Healthy Horse Girls: What’s this all about?

This blog had humble beginnings going back to when I was teenager learning from food bloggers about how to bake bread, pastries, and honestly anything sweet. I would spend a lot of my summer days inside baking and going through some of my favorite food blogger's content like Sally's Baking Addiction and Half Baked Harvest just to name a couple.

Since my family and I live in Southwest Arkansas, the brutal summer humidity and temperatures turned out to not only be a good reason to stay indoors but to also proof bread. So, my family and close friends were my guinea pigs and were always willing to try out a new recipe that I had baked (a huge thank you to everyone! you know who you are).

As time went by, my love for baking only grew. However, my idea of what 'food' was began to change after taking a health and nutrition course in high school. I became intrigued with the relationship between our diet and health. I learned about the gut microbiome, the difference between types of vitamins, and most importantly, I learned about the power that food has on preventing diseases.

So, I took this new knowledge and began combining it with my baking skills. Being the experimenter (and scientist at heart) that I am, I had many flops but also many successes in creating healthier baked goods. My family and I also discovered that these desserts left us feeling satisfied rather than craving more and more sugar, bloated, and tired.

So then what?

Wellllll long story short, I knew that I wanted to learn more about nutrition and wellness, even though I never really had a 'dream' career. Like most horse girls, I really just wanted to be able to afford and have the time for horses, lessons, shows, and to keep advancing in the sport. So after switching majors from nursing to nutrition, I haven't looked back.

Nutrition has played a huge role in my life the last few years as I transitioned from riding western (mostly cutting horses) to hunter jumpers (I still have so much to learn, but I am obsessed with the hunters btw). Not surprisingly, I immediately realized how out of shape I was to ride a hunter. I became convicted over how athletic my horse was, and how I needed to treat myself as an athlete too. I began exercising, strengthening my core, and finding the right nutrients that would support both my physical and mental health.

After this, I knew I wanted to create a blog to combine my two loves: nutrition and horses. And that my friends, is how the Healthy Horse Girl blog was born.

Come along for the ride!

It is really mind blowing to look back and see how God has guided me to where I am today. If you would have told me several years ago that I would be making a blog about horses and food, I would've been so happy but probably wouldn't have believed you.

But I am beyond grateful for His provision and guidance and owe it all to Him! I hope this blog brings you joy, encouragement, inspiration, and tips to help you become healthier, feel more understood as a horse girl, and more empowered to fuel your body like the athlete it is.

Love,

Anna