Cob Jockey

On Monday, my Pilates instructor had me do exercises that only engaged one side of my body at a time, and during them she had to keep squaring my hips up for me - as in, she had to take my hips in her hands and move them for me.  I didn't have the self-awareness to know when they were out of level myself, but the left one was constantly lower than the right (as in, if you were facing me, my left hip would be closer to the ground than my right hip).  And it's not a leg length problem, it's a physical imbalance that has almost certainly developed over time.

Unrelated, hit a 200lb deadlift at 115lb bodyweight yesterday!  My first ever 200lb lift of any kind.  I don't normally do this but since it was a lifting workout and work scheduled a mandatory webinar during my noon class time, I watched it during class 😂  With the coach's permission!

All week since then, I've paid attention to that.  And  I've noticed I stand with the left hip lower than the right.  I've noticed that I run with the left one lower than the right (hello, possible cause of the left hip socket pain I get after I run more than a few miles?).  I noticed it in air squats, I noticed it sitting in my office chair.  I noticed it walking, which explains why my shoes wear totally differently.  I pointed it out to my husband, who told me to walk toward him, and he was like "Holy COW I've never noticed it before but there's a huge difference between your hips when you walk."

I also noticed it in the saddle.  And a lot of things started to make sense.

I know he's standing like a total goob here but LOOK AT MY HORSE'S ABS AND BUTT!!!  He's starting to look like a Quarter Horse.

Remember when JenJ pointed out my floating right hand in January and I filed that away for later because I didn't know what was causing that?  Turns out I only feel the need to do that when I'm tipped off to the left with my left hip lower than my right.  And what about my trainer telling me to lengthen my right side, dating back to, oh, years ago?  My saddle needing reflocked on the left side?  The feeling that I get in my seatbones, where my right one wants to glide along on a level plane, while my left one sort of rotates forward and down?  Our left bend struggles and trouble getting the left hind under his body?

Oh look, it me, sitting to the left with my right hand floating across the neck.  Bet I can find dozens of pictures just like this one (sorry, Griffy)

I put this to the test in a ride last night, although it was difficult and required a ton of concentration since I clearly don't have great proprioception for this.  But getting my hips level and my torso centered over him turned him into putty underneath me at moments when I'm used to a struggle.  It's not like it fixed everything, but a lot of things went from "straight up difficult" to "easier" immediately, and I could feel him relax, especially on the left rein, when I put my body "over the right side" (to my brain, which really meant straight and level).

Take me baaaaaaaaaaack.  Oh wait, just sent my deposit in for May!  I AM going back!

Based on what I know about mobility from CrossFit, I would guess that when I'm doing my bear down properly, my core tension doesn't allow my hips to go crooked, which is one reason Connor goes better at MW clinics and during GP trainer lessons, where we typically start with evaluating the bear down.

Lots and lots to unpack here, I'm really looking forward to tackling this imbalance and figuring out where else it has been causing me problems!