Horsin’ Around

Guest blogger Harvey Gould riding One-Eyed-Jack

by Harvey Gould

For those of you who might have just finished getting your fill of the Olympics, all equestrian events (dressage, show jumping and cross-country) are the only Olympic sports in which one human and one animal athlete are part of the same team. It’s also the only Olympic sport in which men and women compete evenly against each other - now there’s true equality for you!

Somewhat late into our working years my wife and I started taking horseback riding lessons. Done correctly, both horse and rider will get a solid workout. In addition, you can’t ride effectively without concentrating on what you’re doing, so you leave behind your mental burdens.

   

If you’re show jumping, for example, you better not be thinking about that upcoming conference. Perhaps more accurately, you’re an idiot if that’s what you’re thinking about because you need to be concentrating about a whole sequence of events that have to happen to complete the task successfully and safely.

You need to have your horse approach each jump as much in the center and as squarely to the jump as possible. You need to adjust his gait, slowing or speeding up between jumps, so that he takes off at exactly the correct spot. You also need to know when to stand in your stirrups to take weight off his back, move your hands up the horse’s withers as he’s about to launch—to give him the freedom he needs to take the jump without getting hit in the teeth by the bit.

While in mid air, you can’t be looking down. A rider’s mantra is “look down and you’ll end down—in the dirt.” Instead, in mid air, you should be looking at the next jump to calculate the angle at which you’ll need the horse to move while anticipating all other necessary adjustments for the next jump. Not a good time to be thinking about that conference.

Jumping is dangerous if done foolishly or without proper training. However, when done correctly, nothing can match the exhilaration of the momentary sense of weightlessness while you’re vaulting over an obstacle on a 1,200 pound animal. 

Guest blogger Harvey Gould is the author of A Fierce Local: Memoirs of My Love Affair with Ireland, a finalist in the San Francisco Writers Conference Indie Publishing Contest. For more information, visit www.harveygould.com or check out Harvey’s blog.

Mangoes – the kings of fruits

photo courtesy thekitchn.com

by Katherine Matutes

I’ll never forget the first mango I ever tasted – it was 25 years ago. The fruit was so sweet and exotic, almost like a plant marriage between a peach, pineapple and a banana. I stood on my back porch eating the flesh from the fibrous pit with juice running all the way down my arms and dripping off my elbows. 

There was a limited selection of fruits for me to enjoy growing up in Indiana, but today it is much easier to get fruits and vegetables from afar. Mangoes come from Asia and South America and are grown more locally in Florida and California. There are so many varieties – over 1,000 – growers are able to cultivate mangoes starting in May, and they stay in season until September.

The mango has been dubbed “the king of fruits,” and four amazing nutrients are the jewels in its crown for being a super-healthy fruit.

1.  Fiber – One mango has more than 10 percent of your daily-recommended fiber, which is a good thing, because fiber promotes a healthy heart and colon.

2.  Folate – Anyone with cells – that’s all of us – benefits from folate. Folate promotes healthy cell regeneration, which can be especially important for expecting mothers.

3.  Vitamin C – Depending on the variety, one mango can have twice the vitamin C of an orange. That is a whole lot of immunity-boosting power to help your body fight off illness.

4.  Beta-carotene – Made famous by carrots, beta-carotene is a vitally important antioxidant that helps your body fight off free radicals, or chemicals, that can damage your body’s tissues.

With all its health benefits, you can savor the fruit alone or transform ordinary dishes with the recipe below for mango pico de gallo. It’s fabulous on just about everything. Try it on grilled chicken, fish or hamburgers or turn it into an amazing salad by mixing it half and half with quinoa.

Mango pico de gallo

3 Ripe mangoes, diced (look for a firmness similar to a ripe peach and a strong fragrance)

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 jicama, diced (substitute a cucumber if you can’t find jicama)

½ red onion, finely diced

1 bunch cilantro chopped

Juice of ½ lime

More About Katherine Matutes, PhD