We take great pride in the books we publish at TSB, and think our authors share the best horse-related material in the most innovative ways, which means maybe equestrians in other countries would benefit from having the books available in their native languages. Many of our books are available in multiple languages and in dozens of countries–for example, CENTERED RIDING by Sally Swift has been translated into 15 different languages and has sold over 800,000 copies worldwide.

Rights sales such as these are made possible by sending a TSB representative to the London and Frankfurt Book Fairs, where we can engage other publishers in person and encourage them to check out our authors, even before their books are published in English.

International book fairs also give us the opportunity to peruse what riders and trainers in other countries are doing, and often we find a terrific book that we know would benefit English-speaking equestrians. In these cases, we arrange for translation of the work, and publish it under the TSB imprint. Bestsellers of books originally published in another language include TUG OF WAR by Dr. Gerd Heuschmann and DRESSAGE SCHOOL by Britta Schoeffmann.

We look forward to continuing to be part of the effort to share the very best in horse-related books and DVDs worldwide!

We’ll begin this week with some thoughts from TSB author Peggy Cummings, whose new book CONNECT WITH YOUR HORSE FROM THE GROUND UP is due out this month.

“Sally used to visit my farm every spring and fall for eight years, 1981-1988.  My family and I always looked forward to her visit because she and her little dog, Joy, were delightful guests. Four of my children rode with her, and she had a nice rapport with all six of my kids.

“When my daughter Lindsay was about seven years old, she would sit and watch Sally teach lessons, and at the end of the day, Lindsay would grab her pony and Sally would spend some time answering questions and giving Lindsay her own special ‘Sally time.’ My son Jeff was in Pony Club, and after he began riding with Sally, he did not want to ride with anyone who taught differently than she did!  He was so fond of Sally that he made two little wooden carvings of Sally and Joy, and they remained above her kitchen sink until she passed.

Sally Swift and Peggy Cummings at Sally's home the year before Sally passed away.

“I first met Sally at a New England Dressage Association instructors’ workshop, where she addressed the importance of the use of the rider’s body on the horse. She also spoke about using visualizations to facilitate teaching.  Just hearing her speak, I knew I needed to pursue her work.

“A few months later, I rode with Sally. She showed me how to soften my body in instead of bracing in the saddle. It was such a ‘collision of realities’ with my bracing patterns that I knew I had found an answer I had been seeking.  That is, I had to stop bracing and allow movement in my body as I rode.  This awareness became the keystone to the development of my own work with horses and riders’ bodies (Connected Riding and Connected Groundwork).

“I devoted eight years to working closely with Sally. One year, I took 12 clinics with her, and eventually I was privileged to be the first Centered Riding instructor to teach workshops for other instructors. I was fortunate to pay Sally a visit and meet with her over her kitchen table the year before she died. We reminisced and still had a wonderful connection, and she thanked me for carrying on her work. She will always remain as a mother to me, and of course, as one of my primary mentors.”

–Peggy Cummings, founder of Connected Riding and Connected Groundwork, and author of CONNECT WITH YOUR HORSE FROM THE GROUND UP

You can pre-order a copy of Peggy’s new book at the TSB bookstore.

All this month, almost two years since we lost our beloved first author Sally Swift, we are remembering her contribution to the world of riding horses, and teaching people to ride. In celebration of her life and work, Sally’s best-selling books–CENTERED RIDING and CENTERED RIDING 2–and DVDs CENTERED RIDING PART ONE and PART TWO are on sale at the TSB bookstore through the end of March.

We’ve shared stories from TSB staff members of their experiences with Sally and her books–now it is time to hear from a few of our other authors who had the opportunity to know Sally and work with her through the years. This week Wendy Murdoch–author of the best-selling 50 5-MINUTE FIXES TO IMPROVE YOUR RIDING and the RIDE LIKE A NATURAL DVDs–looks back on meeting Sally Swift and discovering how Sally’s unique way of teaching riding could help improve her own position in the saddle, as well as how she taught others.

“I grew up in New England but had not heard of Sally Swift until I left.  In 1984, while attending graduate school in Lexington, Kentucky, a horse flipped over backward and rolled over me, breaking my left hip socket and pelvis.  A friend gave me a copy of the TTEAM newsletter (from the offices of Linda Tellington-Jones) while I was in the hospital. I was immediately interested in learning the TTEAM method. I attended my first TTEAM clinic in 1985 at Ellie Jensen’s  in Wisconsin, and all the people there were talking about Centered Riding.

TSB's beloved first author Sally Swift.

All this month we are “Remembering Sally Swift,” Trafalgar Square Books’ beloved first author and the creator of Centered Riding the book, and the now revered organization found in countries all over the world.

How did Sally Swift’s ground-breaking book Centered Riding first come into being? Caroline Robbins, publisher at TSB and Sally’s editor (she handled both Centered Riding and Centered Riding 2) shares her side of the story here, for the first time in a long time:

“Both my husband, Ted, and I were taking lessons from Sally here at the farm,” Caroline remembers  (TSB’s editorial offices are located on the Robbins’ farm in North Pomfret, Vermont—you can read more about it here). “Ted, was a very beginning rider in his late thirties, and as a physician, he had a tendency to ask anatomical questions related to what his body was actually doing in the saddle.

“Ted’s questions led to many a discussion over meals on our back porch—and Sally’s portable ‘skeleton’ (he stars in both her books and DVDs) usually joined us. As we both pressed her for information, the effort eventually led to the revelation that Sally had something about all this ‘written down.’ Needless to say I asked to see it, and a very, very rough manuscript duly was handed over.

“You might think was the end of the story—that the original manuscript was in the hands of a publisher and ‘voila,’ a bestseller was born. But that wasn’t the case, as Sally’s work—her theories, ideas, and visualization techniques—was very much ‘in progress.’ She gave me many additions of various sorts, all scribbled on the backs of envelopes, napkins, or anything she’d had on hand while she was being driven around Vermont or flying somewhere. And of course, all this happened, in the ‘early days’—we still used typewriters, not word processors, so organizing the resulting mass of material was a bear!

“As our riding lessons went on, many questions continued to be asked, and much new material was generated and the book began to take real shape—this was a process that lasted many years. Eventually, we all came to the conclusion that the material was ready for viewing, and nervously, I decided to print a very limited number of books—about 3,000 I think (at the time TSB was a book distributor and not an actual publisher, so this was a real jump into uncharted waters for me).

“And well, the rest is history. Sally’s enthusiasm was completely infectious and there was no way anybody could ignore it. We got swept up on the Centered Riding train—in a very big way, as it turned out.“

When Caroline says “a very big way,” she is referencing the fact that since that initial run of 3,000 copies or so, Centered Riding has sold more than 800,000 copies worldwide, and Trafalgar Square Books (formerly Trafalgar Square Publishing) has published more than 350 books and DVDs. Certainly, we can say that Sally Swift started her own legacy, but in a very significant way, she was the start of Trafalgar Square’s, as well.

Sally’s books and DVDs are on sale all this month on TSB’s bookstore website. Join us in celebrating this very special lady and all she did for riding and teaching riding, the world over.

What could a 10-year-old want with two copies of the same book? And an instructional book (rather than a story book) at that? It has been just over 20 years but I remember rather studiously going through the pages, in a horse-geeky kind of way, and thinking about the images before me. It isn’t the words that I remember as much as the art–which of course was hailed at its time as ground-breaking, and the book was noted as one of the first “horse books” to use illustration in such a manner. I put one copy on my bookshelf in my room, and took the other to the barn–where I could get to it easily and where it still remains next to my childhood ribbons and trophies to this day.

Even at that age, Sally’s Four Basics made sense to me. I can actually feel what it was like to trot around the tiny paddock behind the barn on my old pony, looking around me with “soft eyes.” While for me riding had never been just drill after drill in an arena, and had yet to yield to the competitiveness that would introduce pressure and anxiety to my experience in the saddle, it still amazes me how one woman’s ideas could inspire a young equestrian to reach deeper and seek some sort of “connection” with her mount, rather than simply thrills and gratification.

I can honestly say that I think the way I thought about horses, cared for them, and rode them thereafter developed from the strong roots the concepts in CENTERED RIDING planted when I was 10 years old. Riding will never be about gloss and surface for me–it will always be grounded in a sort of sensible equestrian spirituality, if you will. I am thankful to Sally for giving my passion for horses real meaning.

It seems only fitting that when, after graduating from college and striking out on my own in the world, I returned to the Vermont town I grew up in, and quite by chance, got a job at the publishing company that brought us CENTERED RIDING so many years ago. I’ve been at Trafalgar Square Books for almost 10 years now, and my role here gave me the opportunity to meet Sally several times before her passing in 2009. She was a bright star, a quick wit, and an earnest and steady defender of the horse. I feel blessed to have learned from her books, her expressions, and her ever-fascinating conversation.

All this month we will be Remembering Sally with thoughts on her life and work from her publisher and editor, Caroline Robbins, TSB staff, and some of the TSB authors who knew her. We also invite you to share your own memories of Sally and her books on our Facebook page.

Sally’s best-selling books–CENTERED RIDING and CENTERED RIDING 2–and DVDs 1 and 2 are available at 15% off (plus free shipping) from our bookstore all month long.

Rebecca Didier, Senior Editor

Man, this stuff is HARD!

I had my Centered Riding on Wednesday.  I opted to ride Cricket.  While Bleu is just lovely, I think she needs some time off so I can work on strengthening her back, independent of a rider.  I’ve been having jolly fun with Cricket so I assumed this would be a walk in the park . . . or arena.

Principle #2: Make no assumptions; teach no assumptions.

Cricket was great through the tacking up process, standing ground tied in the alley way.  No flags popped up during our brief warm-up and she was accepting of the mounting process.

And then it went south.  Thankfully not too far south but south, none-the-less.  She popped in a little buck.  No worries.  Another little buck.  Okay.  And then again.  Uh oh!  As she was only increasing frequency rather than intensity, I decided I was okay to stay on.  After her fourth mini-tantrum I stopped whatever my instructor was asking me to do and did some intense “yield the HQ.”  Both directions, with some intention.  I was a little upset but not angry.

After that we kept everything at a walk and really made Cricket THINK!  Lots of curves, turns, circles, serpentines.  Doing what ever we could to keep her brain engaged.  And it worked!  Not once, for the rest of the lesson did Cricket act out.  She was only resistant when I became demanding, grabby or pull-y.

We concentrated on connecting her thoughts to her whole body and then connecting her hind legs to my hands.  I’m not sure how, exactly, we accomplished this but it worked.  I felt her energy coming into my hands and moving forward.

Mimi had me work on leg yields – coming into the quarter line off a circle and then yielding her towards the rail.  Out of the dozen time we tried it, I really got it once or twice.  Some pieces would fall into place, others would fall out of place but a few times it all came together.  On the last yield, I asked Cricket into the trot as we came to the wall and she picked up a lovely collected (as in not scattered and strung out) trot down the rail and to the center line.  We finished with a near-perfect square halt (front AND hind) and called it a day.

My biggest struggle in all of this is really understanding rein connection.  What Mimi is teaching runs counter to some of what I learned in Parelli.  Maybe not to Parelli itself but at least to how I’ve learned and understood it over the years.  I am trying to wrap my head around how the inside rein and outside rein work in concert to set-up and guide/control the horse.  I can feel it work.  I can feel my horse understanding it and responding to it.  But I’m not making the connection between what I’m doing and how/why that’s influencing Cricket the way it does.

Time for a little LBI research . . .

I intend to maintain my six-day-a-week schedule with Journey, but I may be less “strict” in executing it. I’ll have plenty on my plate in the next few weeks without putting undue pressure on myself with Journey. My primary goals to fit into that time are as follows:

1) On Line, my aim is to encourage Journey to ask more questions. Our On Line play has definitely been lacking spark lately, and I’ve had two really successful sessions in the last week by focusing on looking for/encouraging Journey to ask a question and rewarding it every time. Thus we’ll keep playing with that, the main challenge being to find different ways to play with it so neither of us get bored. In all likelihood, Liberty will be essentially shelved this month.

2) At least two days per week, I will play with different pole and cavaletti exercises at the trot and canter. This is a precursor to reintroducing jumping into our lives, and my main focus for these exercise is to get Journey mentally engaged in navigating the poles with precision, energy and relaxation. Again, I’ve played with this twice already in the last week, and so far so good. Judging by our sessions so far, I think I’ll have to move a little quicker and be more creative than I am naturally apt to do, otherwise Journey’s boredom will smother our chances of success.

3) At least two days per week, I’ll practice exercises from Centered Riding. That’s pretty self-explanatory, really, so I’ll leave it at that.

I am going to try and be more active in updating my blog.  It seems to help me be active with my horses.

Last night I had my third centered riding lesson.  The first was way back in the spring and at the beginning of September we started a regular engagement at my boarding barn.

I’ve ridden Bleu in the last two lessons and I’m beginning to make some connections.  Literally.

For the first time I felt what contact means.  I wish I could come up with the right word to describe it.  It was strong without force, firm without grip and solid without being rigid.  It was soft without being weak and relaxed without being floppy.  It was perfect . . . and fleeting.

Bleu is wonderful for learning.  She has none of the assumptions I’ve built into Cricket.  She is looking for leadership so she appreciates all my efforts.  She is willing and honest.  Not that Cricket isn’t.  But I’ve long since learned Cricket is not the appropriate horse for my learning journey.  Especially when it comes to concepts that result in smoke coming from my ears.

Things we worked on: seat connection, rein connection, the proper way to turn my horse, speeds within the walk and fluidity in two-point.

It was a great lesson and I’m looking forward to my next adventure.

When I set myself the goal of eventing Journey next year, I immediately thought it might be time to pull Centered Riding out again. Having evented before, I knew the way I had grown accustomed to riding would not serve me well over jumps – especially considering that I’ve done 90 percent of my jumping in the last 7 years without a saddle. (It might seem like adding a saddle would simplify things, but I assure you it does not. At least not for me.) Although the effects would not be as dramatic, I knew my position would not help our dressage work either. For years, I have been putting off the moment when I would have to commit to becoming the rider I dream of being – and all the hours of focus, effort and frustration that may entail. Either that, or give up on achieving genuine success in the saddle. I don’t want to put it off any longer, and I’ve never been less ready to give up.

After reading the chapter on Sally Swift’s four basics – soft eyes, breathing, centering and building blocks – I began my ride on Wednesday with a few exercises in mind to try. Allow me to share the results with you…

Trying to use soft eyes was a little frustrating until I remembered Swift’s comment: “From this experiment it becomes clear that soft eyes are much more than just a way of looking. Using soft eyes is like a new philosophy. It is a method of becoming distinctly aware of what is going on around you, beneath you, inside of you.” (CR, 11) When I thought about it less as a function of what my eyes were doing and more a function of how and where I tuned my powers of perception, I believe I achieved significant success. I began to feel things I wouldn’t have been aware of before; like Journey starting to get crooked before she was totally out of whack, like the right side of my body collapsing, like the energy from Journey’s back being absorbed in my back, like me holding my breath. Fascinating would be one way to describe the experience, addictive might be another. And as an added bonus, I was astounded to find that is was easy to keep my eyes up while I was using them ‘softly’ – and you know how much trouble I’ve had with that.

Using my newly discovered powers of perception to attempt Swift’s suggestions on breathing was unexpectedly difficult. Riding in a very thinking state of mind, however, I soon recognized the breakdown in my efforts. The more I tried to achieve the third basic – centering – the more trouble I had with the second. How interesting. Knowing that the four basics are intimately interconnected, but figuring that Swift must have listed breathing before centering for a reason, I decided to focus on breathing first. Even after abandoning my quest for centering, breathing remained a challenge. I paid close attention to it for some time, and was able to reach a point where I felt I had made good progress and reached the point where it no longer felt like a huge effort to maintain better breathing.

As suggested above, centering was a curious challenge as well, and I think some hours invested away from the saddle in getting familiar with the feeling will be invaluable. I did not, however, renew my efforts at it during this ride, nor did I think too much about building blocks. I was, however, aware that the arrangement of my building blocks changed dramatically during the ride, even without my focus.

All this time while I was focusing on me, Journey was maintaining a classic Left-Brain Introvert trot while following the rail to the left with a light contact to give her the idea that rounding and going forward into the bit might be an option. Unbeknownst to me (the time-tracking part of my brain definitely took a hiatus during this ride) almost an hour passed while I was doing this, so I can’t say I blame Journey for conserving energy. Still, I had been hoping for a little more feedback on my efforts – something to the effect of, “Gee, mom, when you ride like that I feel like going forward more freely.” No such luck, but I was very pleased by the fact that I can honestly say I did not get frustrated at her – not even a little bit. Success!

But… I did want a bit more of a forward note to end our ride on, so I started applying one of my most tried and true Journey-inspiring tactics. It goes something like this: “You want to slow down? Great! Why don’t you walk… and now CANTER!!” I don’t specifically ask for canter unless we were cantering in the first place, but Journey usually prefers to offer a canter over a big trot, so I usually take the canter transition, allow it for a few strides and then bring her back to the trot. At first, she’ll offer a few strides of a nice, forward trot and then start losing energy. At which point, we begin again. It usually doesn’t take long before she thinks maintaining her forward trot might be a good idea, and that’s where we quit.

This tactic worked perfectly well on Wednesday, though it took a few more transitions than usual to have the desired effect – perhaps because we’d already been trotting for a long time and Journey wasn’t really in her peak puzzle-solving mode after all that. After our first success, however, we took a break, changed direction and experienced success almost right away the other way. All the while maintaining soft eyes and breathing.

Despite that success – the trot we ended on was really, really lovely, albeit brief – I wasn’t sure what to think about the long stretch of time during which Journey hadn’t offered more. Perhaps I’ve been micro-managing her dressage work more than I thought. Perhaps she just turned her brain off when it was apparent I was going to be talking to myself for a while. Perhaps I wasn’t as successful in achieving soft eyes and breathing as I’d thought – because surely if I had it would have had some effect on her…

My doubts on that last count, however, were laid to rest every time we transitioned back to a walk – even once when Journey broke to the walk in the midst of our long trot work. Never, ever have I felt such a glass-smooth, freely flowing and forward walk from this horse. Never. We’d had a very motivated free walk last Sunday, but it had been hurried and choppy in comparison. Whether it was a difference in the way I was absorbing her energy into my body or in the way she was able to move under my new posture or both, it was incredible. Just amazing.

If you’ve made it all the way here, you deserve some kind of reward for sticking with me. This had been quite a mammoth blog post, but it’s the epitome of a successful “middle” ride. Lots of observations; no judgement. A plethora of information to think about and mull over between this ride and the next one – which will be a while, because I’m writing this from Miami International Airport, en route to Ecuador. Gosh I love this stuff. And I’ve got Centered Riding in my carry-on luggage. (Journey, however, did not fit.)

Life is currently haywire.  I work in the defense industry as a pricing analyst (it sounds much fancier than it really is, trust me).  In my company there are two pricing analysts.  One went to Vegas and ended up in the emergency room with a perforated colon.  One stayed home and now has to do all the work.  Guess which one is me?

I’ve been spending a little time with the ponies.

Last week I finally did some work on shimming my saddle – got in just under the wire on that part of my August goals!  It’s not perfect but I think it lifts my saddle more off Bleu’s shoulder.  My saddle is build for my brick-house QH mare.  While the spring of Bleu’s ribs is enough to support the middle and back, her narrow, rotated shoulders are trapped by the super-wide gullet that fits Cricket’s linebacker build.

I took a Centered Riding lesson on Bleu last week.  She did fantastic.  It was only the third time I’d ridden her in a bit and the first time I’d done anything with real contact.  I think she liked it . . . a lot.  We worked on balancing Bleu and getting her to move her body with more nose-to-tail connection.  She is very strung out and Mimi gave me some ideas for helping her use her body better.

I’ve not been following a regimented clicker program with Cricket.  I’m just not focused enough.  But I have been playing with it.  We’ve been doing some liberty in the arena and having a blast.  The other night, I had Cricket in a lovely canter circle game – all her idea.  Did I mention the arena gate was open?  And that she actually spiraled in towards me rather than heading for the great wide open?  Love that mare!  She tried to give me a FLC on a change of direction but got tangled up (she made the choice too late) and ended up bucking up to sort out her feet.  She also did some lovely trot sideways towards.

So for now it’s hit or miss with getting horse time and, unfortunately, hit or miss with getting to blog about it.  Maybe in the coming weeks it will settle down.  As it’s Government Fiscal Year end, I highly doubt it.

Now, she is one of the more brave people in the world, obviously, because in addition to trail-riding a Thoroughbred, she also rides a paint mare. Not exactly a trend-setter. Where are the gaited horses? I suppose we are old-fashioned.

Anyway, at some point you have to loosen up on your scary racehorse. You just have to. If you don’t, people will point at you and laugh. (I get this all the time, for a variety of reasons.) 

So that's not me - but you get the general idea. Bet you didn't know he was a husband horse, too!

Admittedly, there is a long period of time there where if you loosen up the reins, you get a jog. Just achieving a flat-footed walk can be the subject of entire training manuals. Sally Swift writes a lengthy essay on getting a spooky horse to walk slowly in Centered Riding (coincidentally, the horse was in the indoor at Claremont Riding Academy – you would think you could just run the horse into the wall to slow him down. But horses have a funny way of going faster in tighter confines. It’s that “Where is my open meadow?” claustrophobia kicking in.)

Sally Swift sits and breathes, and may I humbly second that approach.

I took Final Call for a hack around the paddocks yesterday. I would have cheerfully taken him down my driveway and down the road, but my neighbor pastures her lamentably intact palomino beast next to my driveway, and “he’s super-nice with mares, but he attacks geldin’s.” (Remember kids, you can’t hug a Thoroughbred, but evidently you can hug out-of-shape stallions that attack your gelding.) So we’re limited to the confines of the farm.

This was the first ride I’d ever taken with the intent of doing nothing. I’m not good at nothing. Trail rides are excellent opportunities to work on your laterals, in my opinion. I don’t relax by doing nothing. Doing nothing makes me tense.

But in this case, it would be interesting to see how Final Call would react to the concept of just chilling out. Can a Thoroughbred even do that? To be more specific: a five year old, very fit Thoroughbred?

We started out with firm reins, as usual. The barn is on a hill, and as we came out of the stall, he jogged down the hill, his head held high, surveying the terrain. He still finds it a novelty to be ridden out of the barn and around the front of the property, instead of being led to the back paddock for a longe session. I like his attitude, ears pricked and at attention, and it makes me want to take him for a gallop down my long driveway. Just that pesky stallion at the end… too bad.

This is Gleam of Hope. Notice Willie Martinez's hands - right hand on a loose rein, left hand has a fistful of mane.

Going back to channelling a jockey, the quietest place to sit on a Thoroughbred is on your seatbones rocked back, and very close and firm from seat to knee. I think that you communicate your calm body and breathing to them most clearly in this seat. Sit back, breathe, and be cool. If your horse jogs, your horse jogs. Is that the worst thing your horse will ever throw at you? Highly unlikely. If you get twenty minutes of sideways jogging, and five minutes of flat-footed walk, you’ve both accomplished something together. You’ve relaxed your horse. That’s a win. And, you’ve relaxed yourself. Major win.

Also – notice this in the picture – if you are riding with loose reins and are at all nervous about a sudden leap or shy, consider either a neckstrap or a good grasp of mane. The neckstrap (if you don’t need or like martingales, just take the attachment off and voila, you have a neckstrap) usually sits just in front of the withers and I like to wrap a couple fingers of my left hand around it when there is potential silliness in the air. It is an excellent anchor and will keep you from reacting so strongly with your reins that you send your horse into the stratosphere over a simple spook.

And so we explored the yard, investigating interesting and mildly alarming items like some children’s toys long-abandoned to the wasps in between the buzzing bottle-brush bushes in front of the house. I gave him his head, and kept my connection by seating deep. I kept him walking by sitting deep and breathing. Gradually, his neck grew longer, his stride grew slower.

It took about ten minutes to bring Final Call to the point where he was on the buckle, nose on the ground. Then, because I really can’t help myself, I started teaching him to neck-rein. I mean, he already knows how to turn with my body. And the reins were loose. It wasn’t like I was asking for anything hard.

“Crazy Thoroughbreds can’t relax.” Scratch that. Their riders can’t relax. The horses are all right!

One of my goals this year is to improve my riding dynamic. Cricket is coming to a point where it’s not just all about her and sometimes it can be about me. I’m becoming increasingly disillusioned with the Parelli approach to riding. I’ve never felt secure on my balance point. I always felt I was behind Cricket’s motion. I don’t believe you adopt totally different posture for riding freestyle vs. riding finesse. It just doesn’t make sense. It’s not supported by correct biomechanics for either the horse or the rider.

So in searching for an alternative, I decided to try Centered Riding. Not far from me, we have a Level IV apprentice (Level IV being the highest level instructor). I had heard very good things about her from several sources. I rounded up four friends and got them to commit to a lesson with an instructor none of us had ever seen. Just so I could see what it was all about.

The lesson was nothing short of phenomenal. I don’t know if I can adequately describe what happened. To be honest, I haven’t really started reading the book so I don’t have all the correct terminology.

We started, unmounted, doing an exercise to “wake-up” the pelvic floor. This, in turn, affects all the postural and support muscles for the abdomen and the spine. It brings us into a correct and erect position, without having to do much of anything.

Once mounted, we began with a warm-up so the instructor could observe how we moved together. After that, we began specific visualizations and awareness exercises and just played with how it felt in my body and how it affected Cricket in hers. Here are some things I learned:

• Just taking my awareness to a place behind my seat bones, caused Cricket to lift her withers almost an inch. This had nothing to do with rolling onto my pockets but rather feeling my seat bones and just thinking about the place behind them.
• Grounding my knees in time with the swing of her belly without following the swing with my pelvis caused Cricket to move more forward in a better stride. I have to resist the seduction of allowing my pelvis to be rocked side to side with her back.
• Playing a video of what I want in my mind, starting with my body and then the affect on Cricket’s body caused much better movement from my horse. I actually caused Cricket to lift her belly and depart from the halt with her hind leg under her.
• Using energy down the back of my leg to cause forward and energy down the front of my leg to ask for backward
• Changing my “grip” on the reins had an almost magical effect on my horse.
• I need to be aware of my negative focus. Cricket cannot differentiate between “don’t go to the gate” and “go to the gate.” She just knows I’m thinking about the gate and that’s where she heads.
• I gained some insights and tools to avoid arguing with Cricket when she doesn’t do what I want, when I want.
• When I get a little wadded up, my instructor gave me a simple exercise to reset my body to a better position and not worry so much about what I was doing.

I loved the affect the lesson had on Cricket. I loved how drawn she felt to the instructor – this is such a sign of good energy. I was so impressed with how I was able to affect Cricket’s posture and way of going with simple changes in my thoughts and awareness.

And the feelings were mutual amongst all of us who took lessons. In fact I’m already chomping at the bit to ride my horse and to play with some of these concepts. I wonder when we can get another lesson scheduled . . .

(If you’ve read the story, gold star.)

And you know you’re always saying that your horses cheer you up. “Oh, whenever I feel bad, I just go ride my horse, I do all my best thinking on my horse.”

Really? I’m assuming you have a schoolmaster to pack you around, in that case. . .

I’m skeptical of how much critical thinking I may be able to achieve on horseback. Now, granted, I usually write my blog while I’m riding, but that’s about what I’m doing at that exact moment. So, one might argue, it makes my ride better, by helping me focus acutely on every move that he and I make together.

You promised me cookies.

I focus on him because, as a trainer, it’s my job to focus on my horse, not on myself. I’m here to keep my horse safe, as far as I’m concerned. If I do a bad job on Final Call, and sell him off to someone who can’t ride him, and they amplify all the mistakes that I’ve made – all bets are off. And if there is one thing you don’t want to be these days, it is a horse in a downward spiral of bad behavior. They just don’t live as long, or as happily, as the charming ones.

That being said, there is something to be said for finding a rhythm, and sticking with it, that lifts you above the ordinary, and away from your problems, and lets you live in the moment.

Today was a day for a trot, a long and beautiful metronomic trot. We tried out a training yoke today (that’s running martingale to you sporthorse types) just to sort of steady out that nose, as it was getting a bit, you know, poking out here and there. Not so hot with the straightness and the throughness, if you follow my drift. He seemed pretty comfortable with it -  I’m sure he wore one before – and so we just trotted, round and round, figure eights and serpentines and straight-aways, in a hypnotizing rhythm. Rising and falling evenly (feel that spring pull you forward), soft in the bit and light in the forehand, you felt that suppleness was just days away, in life as well as on horseback, and nothing else seemed to matter.

We trotted for ten minutes, and then I gave a gentle half-halt, sat, and was granted a sweet square halt. Good enough, son.

What a pleasure, to feel ten minutes of rhythm and partnership with a horse. Good enough. A high singing in your ears, a feeling of accomplishment, a feeling - almost as if – he made me feel good – pah, enough sentimentality. Final Call doesn’t care about my insides. All he wants from me is cookies.

(If only the feed store would get his brand of cookies back in stock. . . !)

Anyway, I was forced by well-meaning people in higher positions than mine to read a number of “leadership” books, some of which were given nauseating titles like “The Power of Nice.” Alarmingly, I learned quite a lot from these books, attained some modicum of people skills, learned to get completely unmotivated people to follow me, and became a fairly successful manager.

In riding Final Call a few days ago, I realized that these self-help books posing as business books had actually influenced my decisions as a rider.

I come from the no-nonsense school of horsemanship. I come from the Laugh at People With Books And Expensive Sticks school of horsemanship. And while I still laugh at the expensive sticks, I am a little less no-nonsense, and a little more negotiable. Much like I am at the day job.

I have two bad words in my equine lexicon: domination and submission. I cuss a lot – oh hell, I cuss all the time – but I avoid these two words and their implications like the plague. I understand that “submission” is a commonly-used term for a horse that gives to the bit. But when you use words like “submission,” you lose the right to use much more desirable words, like “partnership.” In a partnership, you can’t ask for submission. That’s domination.

And now to the ride. I lengthened my stirrups yet another hole.  They’re about even with the soles of my boots now, which is dressage length to a show-jumper (see: Anne Kursinski’s “Riding and Jumping Clinic”) and just about as long as I may want to get with my jumping saddle. I love my saddle – I’ve had it since I was 15 – but it quite defiantly holds me in a chair seat, which is nice on young horses when I’m looking for safety, and not so pretty in a dressage test.

Final Call has shown offense every time I’ve lowered my stirrups and thus altered my seat and leg, and this latest move was no exception. The nice thing about having a horse pitch a mini-fit with you is that you can gain some understanding of their true athleticism. I mean, any horse can produce a beautiful extended trot or a haute ecole piaffe free in the pasture – these are their natural movements, and I am deeply amused by people who try to sell their unbroken horses as Grand Prix potential simply because they can achieve some natural collection and extension at liberty. So can any mule. But under saddle, under weight, that is another story.

Final Call, as it happens, can achieve a great deal of collection under saddle – as Peter Atkins once described OTTB Number 1, he has “springs all over the place.” And my spring-loaded little friend showed me just what he thought of my new long-legged look, first bounding into the trot when I asked politely, then taking all that impulsion and shoving it straight upwards. Oh the lightness of the Thoroughbreds!

It would have been a simple thing, had I been feeling no-nonsense and un-nice, to shove him around a little, give him a quick lesson with the heel of my boot and the knot on the end of the reins. He would have gotten all worked up, we would have had a fight, it probably would have ended badly, I’d feel terrible – I was used to this. I have done this. I’m not sure why.

But I thought, I’d never treat a person this way (and I don’t even like people!) so why would I treat my horse this way? Make it easy to do the right thing, make it hard to do the wrong. That doesn’t mean punish the wrong. It means find the right. And if you’re not going to demand submission, if you’re not going to dominate, if you’re going to forge a partnership, that leads you right to the next word in the lexicon of nice: negotiate.

“Alright, my boy, you don’t like this and you clearly can’t do it nicely. If you know how to do it, at the moment you’ve forgotten. Let’s see what you do know.” I sat down deep, pressed my thighs close to stop his forward motion, and whoa’d. We stood. We walked. We circled. We halted. Off we went again. Played with leg yields. Played chase the dog. And within about ten minutes, he and I were ready for a nice forward trot, stretching into the bit, finding the right thing quite easy to do, after all.

Some of my favorite riding tips come from television, and I don’t mean the paid advertisements that masquerade as training shows on that tractor channel. I mean just sitting down and spending a few hours watching racing on TVG or HRTV, whether it is cheap claimers or multi-million dollar stakes horses on the Derby trail.

I know I’ve brought this up before, but it’s important, and I have yet another breakthrough with Final Call’s pea-sized brain that I have to thank simulcasting for, related to – believe it or not – Centered Riding!

(I’m not a paid spokesperson for Centered Riding. But I would be. Hint hint.)

Final Call, bless him, has been a little bit of a pill for the past few days. The head-tossing into a mini-crowhop maneuver was coming every time I put my lower leg on and, quite frankly, it was getting a bit old. Attention all horses: the quickest way to trick me into being hard on your face is to pretend you’re going to buck. Eventually, my poor fractured jaw will start to ache, and I will lose my nerve, thereafter assuming that you are going to buck at any given second, all the time, and you will never get to put your head down again, and this whole experiment will grind to a halt. Miserable rider, miserable horse, the works. One doesn’t want to get too stuck in a rut of paranoia with horses, they all have tricks, after all – but one hoof on my jaw was enough. I’m good.

From the knee up, these jockeys have perfect feel and communication.

The big breakthrough came in watching horses headed from the paddock to the track. The first few minutes of the post parade are dedicated to jogging up in front of the grandstand. This is when a lot of fireworks start going off and TBs starting dancing around and showing off their athletics. I watched a colt burst forward into a canter and his jockey, riding without stirrups, very calmly shifted his sternum down and forward, pressing his seat into the horse, which in turn closed his upper legs. He squeezed from hip to knee, leaving his lower legs away from the colt’s sides, and the colt sat down his hindquarters and slowed back down to a jog. He did all this with loose reins, which makes me think of it as a very subtle and beautiful half-halt.

Now, class, if you’ll open your text books to page 59,  you’ll find an illustration of this seat position. Sally Swift calls it “Stubby legs,” when you ride with your upper body down to your knee, “and forget your lower legs altogether.”

Try it! Final Call responds to upper leg pressure with pleasure. I took him out for a jog and got the usual head-toss that is becoming part of our daily routine. Then I shifted my seat more underneath of me, brought my knee farther underneath of me, and closed my upper legs. Head down – to the ground – on the buckle! Jogging – on the buckle! I was so happy I sang along with my Pandora.

Do they respond better to “stubby leg” riding because that was how they were ridden at the track? Does the lower leg just confuse and irritate them? Probably. I have known a few dressage trainers who wouldn’t allow me to touch my lower leg to any horse, including imported European warmbloods, unless it was for a quick cue. And I have known dressage trainers that want it on all the time, with varying degrees of pressure. There are as many theories as there are trainers. But I say, give this one a shot. And, watch more television.

Yeah I’ll say it, I go to Centered Riding.

As a teen I rode with several Centered Riding instructors of varying levels, and to suggest that the knowledge I gained was life-altering would not be completely over the top. Life-altering in terms of riding and posture, anyway. I’m not sure that I am more zen in real life.

Yesterday morning, whilst doing my ride prep (think of it as a lesson plan for a horse, something infinitely more entertaining than a schoolchild), I pulled down Centered Riding and flipped to the section on bending. When in doubt, go to the good book.

There is always at least one metaphor or visualization that will make whatever issue you might be having click  into place, and in this case it was the Barber Pole. It is one of the more entertaining illustrations in the book and urges you to “Be a barber pole. Spin clockwise to go right and counter-clockwise to go left.”

Once on Final Call, it only took one bend to realize that I’d been bringing my inside leg back and up in an attempt to shove him over. Resistance, meet horse. Horse, resistance. By sinking down into my heels, playing barber shop – barber pole, I mean pole! – and turning my whole body, I lengthened and softened my inside leg against his girth, and he was happy to bend around it. As much as he was capable of, of course! Let’s not exaggerate this into something it was not.

What was it, really? It was fifteen minutes of good-natured trotting and walking, with some big loopy circles and some nice halts. It was a few kicks here and there when he forgot what my leg meant – if he ever knew. It was a good ride.

Backing Up  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJIIEHG8yfk

Longeing  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9kYIwPG-Ps

This is a slight remake of the first video.

Getting to Know Your Horse  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7J_z6_XK58g

Newest Video in our series covers Mounting the Horse : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIUd7gO7QhU

I enjoy a team process of teaching so I always have excellent co-teachers at my trainings. As usual I had a blast with the skillful assistance of TTEAM Practitioners Barbara Owens and Joyce Anderson. Both are very experience horsewomen and both have been involved with the Tellington Method for more than 20 years.

Barb breeds Icelandic Horses at her farm in Modesto and often assists my sister, Robyn Hood at the Canadian headquarters of Tellington TTouch Training where she and her husband, Phil Pretty have one of the largest breeding herds of Icelandic horses in Canada. Check out this magical breed at Ice Farm . Barb also teaches Peggy Cummings Connected Riding as well as Tellington TTouch Training.

Joyce Anderson lives in Virginia where she teaches Tellington workshops, does a lot of individual TTouch with horses and manufactures and sells Cloud Nine Saddle Pads. I have been using these pads, developed by Dr. Mathew Mackay-Smith, for more than 25 years. At the Paralympics in Atlanta these pads were responsible for allowing three riders to compete whose horses would have otherwise been eliminated because of sore backs. That’s a whole other story I must blog about one of these days.

But on to the stew.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Yesterday I made stew using a crock pot Linda lent to me. I’d never used on before. I like how a crock pot allows ingredients to simmer all day, combining the flavors , allowing them to mellow and deepen. I love making soup in all its incarnations: stew, broth, stock, potage, bisque, chowder. Well, you get the point. By now, I’ve probably made you hungry as well.

What in the world do Tellington TTouch Trainings have to do with soup? It’s like this. Each and every training is like the art of making a fine stew. There’s even a recipe. As with every recipe, each time you make it, the stew turns out delicious, but different. Here’s the recipe:

The first day of a training assembles the disparate “ingredients.” First, the setting: Beautiful Sky Horse Ranch in Valley Ford, California perches high above Bodega Bay on the Sonoma Coast. Standing outside the arena in the wind, I could feel the electricity generated by the hundreds of people who visit each year to learn about leadership and horses. Training participant Darcia Dexter, a newcomer to horses, says, “I love the setting of the ranch and can feel that Ariana Strozzi has set her intention on attracting a like-minded community.”

The physical setting isn’t the only factor that determines the atmosphere of a training. Caroline Larrouilh says, “The work itself, TTouch, along with its creator, Linda Tellington-Jones, offers a safe, nurturing place for the horse, where he is respected and appreciated for who he is, in that moment.” This attitude of acceptance and appreciation extends to the human participants as well. Like horses, humans learn best when they feel safe, relaxed, and content.

Now we have the rich broth of the stew: the setting, both physical and emotional, which surrounds and supports the added ingredients, giving them additional flavor. It bubbles and steams throughout the training. What’s next in our recipe for a Tellington TTouch Training?

The people, the horses, and TTouch itself comprise the remaining ingredients.
TTouch instructors’ personalities, their diverse backgrounds and array of life experience, combined with their creative teaching methods and personal interpretations of Linda’s vision of the work make for a diverse selection of ingredients. Add participants from all over the world, with their attitudes and levels of experience, and you have alchemy. When Linda herself leads a training, as she did at Skyhorse Ranch, expectations are high.

Caroline Larrouilh appreciates the variety of horses in the trainings, saying, “I have found that each training I have attended as been influenced greatly by the horses and the participants. The folks who attend and their backgrounds, attitudes and levels of experience, varying locations and amenities offer challenges and benefits, as well as their animals’, direct the tone and feeling of each training. What’s more, in each training, Linda has read more books, met more scientists, and overall connected more of the pieces that make TTouch so powerful.”

Darcia Dexter adds, “After having heard about Linda’s work for years, I was excited to learn from her directly. The reality of the training was that Linda set a tone of comfort, safety and community from the very beginning. She was approachable and accessible throughout the entire 6 days and led by example. It was great to be around this like-minded community and welcomed into it with open arms, like feeling part of the Linda’s Special 3H Club (Hearts, Hands & Horses). I am grateful for the absolute focus the TTouch team brought to making each meaningful and for the cheerful patience they showed as I sometimes fumbled around.”

Linda and Darcia Dexter practice ground driving

Our stew is becoming richer, more complete. A beautiful location, lively participants and instructors meet with excitement and expectation. What’s next? Horses. At Skyhorse Ranch, we met a really interesting group of horses: different breeds (from Warmblood to Icelandic), different temperaments, different issues. The first day, we were privileged to observe Octango (Contango x Platon), the Grand Prix dressage mount of Barbi Breen-Gurley. Barbi discovered that he responded so well, she arranged for him to stay for the complete training.

Caroline Larrouilh comments on the mix of horses, saying, “The mix of horses was great. Fancy and plain, young and old, competitive and pet, ebullient and cooperative. Each horse perfect, each horse with something unique to contribute to my learning experience.”

Elisha Kamberg leads her horse Deja Vu through hay bales while Paula Josa-Jones and Darcia Dexter show him pool noodles

Here’s what Barbi has to say about Octango’s participation in the training: “My horse is quite talented and a real giver. He tries very hard to please me. My main reason for wanting her to work with him is that he has had fear issues in the past where he would see something, usually that I did not see, and it would frighten him, causing him to run backwards at high speed. This had a disastrous effect on my scores while competing. He would recover and continue with the test without errors, but with tension.

“Linda worked on a number of exercises to help him ground his feet, implemented many TTouch techniques for body awareness and relaxation, and showed him exercises to build his confidence. These reminded me of several exercises I had learned from her years ago. I am pleased to say I see more brave behavior from him since then. We have been doing construction next to the dressage arena at my ranch, which really upset Octango before the clinic. I have committed to implement a number of them on my many of horses since the clinic. I know the high value of this work. It is bringing greater awareness and relaxation to each of them. I have noticed Tango is braver since the work with Linda. He is more calm and trusting that he is safe and can continue with his dressage work, thinking of me and not tuning me out to run for his life. I believe he will be much more reliable in the upcoming competitive season and we will receive the scores he really deserves without the tension from things that catch his eye and frighten him.
“We are doing some construction around my arena and it troubles him. He is letting it go much faster and focusing on me more consistently. I am so pleased about this, as becoming frightened and running backwards has been a behavior which has haunted us both through all the 10 years I have been training him. I am very encouraged and look forward to even better progress with him in the months ahead.”

Caroline Larrouilh adds, “I was struck again and again by the fact that Linda truly lives by the adage that she shared with us, “Don’t work harder, work smarter.” Watching Linda figure out the body or mind blockages and then rather than insist and up the ante, come up with alternatives that the horse could understand was inspirational and relaxing for me — never mind the horse! Each time there was a moment were I could clearly see the horse’s eye and body soften, he would sigh deeply and I could practically hear its relief that he was with a friend, not a foe and nothing would be forced on it. This was so interesting because it may speak to horses’ expectations as prey animals and how easily they get anxious and tense when faced with a new situation.’

All participants in place–human and equine, this stew is really cooking now. The pot is nearly full. We need to add a final ingredient before allowing the stew to simmer and develop the richness and depth of flavor required. And that necessary component is, of course, the subject matter–TTouch!

Darcia Dexter agrees, adding, “I love Linda’s integration of quantum physics and the Divine while simultaneously being grounded in nature through her gift of connection with animals.”

Caroline Larrouilh elaborates, “I enjoyed very much the ridden portion of the first day with Octango when its owner rode him with some coaching from Linda. It drove home the fact that Linda’s approach of using bended lines and lateral work to create relaxation and stretching down is exactly what traditional dressage training is about. It gave me food for thought in terms of how this work can be used to help dressage horses in their daily work, not just when a problem crops up. As we saw with Octango, TTouch is successful in helping the horse regulate his flight instinct and learn to process information differently. As to balance and flexibility, the ground work and under saddle work with its focus on the whole body is exactly what dressage horses need. I also thought that using exercises to encourage the horse to use both hemispheres of his brain and thus develop its ability to think, to develop his intelligence is worth researching further.”

❝Getting horses to think is not what you think of in classical riding and training.❞ — Linda Tellington-Jones

After a few days, this assortment of participants–both novice and experienced–, and instructors, steeped in the revolutionary concepts of TTouch and enjoying the beautiful setting of Skyhorse Ranch, are coming together to create something beautiful: learning. Like a delicious stew that has been allowed to “rest” overnight and develop its subtle flavors, these raw ingredients combine to create a product greater than the sum of its parts. Those new to TTouch, as well as those who have attended trainings before agree:

Jacqueline Winspear says, “The T-Team training was amazing. The range of TTouches Linda has developed offer a unique opportunity to enhance communication in the horse-human partnership. There were immediate positive changes in my relationship with my horses, and in their understanding of what I asked of them. But the whole experience of the T-Team training gave me so much more. I felt as if I had been drawn into a deeper understanding and experience of horses as companions of the spirit. It is a sense that will be with me forever and for which I have profound gratitude.”

Darcia Dexter says, “To be able to approach a horse and work easily and comfortably with them is amazing. For the first time in my life, I understood the girlhood desires of identifying with and wanting a horse (also through reading Ariana’s book which explains some of this) which I never had. Upon leaving the training, I had a strong desire to start working with horses.
“At the end of the training when Linda asked in her contagious positivity, ‘Don’t you just want to ride?’, I surprised myself by answering with a resounding, “YEAH!”
“I am planning on attending more training in 2010 as I think this work is never fully learned and each training with its new group of horses affords me the opportunity to discover more ways to help horses (and help myself). And I am always interested in what else Linda has discovered or reflected on. I’ve told so many people about the wonderful experience with Linda and the magic of this place and would return in a heart-hug!”

A hint of the view from SkyHorse Ranch

Since the baby was born, my awareness of self and horse has greatly improved. I have become more balanced both mentally and physically. My balance has become more natural and I do not think of it any longer. It is no longer a set of tasks when I ride. I simply ride.

During the summer, I started riding Carter bareback close to the house. I was rather nervous about it but the very last time I rode in this manner, I greatly enjoyed it and wanted to break into a trot. It had not been long since I gave birth so I had lost some of my confidence and was not quite ready to saddle up and head off too far. But I began to do so a little each weekend. Riding with my sister-in-law was tremendously helpful for having a riding buddy allowed me to feel more secure. I had not realized how lonely I have been all these years on Carter’s back riding by myself.

Carter’s always been a bit of a spooky horse and years early on I had played many games with him to overcome these things. Unfortunately, Arabians tend to have a bit of spookiness about them and I cannot control the birds, squirrels, and other creatures in the nearby forest much less the strange smells from afar. But I have become rather fearless of his sidestepping-get-ready-to-run-for-your-life behavior. He actually has never left me, but simply jumps and spins. It has become rather pleasant now as we relearn the trails, the obstacles, and the use of aids.

My body has become like jelly and my eyes have softened. I breath more correctly, visualizing my center. I feel more connected with my horse and it appears as though he trusts me more than ever.

We have more work to do. I look forward to the spring.

Don’t Just Do Something, Sit There.

You’ve probably heard someone say this, or maybe even said it yourself. But it was Sylvia Boorstein whose turn of phrase reintroduced us to the idea that just being, instead of doing, might help provide solutions to some of the problems we create for ourselves today: the frenetic striving for perfection, the avoidance of uncomfortable truths, etc. The gift of this concept came as the title of one of Boorsteins books, a kind of guide to creating your own meditation retreat.

As a representation of one of the main concepts of Buddhism, Boorstein’s exhortation is truth-in-a-nutshell.

Since humans generally do not see things in the most uncomplicated way possible, we often exhaust ourselves making up our own version of reality on a platform of our individual histories, fears, memories etc. We frighten or discourage ourselves before we even get going. It is believed that animals do not burden themselves with such destructively creative forms of perception.

Mindfulness is seeing things as they actually are, not as we imagine them to be….Pleasant and unpleasant experiences, the Buddha explained, the joys and pains of everyday life, are not the problem. The yearning and despising—the imperative in the mind that things be different—the extra tension in the mind that disappears when things are seen clearly and understood fully, is what the Buddha called suffering. Mindfulness—the relaxed, non-clinging, non-aversive awareness of present experience—is a skill that, like any other skill, requires developing.

Years ago, Boorstein developed a kind of do-it-yourself mindfulness retreat for people who weren’t yet ready or able to take the plunge and visit a mindfulness center. I love this idea of setting aside time to care for our selves in a kind of constructive restfulness. Not only for the mind, but also for the body as we ride.

As we ride???? Yes!

Sally Swift employed ideokinesis (the use of imagery to effect changes in the body) very creatively in Centered Riding®. Riders can use the tool of ideokinesis to imagine an active resting state in the saddle.

Active resting? Yes again!

Try this first at home. For five or ten minutes, lie down on your back on the floor. Don’t drift off into the mind-numbing daydreams you might be tempted to allow. Put your arms by your side, palms up or down, whichever is comfortable. If you need a towel under your knees or a pillow under your neck for comfort, get one. Imagine gravity as the active entity it is. Watch it work on your body as it helps your muscles release tension. During the process of release, notice any areas of tension that have become patterns in your body. You will recognize those spots where gravity has to work harder. Send messages of gratitude to those areas, for they will be your teachers. Also, send gratitude to gravity for assisting you in releasing them. You may find that you have to be very clear in giving suggestions to your body to assist gravity in its task: “allow my neck to be free of tension,” or “I’m noticing the rise and fall of my breath, but this makes me breathe faster.” The most important thing about active resting is doing nothing. Don’t just do something, lie there. Do not cling to any idea of what you must accomplish during the exercise, even if it is relaxation. You might find that this is even more refreshing than a short nap.

With practice, you will begin to develop more awareness of your body and its relation to the earth. “Well what do you know? It’s not my body’s job to resist gravity! I can allow my body to move within the earth’s gravitational field without undue stress on my muscles! All I have to do is allow it!”

Remember that the path of least resistance is always available to you, because it will be important when you try this exercise in the saddle.

Now that you have set up the conditions for awareness of your body in space and maintaining a space of least resistance, you can try this active rest in the saddle. Your horse will be thrilled. At first you may worry about this idea of some kind of floppy-muscled Zen session in the saddle: is it safe? Think about the last time you stopped getting in your horse’s way, and your muscles stopped competing with his to get the job done. There was a much better flow, wasn’t there? That’s what this exercise is all about. You can set up an active resting retreat in the saddle anytime you want.

Make sure you are in an enclosed area, such as a fenced arena or round pen, just in case anything goes wrong, or your horse is really fresh or extra delighted to be liberated from the constraints of your muscular control.
Swing yourself into the saddle, make sure to give your horse a good rub on the neck, and explain to him what you are doing. This is important.
Keep your eyes open (you’d be nuts to close them!!!). Be aware of your surroundings but try not to focus on any one thing. Hear the sounds around you but don’t listen. Alertness without that laser-like focus of the straight-line, left-brain thinker is the goal. You can do it. It’s only a few minutes’ worth.
Remove your feet from the stirrups, let go your vice grip on the reins, and practice the same non-doing that you tried at home. If you are willing to let go of any desired outcome, you will feel gravity work to join you and your horse together as one being.
Being physically together without an agenda, allowing the stress of your muscles’ resistance to gravity (and to the horse) to melt away. Remember those resistant muscles in the active resting exercise at home on the floor? Recognize them now, give them the extra attention they deserve, and your will feel your horse do the same.
Notice what you feel beneath you. Has the horse’s back come up beneath the saddle to meet you? Perhaps it has shrunk away? Does his breathing match your own or is it slower?
In time, each of you will learn to allow your bodies to stop resisting one another. Your mutual awareness can flourish and grow in this space.

Active resting can be expanded to include riding, as in the practice of walking meditation. But that’s a post for another day.

The active resting retreat is a useful tool because the rider is setting up conditions where insights are likely to arise. In this intimate encounter with your horse, you rely on perception rather than action, receiving rather than sending. It’s like becoming a child all over again. Bringing a “beginner’s mind” to being with your horse can awaken us to a fuller, wiser understanding of what riding him really is.

© 2009 enlightened horsemanship through touch and Kim Cox Carneal

NB Thanks to Debra Crampton who wrote Nothing Doing in this month’s Centered Riding eBulletin for giving me the impetus to finish this this post (started many months ago) as well as the term, ideokinesis, which I add to my working vocabulary with delight. It’s interesting to note that the “Construcive Rest,” “Active Rest,” and other techniques for generating attentive stillness do not trace back simply to the Alexander Technique or to any school of Ideokinesis, but to Buddhist meditation techniques as described by the historical Buddha more than 2,500 years ago.

I learned of Sylvia Boorstein’s DIY Meditation Retreat concept in a recorded interview at Shamhala Sunspace.

I was 6 years old when my horse dream took ahold of me.  With long flowing hair, I would pretend to be an Indian, running in the grass with the sun going down and the wind blowing through my hair.  Since I didn’t have a horse or access to one, I imagined that by running, I could feel the “freedom” through the warm breeze on my face and with a particular image in my mind.  The image in my mind was of an Indian, riding swiftly and bareback across the desert plains on his beautiful horse.  This gave me such hope and inspiration.  Even today, I admire and respect the abilities of these great horsemen and this image gives my joy.  It’s hard for me to imagine a more perfect state of being.  Praising God and being one with my horse and mother earth.

Appeal To The Great Spirit By Cyrus E. Dallin

(Above image, courtesy of studio 7b)  Remembering this image, I was surprised when I read, author Sally Swift’s “Centered Riding” make reference to the above image on page 57.  She says, “Allow yourself to sit this way, feeling long, upward, and outward.”  Again, what a perfect image.

In pursuit of my dream, I have learned many things.  As a child, I read every horse book I had, designed and drew barns and dreamt of breading Arabians.  The Tersky always fascinated me.  Only ever seeing pictures of one, it’s silver dappled coat, sleek body, ability for speed and beautiful head, drew me in.  Even today, they still seem a mystery.  For history and an interesting and even “romantic” read, click on the Tersky link above.

While making this dream into a story short, my dream continues every day.  Through the grace of God, I am blessed with special horse friends and horse companions.  The greatest gift I’ve received is being able to be a part of making a dream come true for another, girl and her pony.

A Girl & Her Pony, Anna & Lucky

Visit the Clearview website ( www.clearviewhorsefarm.com ) for more information about the show and available bed and breakfast options.

One of the most famous clinicians of our time, Sally Swift, passed away on Thursday April 2nd. Born in 1913 Sally became famous for the horse riding concept of “centered riding” when she published her first book in 1985.

From her website: “Centered Riding® is based on a knowledge of human and horse anatomy, balance, movement, and on understanding how the mind affects the body and how both affect the horse. It uses centering and grounding techniques from the oriental martial arts, along with body awareness, mental imagery and sports psychology. Through increasing body awareness, inhibiting old patterns, and replacing them with a more balanced, free, and coordinated use of self, both horse and rider can move more freely and comfortably, and develop their best performance.”

Her ideas have helped tens of thousands become better riders and made horses happier because they finally understood what their rider wanted. She left behind a strong organization that certifies instructors, puts on clinics and will continue to spread the word. I was lucky to see her speak on several occasions and admired both her spirit and her knowledge. A special lady who will be missed.

(photo of Sally was taken by Wendy Murdoch)