FM Alexander on Horse

Saddle work has a long history in the Alexander Technique. In 1955, a 4-year- old girl with spina bifida started having lessons with FM Alexander. She didn’t have the use of her legs and was unable to sit up. But Alexander was confident that if he could get the girl to stand, he would be able to help her walk.

Alas, Alexander died soon after their meeting. But his assistant teachers had a bright idea. To help the youngster gain more balance, they worked with her while she sat on a toy donkey. It was fun for the girl and easier for the teachers. She was able to sit comfortably on her sitting bones and the teachers could help her overall co-ordination and get release on her legs.

As she grew, the donkey was replaced by a wooden trestle with a horse’s saddle. By the time she was 13, the Technique had helped her build up enough upper body support to start to walk with callipers and crutches. This led the way forward to leading an independent life, going to university, driving and working.

In time, saddle work expanded and was also used to work with other Alexander students. It is an enormously helpful way to get undoing and lengthening in the legs. Our legs and hip joints often tend to get very tight and tense, particularly with the amount of sitting in modern life. Saddle work can also help with lower back pain, particularly in the lumbar and sacro-iliac areas.

In fact, sitting in a saddle is often feels easier than sitting in a chair, as the balance is directly on the sitting bones. Also, excessive tensions in the legs and the hips can release, often including those we are unaware of. Often we are not even aware we are holding tensions unnecessarily. The Alexander Technique helps us get to the tensions even held below the radar.

For horse riders, practising on a wooden horse with hands on guidance by an Alexander teacher helps to get a sense of a good seat, without needing to grip with the legs, buttocks or back. And a wooden horse won’t respond to any riding signals so is a good opportunity for experimentation!

FM Alexander himself was a keen horseman, as was his assistant Walter Carrington. Today horse riding and Alexander Technique have close connections. See Back-in-the-saddle-thoughts-on-recovery-riding-and-the-alexander-technique written by one of our students, a rider.

The next HITE ‘Improve your Seat’ workshop is from 1:30 – 4:30pm on Saturday 6^th October at 10 Harley Street, London W1G 9PF. Designed especially for riders, you will gain insights and experiences through the application of the Alexander Technique on how you can find a comfortable posture and even seat on the saddle and discover a more harmonious connection with your horse. For further information and to book your place click on Improve Your Seat – Riding and Alexander Technique Workshop today.

Riding a horse is so fun and out of the ordinary for me that I totally forget about being right – for a few moments. Yesterday I had my second riding lesson in classical dressage with the amazing Elizabeth Reese and Sadie, her beautiful horse, at Cloverdale Farm in Warwick, NY.

Sadie is a great-grand-daughter of Secretariat!

MEET SADIE:

Elizabeth gives private lessons in the Alexander Technique and classical dressage, and also is part of a team leading clinics in Postural Rehabilitation for horses and dogs. Her work with horses has profoundly affected how she teaches the AT, and the AT has profoundly affected how she works with horses.

Yesterday I learned that the most important thing when riding is to STAY ON THE HORSE! Seems simple right? But my natural response, when Sadie started to move, was to stiffen my arms and my back and pull back on the reins. It was like being on a rolling mountain! Plus when my butt started to get sore I wanted to lift up and shift around in the saddle. Unfortunately, stiffening and shifting around results in what Walter Carrington called “punishing collisions with the earth” and the horse – and a sense of disconnection which makes it hard for the horse to know where you are.

Sadie is so sweet (and practical) that if you stiffen or shift too much, she will just stop and wait until you get your bearings again. She never ignores you. You could say that “right” is your connection to the horse.

Once I found my balance and was able to stop bracing, my pelvis reconnected with Sadieʻs back. She could feel my weight, and I could feel the ground through her whole body – the powerful spring of her feet against the earth  - and I felt stable enough to stop pulling back on the reins. Liz would say “focus your attention on where the ground is. Itʻs the one thing that you and the horse have in common.” The split second I shifted my attention to the ground, Sadie sprang into forward motion! IT WAS AN INCREDIBLE FEELING, like being on a mountain as it transforms itself into a wave!

The right way to ride a horse is always changing!

THE RIGHT WAY: (CLARE!)

ANOTHER RIGHT WAY: (MEET ELIZABETH!)

Yesterday, I really didn’t do much, perhaps I blow back after my being broke two days ago. I was supposed to have published this two days ago, but the lazy version of me hasn’t stopped playing his tricks. I may tryna blow town, run to Egypt maybe, just a little scared of them AKs and RPGs, coz it looks like if they can’t get them checked lately, they nuke ‘em. My grandpapa wasn’t blown by the Biafran commandos, I wouldn’t wanna be blown off for another 60years either. Enough said, I have plans…

Few days to go to that visa interview at the almighty US embassy on Walter Carrington in Victoria Island, right? Doesn’t sound like a good choice of number I guess, but I bet my optimism isn’t drunk yet! Easy way in, easy way out, would probably be like picking stucked remains of a chewed gorilla out of her a Lion’s canine with a wooden toothpick. I’m sure whoever the agent is, he or she is gonna love me, chew some cool looking PKs, brush my teeth horribly and make sure I go with that killer smile… *winks*

12:45PM, I really need to sleep now, so I guess it’s later then. Sweet Dreams to me, even if you don’t wish it!