We know staying at home can get a little tedious, so we've come up with a way to brighten those 'safer at home' days.  To remind you of bright days at Knollwood, we've worked with our friends at Wild Impact Marketing and designed these sunny, bright orange Knollwood shirts. They're made out of athletic fabric, so they're perfect for at-home workouts or riding your favorite horses when this has all passed. 

The youth shirts have a BIG Knollwood logo on the front, and say #Knollwoodstrong down the back.

 

The misses fitted version features a small farm logo on the front, and #Knollwoodstrong running down the back.

 

Imagine Team Knollwood decked out in these beauties when horse show season 2020 starts!! 

 

Best of all? You can order the latest Woodwear from home through our website here for only $25.

 

 

We miss you, and the horses miss you. 

Please stay home so we can all get together sooner, and get back to doing what we all love.

 

 

Tradition.

Honor.

Passion.

#Knollwoodstrong

 

Hey guys!

 

Saturday circuit number two coming at you.  Now this circuit can be added to the first Saturday Circuit which can be found here, or can be utilized as a stand alone workout.  If doing as a stand alone, be sure to run through to circuit 3-5 times.  If adding to circuit one, we recommend doing each circuit 2-3 times.  As always, make sure you take some time to warm up before you begin and cool down once you're done to ensure your muscles are well protected and ready to rock and roll!

 

Exercise 1 - Split Jumps - 30 seconds on, 10 seconds rest, 4 reps

 

Split jumps are perhaps more evil than squat jumps, though equally as amazing of a cardio kick.  From a lunge position, in one fluid motion, jump directly up and swap legs coming down into another lunge and repeat!  Don't forget to breathe on this one guys!

 

Exercise 2 - High Plank to Low Plank - 30 seconds, 3 reps

 

Planks are amazing for your entire core.  Finding yourself in a high plank position, really drawing your navel in, come down onto your right elbow then left elbow, then push back up onto your right hand, then up onto your left hand.  Continue like this for the entire 30 seconds.  Make sure you change directions so for the next cycle you would go down onto your left elbow, then right, come up onto your left hand, then right; and so on!

 

Exercise 3 - High Knees - 60 Seconds on, 20 second rest for 3 reps

 

A classic cardio move, working your knees up toward your waist without letting your chest come forward will really make this a much more challenging workout.  Make sure you stand tall, chest lifted (just like when you're sitting on a horse) and begin to run in place bringing your knees as high as you can, as fast as you can, keep your core engaged.

 

 Exercise 4 - T Push Ups - 10 reps

 

A literal twist on an oldy but goody, the T Push Up involves doing a regular push up, but once you get back to the top of your push up, raise one arm toward the ceiling for a gentle twist, really focusing here on letting your back muscles contract you into the twist, rather than just swinging your arm around. Follow your hand with your eyes and it rotates, come back down to do another push up and twist to the other side!

 

 Exercise 5 - Lateral bounds - 60 Seconds on, 20 seconds rest for 3 reps

 

In a ready position, bound to the left or right, cradling the jump with a soft landing onto one foot, find your balance without lowering your other foot and bound back to the other side.  Continue this bounding back and forth from one foot to the other as fast as you can while maintaining good form of a high chest and bent knees as if you're in a partial squat.

 

Exercise 6 - High boat to low boat - 10 reps

 

Balancing on your tail bone, bend your knees and stretch your arms out straight at your shoulders.  Holding this position for a moment, stretch your legs out and lower them, along with lowering your back, as low as you can without falling or touching the ground.  Holding this position for a moment, using exclusively your core, come back up to your starting position and repeat.

 

Don't forget to cool down with some light stretching.

 

Happy Social Distancing Saddlebred Saturday

 

 

Greetings from a very quiet Knollwood.  While we certainly never want to get used to the silence, we are pivoting and learning how to survive it in the short term.  Knowing that the more everyone complies with social distancing the sooner we can get back to doing what we all love with our favorite people. That makes this temporary normal a little easier to take. This will end.

The quietness has given us more time to think, and we’re working on some terrific things for our grand reopening.  While people at home are cleaning closets and watching Tiger King (which we HIGHLY recommend), we’re working on some projects that we have always wanted to tackle but never had the chunks of time needed.  So, we’re actually grateful for the gift of time we’ve been given.

Here are our lessons learned for this week:

The World Goes On.

Spring is coming, and the trees are budding. With the warmish weather, the trees of Knollwood are starting to look really beautiful..

Oh, and the lesson horses are shedding like crazy! Never fear, they’re enjoying spa treatments, and they’re looking fat and shiny.

Horses really miss their peeps.

If you can believe it, Klem is even more talkative in the stall, Dudley keeps giving all of us his slow blink, and even Joey is asking to be petted. They don’t understand why their world has shifted, they just want their humans back!

The show horses are missing their peeps, too. They're all looking fantastic, with their training routines ramping up for show season, whenever it may start.  These horses are  ready to get on the trailer!

Walking down the show barn aisle, we’re greeted with eager noses poking out looking for their riders. Heck, Tink even sent a selfie to Richie!

 

The pets of Knollwood are keeping us entertained. 

Hazel is doing great on some new thyroid medication, and has her old energy back. She’s enjoying walking the trails again with Carol, but misses all the kids at the barn.

Richmond and Holly have full run of the school barn during the day, and the results have been hilarious. Richmond has started riding lessons, and is looking forward to his first bareback ride soon. He’s also learning parts of the horse, and is identifying the parts by launching himself at the horse chart.

 

Most of all, we miss our customers.

We miss giving lessons, but we also miss the daily fun we have with everyone. Knollwood is about so much more than horses.  We miss hearing about kids’ sports schedules, achievements outside of the horse world, and horse show chat.  We miss the Tuesday parents enjoying wine while their kids ride, and we miss the kids' laughter in the barn.  We miss exchanging good books, hearing about vacations, and well, just joking around in the middle of the arena.

Some of our recent highlights have been customers driving by and stopping in the middle of Horseshoe Bend to have a conversation from a safe distance. It’s amazing who you meet in the road when you’re taking the recycling out to the curb!

 

 

This will end.

We’ll get through this.

And yes, we'll have quite a celebration when this is all over!

We’ve got this.

 

 

Tradition.

Honor.

Passion.

We Are Knollwood.

Knollwood Families and Students,

 

As we all know, these are unprecedented times.  Many of us are experiencing a pandemic for the first time in our lives and are just doing what we can to keep our families, friends, selves, and animals safe by following recommendations from experts.  This has put many people out of work, out of childcare, and out of their routines. 

 

Here at Knollwood we've done what we could to keep every sense of normalcy possible while being safe.  That did sadly mean closing our doors to our beloved customers who are the lifeblood of our community here at Knollwood.  While Knollwood is a strong business, there is no denying that horses don't eat less or require less care just because lessons aren't currently happening.... I mean we've all seen Klem right?  He's not dieting....  All joking aside, we had, had a few clients reach out early on to see if there is a way they might be able to help by "adopting" a school horse entirely on their own and out of the generosity of their own hearts. 

 

These amazing people had decided come together to donate to the Knollwood feed bill with Merton Feed and have made gracious contributions to care for the crew of the best school horses in the world.  This gesture has brought tears into the eyes of all of us who know what it means for hard working people to donate their money to ease the burden of these trying times on small businesses like Knollwood and truly speaks to what kind of community we are blessed to find ourselves in.  We hope to show our gratitude by offering special donor programming once our doors are open; more info to come on that!

 

Knollwood is more than just a barn.  It is more than just a place off the highway that is here to entertain your kids.  It is a family and we now feel that more than we ever have, though we always knew this to be true.  We are unspeakably grateful to the generosity of our clients that came up with this and are continuing to donate to the Knollwood feed bills with Merton Feed to take care of these amazing school horses.

 

If you would like to donate as well, please call Merton Feed at 262-538-1250, or send a check with a note on it for Knollwood to

Merton Feed Co
PO Box 465
Merton, WI. 53056

Special thanks to the following people who have already donated in support of our amazing horses and barn:

 

The Anderson-Penglase Family

The Ball Family

The Becker Family

Tammy Cull

The Dallen Family

The Looysen Family

The Rhode Family

Catherine and Claude Scher

The Schuh Family

Mary Steinhardt

The Traeger Family

Jane Wagner

The Wenzel Family

 

Tradition.

Honor.

Passion.

We Are Knollwood.

Hello again Knollwood Families and Students!

 

It is Saddlebred Saturday here at Knollwood Farm, and the barn is eerily quiet save for the knickers of all the school horses as they await their turn for a spa treatment and some candies.  While we hate that the hustle and bustle of our usual Saddlebred Saturday is missing, we are determined to keep you, our students in riding shape so when we open our doors back up, no one has missed a beat and we can get right back to work preparing for show season 2020!

 

Introducing:

SATURDAY CIRCUITS

 

Every Saturday, we will be coming out with a series of workouts that are focused on developing muscles and balance skills that we utilize every time we are in the saddle.  Be sure to properly warm up and cool down with some light stretching before and after you do this workout.  We wouldn't want anyone to end up with an injury that would prevent your prompt return!

 

Exercise 1 - Squat Jumps - 10 reps

This movement is an explosive, continuous movement that gets your large muscles pumping and therefore really works to kick up your heart rate.  Cardio fitness as well as strength in your lower body and core is extremely important for riding.  While many think that riding is just sitting on a horse as you go around in circles, we all know differently!  Feet hips width distance apart come into a 90 degree squat as if you were sitting down in a chair.  Then swing your arms up and come into a jump!  As you land come straight back down into a squat and repeat 10 times.

Exercise 2 - 1 Legged Bridges - 10 reps alternating legs, hold each for 5 breaths

This movement is a slow and focused exercise the centers on your core, back and glutes; all muscle groups that help develop your seat, balance, and independence in the saddle. Laying on your back, place your heels just behind your glutes.  Lifting one leg straight up toward the ceiling, slowly step into your foot on the group and lift your hips toward the ceiling as if you're trying to stamp your foot print up there!  Breathe in slowly and out slowly for 5 breaths, slowly lower back down, switch legs and repeat.

Exercise 3 - Burpees- 10 reps

Burpees are quite possibly the most hated exercise in fitness by everyone except trainers and coaches.  This full body movement helps strengthen every part of your major muscle groups at once.  Like squat jumps they are another controlled continuous and explosive series of movements that require focus and control. Much like posting at a trot, though we aren't exploding out of the saddle and jumping into the air, we are using our core, leg muscles and balancing skills to control and smooth out a continuous up and down movement while traveling around the ring on a 1200 lb animal! From a standing position, squat down to touch your hands on the ground, jumpy your feet out behind you to come to a plank position, execute a push up, jump your feet back inbetween your hands and jump straight up into the air reaching toward the sky.  Ask you come down from your jump go straight into another burpee.

Exercise 4 - Warrior 3 Pose - 6 reps alternating legs, hold each for 5 breaths

Warrior 3 pose is another slow focused movement that takes a lot of gentle focus and core strength to maintain your balance.  Much like if you're looking around in the lounge or checking out what other horses are in the arena, rather than paying attention to your horse, it can be really hard to keep your balance and fluid movements on your horse.  From a standing position, begin to bring your weight into one foot.  Choose a spot on the ground in front of you to focus on, then slowly bend forward, letting your free leg to float up until your body is making a capital T shape.  You can have your hands at your side pointing back toward your leg, out to the side or stretched out in front of you.  All three of these hand positions offer different levels of challenges for your balance.  Once in this position, breathe in slowly, out slowly, for 5 breaths, then slowly lower your leg and stand up, switch feet and repeat!  If you are an at home yogi and have yoga blocks to help your balance, feel free to use them.  If you don't have yoga blocks and feel like you could use a little extra support in this movement, utilize a table or counter for some extra balance aid.

Exercise 5 - Lateral Squat Jump Burpees - 10 reps

This movement combines our first two cardio/strengthening movements into one frankenexercise that will truly get your blood pumping.  The only difference is this time, between each burpee, you will perform a squat jump to the side as if you were jumping over a broom.

Exercise 6 - Lotus Pose - 5 reps, hold each for 3 breaths

For a final strengthening pose to calm things down after the torture that is a Lateral Squat Jump Burpee, come to your mat or floor on your stomach with your forehead on the ground and your arms at your sides, palms facing down.  Utilizing your core and back muscles only. Lift your head, chest and arms of the ground and then your legs.  Breathe in slowly and out slowly for 3 breaths, then slowly lower back down to the floor/mat and repeat.

 

Again please be sure to do some light stretching after you've completed this workout!  You can do this workout daily, or a few times a week and even combine it with next week's circuit to continually challenge yourself!

 

Happy exercising, Equestrians!