Discovering a "New" Body-I Have a Tail!!

This is Part Two of my trip to Beaverton,OR to participate in the Centered Riding Instructors Clinic-here's some of the highlights:

Chanty and I arrived back here at Crescendo Farms Tuesday evening. I was able to share a ride with Suzan, another Centered Riding Instructor/Student who was kind enough to pick us up and transport Chanty with her beautiful big boy, Wizard. Chanty loves company and was able to ride in comfort while we chatted up front about our horses, our families and our new found love of Centered Riding.

The first day was spent entirely with Robyn Avalon, our instructor for the "Living in a Body" course which purports to teach one how to use your body in accordance with our design. It is based on the principles of the Alexander Technique and Body Mapping, so that you can "understand how our bodies are designed to function with natural ease and grace."

You wouldn't think that you'd have to "learn" how to move in your own body. But, what all of us have discovered in just the last 2 days, is that just because we knew how to move with grace and ease as children, does not mean that we can do it 30 or 40 years later, and especially not while we are riding a four legged creature, the horse. I used to pride myself on being very limber and loose; even today, when I want to, I can crank up a really good dance song and move my body in all directions with what I think is fluid and rhythmic movement. But, somewhere along the line, I began asking my body to do something with its muscles that was really designed to be done by the skeleton or supporting bones. Anyone who bends to do some type of work ( I trim barefoot horses in my spare time?) knows that if you do not stand correctly and allow your skeleton to do its job in holding you up equally over both feet, then pretty soon the muscles (usually in your back) will begin stressing and straining to keep you from falling over and OUCH! you've got a the beginning of chronic pain.

What was amazing was that Robyn was able to delve into so much anatomy in such a short time, but because it was done in general terms and with simple, fun exercises, we were all able to apply the techniques quickly and effectively. My favorite exercise was the one which identified the "tail" that each of us have-a part of our hips that includes sacrum and coccyx. Apparently, what we do with this tail can make a tremendous difference in our ability to breathe, move with ease and grace and most importantly for me, support weight WITHOUT effort-and no pain! Best of all, when I discovered I had a dog's tail (meaning I tend to tuck my pelvis under which straightens my spine too much and effects the ease of which I use my limbs)it made a profound change in my riding .The dog tail creates an exaggerated straightening of the lumbar spine which would then bring my shoulders too far forward, locked my hips and put tension in my upper body, neck and head! WOW, just because of a slight angle change at my lower spine.

I had to test this out on the horse and the first chance I got to ride Chanty, I practiced using a much more natural position of the spine or a dinosaur's tail (this is the most neutral and efficient position in which your tail is not between your legs or up in the air-which is a duck's tail, but on the ground a couple of feet behind you). Immediately, I was able to breathe, balance myself in the saddle, move my hips with a following seat and best of all, not disturb Chanty's balance. It is WONDERFUL!!!!!

Who new? We have TAILS!!!!! And they are so important to how comfortably we carry ourselves. Turns out we also have wings and that the bottom of your head is just below your nose. I'm sure there'll be more mind blowing revelations tomorrow in our next session of "Living in a Body". I just hope I recognize myself when I get ready to leave or else I might leave me behind and take that old, broken down body home with me! That would be a mistake!

Just DO IT! Riding "Naturally"

This past weekend I had the rare opportunity to take a trail ride with my grown daughter. She is 19 now and has been coming out to the stables where I keep my horse since before she was able to walk. I'm sure every mom who's owned a horse recalls wheeling their baby or toddler around the barn while they cleaned stalls, fed and watered the horses and even while you ride (with Dad watching, of course). My "baby" continued to come out with me over the years and has ridden Sally and Rose (that's her in the picture from my blog entry from Jan 2009, "My Old Friend Rose") What impresses me about the picture of her on Rose is how balanced and centered she looks on the horse. There is a direct line of communication from the bit, straight up her soft hands to her bent elbow lying just against her hips with the angle of her elbow pointing down like a "post hole digger". Her head is up, she is looking ahead to where she is going and her body is stacked like blocks from her feet to the top of her head over the center of the horse. I'm sure she is breathing and grounded. She is what all of us work hard to be every day on our horses: natural and comfortable. Although Rose was already 22 yrs old and suffering from arthritis and the effects of shoes improperly placed at an early age, she too appears to be balanced and in the early part of the downhill phase of the 3 beat canter, between the 1st and 2nd one. It's beautiful to see and looks effortless for both of them. It was a clear fall day almost 6 years ago that she and I rode together at Willow Grove. That's me on Sal Gal!

Since my daughter has been home from college, I have been showing her a lot of techniques from the Centered Riding book. She rode Chanty last week in the arena and I was giving her hints on turning from her center, using her leg aides correctly and feeling the bend. She was immediately satisfied with the results and commented on how much fun she had riding Chanty, who in the past was difficult to control when new riders were hoisted upon her. It turns out she was telling each and everyone of them "other horses may tolerate your inconsistent, incorrect riding, but I must ask that you are quiet, balanced and learn to communicate with me through correct use of your body, or you can just hang on while I run around here uncomfortable and anxious!" Since I began showing my students how to ride with their balance and centered body on Chanty, she has become one of the best "school horses" in the stables. My daughter couldn't believe the difference!

For our trail ride, I decided to mount Chanty and practice more of my centered riding at a walk while Laura rode the ever tolerant and always quiet, Angel, a quarter horse mare belonging to my best friend. We headed out and I immediately focused on my "following seat" attempting to match Chanty's movements. I had been reading about the exercise called dancing hands and square dance moves that allow you to use your clear intent to move your partner, rather than rigid tense muscles to push and pull your partner where you wanted to go. While I was riding, I tried to imagine that Chanty was a person, not a horse and it made me react to her so much differently. She was no longer a big strong animal that could pull on me and run away from me, but now she was another human who was asking for some silent directions to let her know just which way I was heading and how fast I wanted to get there. It made me relax so much quicker. I also practiced my breathing with conscious forceful exhalations at time-power breathing that helped me bend my joints, find my seat bones and widen my lower back. When all else failed, I took my feet out of the stirrups, she stopped and we took a moment to regroup. Keeping an elastic feel on the reins, I allowed the movement of her head at the walk to remain rhythmic as I felt her lift her hips under my seat. It worked wonderfully, but required quite a bit of concentration on my part. I know I was exaggerating my hip movement at times, but as I get more practiced, it will come without thinking, even what you might call "naturally".

My daughter rode behind us, unaware of all the mental and physical exercising that was going on ahead of her, enjoying her quiet ride with mom. It was a wonderful day, spent with my beautiful girl and my beautiful horse. What could be better!!!! NEXT WEEK: Part Two of the Centered Riding Instructor Clinic!!! I can't wait.