Solid in the Saddle

DID YOU KNOW WE START LOSING MUSCLE AROUND AGE 30?

And that loss accelerates after age 50.

Gradual loss of muscle mass and strength is known as sarcopenia. After age 30 adults can lose up to 3-8% of muscle every 10 years.

And unfortunately cleaning stalls, carrying buckets, and throwing hay are not enough to counteract the loss since it is largely due to reduction of muscle fiber size & number, hormonal changes, and sometimes decline in physical activity.

But the good news is research shows that regular resistance exercise can help maintain and even build muscle in women ages 30+. Strength training helps riders stay symmetrical, stable, and pain-free when riding.

In our new course RESTORE, we will focus on strength, mobility, sleep, nutrition, stress, and recovery. A perfect place to start for the rider looking for the next step to start strengthening their mind and muscles.

Especially if you’re looking to begin to counteract muscle loss!

Whether you a looking to start small or find rest, RESTORE is an opportunity to join a community focused on bettering ourselves for the good of our horses and our health.

If you feel like this is you comment “RESTORE” to get FREE limited access to the course before it launches on September 1st.

Or learn more about what it is at www.solidinthesaddle.com/restore

P.S. We’re still giving away one free spot in the course RIGHT NOW! Go check out our giveaway post to find out how to enter!

Sources: UCLA Health, The Barrel Racer’s Edge, Dr. Aleisha Shirley PT, DPT, CSCS

Knowing what you know now, what advice would you give yourself as a rider if you could go back?

Drop yours in the comments! I’ve got a feeling we will see some good advice here!

Food for thought 🖤

Malnutrition is common in people undergoing cancer treatment, and it is frequently left uncorrected.

Surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy raise the body's demand for protein at the same time that appetite, nausea, and difficulty eating drive intake down. The result is a shortfall that predicts a worse course: patients who enter treatment undernourished have more postoperative complications and longer hospital stays. A recent meta-analysis asked a direct question. If that protein gap is closed with an oral supplement, do outcomes actually change?

The analysis pooled 29 randomized controlled trials involving 2,279 patients with cancers of the gastrointestinal tract, lung, head and neck, liver, and breast, across surgical and non-surgical treatment. In each trial, patients received a high-protein oral nutritional supplement, defined as at least 20 percent of its energy from protein, on top of their normal diet. The average supplement delivered roughly 34 grams of protein and 580 kilocalories per day. The comparison group ate normally without it.

Across the trials that measured them, high-protein supplementation was associated with a 38 percent reduction in the odds of complications, a category that included infections, surgical complications, and toxicities related to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Translated into absolute terms, that is approximately 101 fewer patients with a complication for every 1,000 treated, and a number-needed-to-treat of 12, meaning that for every twelve patients given the supplement, one avoided a complication they would otherwise have had. A subgroup of trials using formulas enriched with omega-3 fatty acids showed a similar benefit, with a 31 percent reduction in complication odds. Hospital stay was also shorter, by an average of about a quarter of a day.

Pooled across the trials that recorded them, there was no significant effect on mortality or on hospital readmissions. This is a meaningful boundary. The evidence supports high-protein oral nutrition as a way to reduce the complications and burden of treatment, not as a therapy that extends survival. Feeding a patient adequately improves the road through treatment; it does not, on this evidence, change whether they survive the cancer.

First, this meta-analysis was conducted and funded by manufacturers of oral nutritional supplements, which does not invalidate the pooled result but is a relevant conflict of interest that the reader should weigh. Second, the trials spanned several cancer types and treatment settings, and the authors note that the effect of nutritional support likely varies by cancer and by clinical context, so a single pooled figure smooths over real heterogeneity. The practical conclusion is narrow and well-supported. In cancer patients, whose protein requirements are elevated by illness and who are frequently underfed, correcting that deficit with a high-protein oral supplement measurably reduces complications and shortens hospital stays. It is a supportive-care intervention with a real and specific benefit.

Delsoglio et al., Front Nutr 2025
Gupta et al., Can J Surg 2021

ARE YOU BURNT OUT AND READY FOR A RESET?

If you are, this one’s for you.

Since our Solid in the Saddle ladies have been absolutely CRUSHING IT this summer, we want to keep the celebration going by giving away ONE FREE SPOT IN RESTORE!

We’ve seen big checks, 1D placings, rodeo wins, smooth runs, and riders growing to be confident when the unexpected happens.

But big wins aren’t built on burnout.

We spend so much time as riders focusing on everything and everyone but ourselves. We forget that our mindset, sleep, recovery, energy, and nervous system deserve our time too. And that focusing on those things benefits every other aspect of our day to day lives.

That is why we built RESTORE.

Eight weeks of nervous system reset designed for all the horse women out there that need to get out of “fight or flight” and beat the burnout.

One of you wonderful gals is going to get it for FREE!

TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY like and share this post, then tag a friend in the comments who you think should do RESTORE with you!

We will choose a lucky winner before the course launches on September 1st!

Don’t want to wait to see if you win?

Check out the link to get yourself a spot today:
www.solidinthesaddle.com/restore

What I wish I had known in the summer of 2024….

I emerged from our retreat for horseback riders in July knowing our next Solid in the Saddle course needed to incorporate some of that magic. 

We talked a lot about horses, but we also dove into what stress does to your body. About nervous system regulation and cortisol. And about sleep/ how much recovery actually matters.

We ate nourishing food.
We breathed.
We moved through mobility work.

And we gave our bodies permission to recover sitting in the grass by the creek instead of constantly asking them to do more.

I watched what happened when these women had a few days to step away from the noise and actually take care of themselves. I saw relief, happiness, excitement, and connection. 

At this point in the summer, many of us riders are exhausted, burnt out, stressed with the transition of fall, and tired of driving. So many riders have neck and shoulder pain, back pain, and hip pain from driving and spending all summer on the go. 

I knew we had the tools to help each and every one of those problems, so we created RESTORE. 
As horseback riders many of us are INCREDIBLY good at pushing through.

We push through the pain.
We push through exhaustion.
We push through stress.
We push through because there is always another horse to ride, another job to finish, another kid who needs us, another responsibility waiting.

But you can’t keep asking your body to perform at its highest level when you’re never giving it a chance to recover.

You. WILL. Burn. Out. 

RESTORE is the course I wish I had access to when I was running on empty.

It’s about pain relief, mobility, core strength, nervous system regulation, stress relief, breathwork, recovery, and creating the foundation your body needs to feel strong again.

Not another program telling you to push harder.
A chance to slow down, recover, and rebuild.

RESTORE launches September 1st.
Comment “RESTORE” for free limited access to the course to try it out and see what you think! 
-Dr. Aleisha PT, DPT, CSCS

What are our COMPETE riders doing before EVERY run?

This has been an amazing summer for this girl and we could not be more proud of her success!!!

Harley started the COMPETE course with Solid in the Saddle at the beginning of this summer and since then she’s placed in 4 pro rodeos and officially filled her WPRA permit!

So she’s a PROFESSIONAL ATHLETE now! 🙌

We love the wins, but watching the dedication riders like Harley are putting in makes them mean so much more.

Because we know the work that happens behind the scenes.

What exactly happens behind the scenes?

You can find the answer for FREE in the Barrel Racer’s Edge.

Our guide to becoming FIT, FOCUSED, and FEARLESS.

Comment “EDGE” and we will give you not just the warmup these COMPETE riders are using to prep for their runs, but the complete Barrel Racer’s Edge!