Cristina Barbour and Moon on the River in the Open Prelim division at Cherrylane H.T. in Puslinch, Ontario. Photo by Ian Woodley.
As the mom of a 9-month-old baby who can barely find time to get to the barn, much less get my ducks in a row to compete, I have mad respect for all the eventer moms out there who bounce right back into the game.
Cristina Barbour, the winner of our recent Hylofit system giveaway, is one such supermom. She wasted no time getting back in the saddle and just finished 2nd at her first event back, at Rocking Horse H.T. last weekend, just four months postpartum. Triple congrats on your baby, winning a Hylofit, and your super comeback result, Cristina!
“I am so happy to have won the Hylofit system for the 2020 season,” Cristina says. “I gave birth to our son Harry this past August and I’m in the process of getting Moon and myself back to peak fitness from our ‘maternity leave.’”
Her top horse is Moon on the River, a 10-year-old ex-point-t0-point Irish Thoroughbred. Together, they’ve done well for themselves since Cristina moved him up to Prelim last year.
She and her husband, Curtis, are Shelburne, Ontario, but are in Ocala for the winter to train and compete. Curtis is also a successful event rider; their business together is Barbour Equestrian. Cristina and Moon have their sights set on the Ocala International two-star in April, then upgrading to Intermediate this summer.
“I use trot sets and gallop interval training to get my horses fit along with jumping and dressage schooling,” Cristina says. “I can’t wait to incorporate the Hylofit system into my horses schedule so I see the improvements in their fitness and I will also know when to increase the gallop intervals, taking the guesswork out of it.”
Hylofit provides real-time heart rate monitoring through the free Hylofit App and allows riders to set up a horse profile for each horse they ride. Through the use of interval training and heart rate data, Hylofit helps riders know whether or not their program is working, and through consistent monitoring of heart rate they can have a better understanding of their horse’s health, happiness, and wellbeing.
“It’s the perfect year for me to use it since I’m rebuilding fitness in both me and my horse and not always certain how much I should be pushing,” Cristina says.
Many thanks to Hylofit for sponsoring this great contest. Click here to read more about how using Hylofit can up your fitness game. Want to learn more about using a heart-rate monitor? EN has a handy guide here. You can also sign up here to receive updates and tips from Hylofit on how to make the most of your conditioning and training work at any level. Go Eventing.
