercises... you will go from one directly into the other without dropping your head/crunch or dropping your hips/glute work until you've completed the grouping. YIKES!  I recommend reading through the entire workout before getting started to make sure you're able to go from one exercise to the next as seamlessly as possible. Per usual, be sure to warm up before beginning your workout.

 

ABS CIRCUIT

Reverse Crunch, into Straight Leg Bicycles, into Scissor Kicks - 40 Seconds, 30 Seconds, 20 Seconds, 10 seconds rest between each group

For your Reverse Crunch - laying on your back with your hands at your sides, palms down, bend your knees to bring your feet as close to your glutes as you can.  Begin to squeeze those lower abs to lift your legs, glutes and hips off of the ground, lower back down with control to tap your heels on the ground and go back into the next crunch.

For your Straight Leg Bicycles - Much like the traditional Bicycle crunch, place your hands behind your head by your ears.  With legs out long, but not touching the ground, lift your left leg up and bring your right elbow to meet your left knee, lower your left leg (again keeping your legs OFF of the ground) then raise up your right leg and bring your left elbow to meet it, repeat till your time is up!

For your Scissor kicks - We've done this one before, but as a refresher, laying on your back with your hands by your sides palms facing down, lift your shoulder blades off the ground and hover your hands and feet off of the ground.  Begin to lightly kick your feet as if you were swimming!

 

GLUTES CIRCUIT

 

Hip Raises, into One Legged Hip Raises, into One Legged Hip Raise Cross Crunches

 

For your Hip Raises - On your back with your heels as close to your glutes as possible, begin to raise and lower your hips with control without ever fully lowering your hips to the ground.  At the top of the movement be sure to really think about contracting those glutes.  Squeeze your inner thighs together throughout.

For your One Legged Hip Raises - Without lowering to the ground, lift one knee up to a 90 degree angle and continue to alternate legs.  Focus on keeping your hips level and maintaining control in your core and glutes. 

For your One Legged Hip Raise Cross Crunches - Bring your hands from your sides to behind your head by your ears.  Alternating each time, keep your hips up (as you have been) and raise up one knee to about a 90 degree angle.  At the same time, raise your opposite elbow up to meet your knee, lower your foot to the ground and repeat on the other side!

 

If you're anything like me, your glutes and abs are screaming at you after combining these focused circuits with another two-three of our previous Saturday Circuits.  Be sure to stretch it out and recover with lots of hydration!

 

 

First of all, we miss all of you. A lot.

 

Knollwood is not the same without horse crazy kids running around, show horse customers riding their beautiful horses, and all the socialization that comes with all that.  Scott and Richmond the kitten are  pretty funny, but they can’t make up for all of you.

The horses miss their people. They don’t get the whole pandemic thing, they just know that their favorite treat bearing friends aren’t visiting. They’re all receiving the same great Knollwood care as always, but they miss you.

Where to begin…

 

The lesson horses are looking great, all shed out and shiny. This Monday started out sunny, and we brought all the boys in for a big spa day.  After they were all groomed and sent out to enjoy more recess, it rained, and they found the mud. Specifically, they found BLACK mud. And they all rolled in the same very dark mud.

 

All of the lesson horses have been enjoying the increased foot traffic on the bridle path. The public  path is open to anyone who’d like to see the horses in the pasture, and it’s a nice walk on these nice spring days.

 

The show horses are enjoying work outside on nice days, and we even did some FB live broadcasts from the big outdoor ring. They all look fantastic, and are awaiting the return of their families.

 

What’s coming up?

We've been enjoying the FB Live broadcasts, especially  your comments and check ins. 

This Saturday, we’re looking forward to sharing a couple of new topics.

At 3:00 pm, we’re planning something with the school horses, and we're open to suggestions of what you'd like to see!

 

At 5:00 pm, we’re thrilled to have Scott join us for happy hour.

Here’s your chance to ask Scott any questions that have been on your mind.  Besides being an instructor and trainer of world champions, he’s pretty funny, and a great story teller. You can send your questions in ahead of time, or ask them during the broadcast.

 

May Birthdays!

It’s going to be a busy month with plenty of celebrations.  Knockout members with May birthdays are:

May 1  Lucy F.

May 2  Tessa B

May 3  Mary P

May 6  Alexa and Molly

May 10  Allie K

May 12  Haley B

May 14  Dilly

May 16 Rachel W

May 20  Paeton

May 25  Jada

If you’d like a birthday video from a favorite horse or two, let us know. We’d be happy to celebrate with you!!

 

School Horse Birthdays

May 6  Murphy

May 10  Heist

May 11  Duke

May 16  Dexter

May 17  Big Frank

May 20  Mark

 

Shirt Deadline

If you haven’t ordered your #KnollwoodStrong shirt yet in support of our lesson horses, time is running out!  We’re placing the order soon, and the deadline to buy online is Saturday, May 2.

The Safer at Home requirements are challenging and have us all missing the way things were just a couple months ago. We hope, however that you're able to stay connected to Knollwood through our blogs, our Instagram or Facebook accounts or even able to take a bridle path stroll to say "Hi" to the horses up close. This experience will help us all appreciate all the two and four legged friends we have in our Knollwood community.

 

And don't worry, we already have reopening plans in place with all sorts of fun events. We can hardly wait!!!

 

 

 

 

Tradition.

Honor.

Passion.

 

We are #KnollwoodStrong.

 

 

 

Looking out onto the world from inside our homes has made for a strange month (and counting), and with Safer at Home orders being extended till May 26th, it seems we will be inside for even longer than most of us originally thought.  Many Wisconsin families have been hit hard by this illness with family members lost, and others still battling for their lives and health. The good news is that it seems the Safer at Home orders are working as Wisconsin's early action has managed to keep the number of cases from hitting an unmanageable level. 

Listen up everyone,

 

If you've ever wanted to feel your legs on fire and your core as jiggly as all our thighs are going to be after our first ride back (that is if you haven't been keeping up with your Saturday Circuits), this is the workout for you!  High intensity pyramid intervals means you will run through this entire circuit in a descending, timed rep format.  First is 40 seconds, 10 rest then 30 with 10 rest, then 20 with NO rest. Take a 20 second rest between each circuit to recover your heart rate and get a drink of water.  This is an endurance and agility circuit so you should be trying to MAX out your reps for each drill, each time.  That being said, form is ALWAYS our #1 priority to remain safe in these workouts.  Per usual, be sure to get a warm up in with some light stretching and movement.  When you're ready, let's go!

 

Exercise 1 - Squat Jacks - 40 Seconds, 10 rest

 

Much like a jumping jack, start with your feet together hands wherever you feel most comfortable.  Hop your legs just farther than hip widths distance apart and come into a squat, then hop back up and and start again.  Make sure to sit back into your hips during this squat and keep your chest lifted.  In any squat, your weight should be on your heals, not your toes!

Exercise 2 - Oblique Push Ups - 40 Seconds, 10 rest

 

In the push up position, come down into a push up and alternately bring one of your knees up to your elbows.  As you push back up return your leg back to regular push up position and start again.  If this feels super challenging, you can modify by just holding the high plank position and alternate bringing a knee up to your elbow for a high plank oblique crunch.

Exercise 3 - Split Jumps - 40 seconds, 10 rest

We've seen this old nugget before and it's the same as always.  From a lunge position drive up into the air, swap legs and come back down into a lunge on the other side.  Maintaining that good form!

Exercise 4 - Mountain Climbers - 40 Seconds, 10 rest

 

In the high plank position, alternately drive your knees up toward your chest and try to keep them in line with your hips (i.e. not too much cross action).  try to keep a straight line from your head down to your heals and focus on keeping your hips in line rather than too high (not using your core and stressing your shoulders) or too low (not using your core and stressing your back).

Exercise 5 - Reverse Lunge Skips - 40 seconds, 10 rest 1 on each side

 

Starting in a standing position bring your right leg back into a lunge position.  Come down into a lunge then drive your right leg forward and up into a skip.  Come back down directly into your lunge again and repeat.  Find a focal point to look at to help with your balance.  The goal is to not put that right leg down at all outside of the moment you're doing your lunge.

Exercise 6 - Bear Crawls - 40 Seconds, 10 rest

 

Start in a table top position with hands under shoulders and knees under hips.  Begin by hovering your knees about 3 inches off the ground and start to crawl forward 6 steps, then back for 6 steps until your timer goes off!  You will want to focus on the rhythm of when you move which hand and foot to create the movement, much like a horse! You should be moving opposite hand/leg together (right hand left leg, left hand right leg).  This will help you keep your core balanced.  You want to keep your core and hips as level as possible during the movement.

 

If you've made it through to the end, good for you!  Get some water, stretch it out and please don't ask us if we made it (we didn't).  See you next time riders.

 

Stay well!