Posture, Breathing and Awareness

I had an unexpected stretch of free time last week after two students couldn't make it to their lessons. Having cleaned the two stalls I was responsible for, and taking time to eat lunch, I took Chanty to the outdoor arena and decided to practice my centering and engaging while turning, by riding with no hands. Before mounting up, I set up cones in the middle to create a 4 point outer perimeter and one for a center mark. Then I set up two barrels with about 8 feet space between them. Lastly, I put a tarp down along the outer wall of the arena. At first my goal was to walk the arena with no particular path in mind and spend the time paying attention to me. The cones, barrels and tarps were to be visual markers so that when I did get Chanty moving and turning, we could head towards something.


You may have heard the expression, "your horse is your mirror" and if that's the case, then Chanty is a full length, oversized glaring reflection of every move I make. I started out with pain on my left side from having done some lifting and pulling incorrectly while gardening and doing yard work the day before. I struggle every day to maintain body awareness and remind myself to "use my psoas" and yet somehow I go back to old habits that quickly pull you off balance and strain the muscles normally used for moving and not supporting the body.


As I walked with Chanty I focused on my position and began with some simple stretching exercises to loosen the tension in my muscles. I figured that if I could allow my body to align properly in the saddle, that my lower legs would drape around the horse as my hip joints opened and moved with my horse. Once I felt my posture improve and attempted to remain vertical at the walk, trot and canter, I began to work on turns. I could feel my left side bracing as I rotated my upper body to left. I couldn't release the tension and so I continually pushed Chanty to the right, frustrating both of us as I'd pick up the reins to correct her, knowing all along it was my fault that we were "drifting" to the right. I went back to focusing on my soft solar plexus, taking full breaths that filled my entire body and allowing my psoas to engage, lengthening my spine down as well as upward or what Sallly Swift calls "center and grow". Little by little I was able to release tension in my back and left hip and as I turned my ribs to the left (always keeping my nose lined up with the buttons on my shirt down the center) I could feel Chanty relax under me. The minute my muscles tensed and braced again, she would begin to race off at a faster pace.

Finally, I gave into her need to escape me and we cantered around the arena for several minutes without stopping. Each time she made it around another lap, I would focus on my position and the brace in my body, mainly on the left, until I finally released and cantered with her with tone in my body-strength with flexibility, that allows us to effortlessly follow the movement of our horse. I got off with no pain. We were both tired and a bit sweaty, but I know that the better I was at maintaining my centered position with body awareness, the better we were able to move together as one.

It starts with posture, breathing and awareness. It must follow with the release of bracing, preparing the body with centering/breathing and finally waiting for the movement of the horse as it comes up to meet us. I spent more time than I needed to in coming to this realization that day, but as with all instances of learning, mistakes are made. How else will we know that we are making progress?