  
|
||||
             |
Putting Fun and Joy Back Into Your Riding When did riding become so
serious and such hard work? If you sometimes feel the same way, let me assure you that the answer to these problems is always simpler than you think – and certainly simpler than most expert recommendations. Like my students, you don’t need fancy equipment or expensive osteopathic or veterinary care. Chances are, you’re simply trying too hard. And trying too hard means trying to force things to happen. Last month, I described how your natural physical one-sidedness plus the daily stresses and traumas in your life make heavy demands on your body. And your body responds with a specific set of reflexes. As you try to force things to happen, those reflexes create habitual muscular contractions – contractions you can’t voluntarily relax. This causes stiffness and discomfort, as anyone who’s felt the soreness of tension in their shoulders and neck can attest. Less force = more success AND more fun Slow down!
Annie, my youngest
student slowing down to think and develop
her innate power, by simply
directing her focus to her inner sensations, letting
relaxation and pleasure
guide her choices. Children find this training simple because it is
so natural and logical. Take the time to focus on what’s actually happening instead of on what you think should be happening. If you want to get to London, it helps to know if you’re starting out in Paris or New York. Your route – and your chances of arriving in the right place – will be significantly different. Likewise, if you want (for instance) to develop independent hands and a sensitive contact with your horse’s mouth, it helps to take the time to discover what your arms and shoulders are currently doing before trying to make changes. In other words, no matter whether it’s a trip to London or a journey to a more successful, less stressful riding experience, you have to know where you’re starting from. I personally guarantee you that you can discover what it means to work harmoniously with your horse. No matter what level you’re riding at, if you slow down, relax, and develop your ability to observe and feel what’s happening, your riding will improve. Specifically, you’ll find yourself:
The early beginnings of struggle In school, we’re taught ideas of right and wrong and judged by external experts to whom we surrender our inner sense of adequacy and autonomy. Movement learned in this way is tainted by muscular contractions linked to shame, anxiety, and inadequacy. And then you innocently and unconsciously transfer this mindset – and body-set – to your horse. To develop your innate power, simply direct your focus to your inner sensations, letting relaxation and pleasure guide your choices. Does stretching make you more flexible? When you use your body in the way it’s mechanically designed to work, it naturally starts to organise itself well. You become more flexible – and contrary to most people’s beliefs, you do this by relaxing your muscles, not by stretching them.
(This doesn’t mean you have to be in agony or in conflict! It’s just the technical term for how muscles work with each other.) In this illustration, the hamstrings (in red) act as the agonist muscle when the knee bends. The quadriceps (in green) are the antagonist. Stretching a muscle – especially when you hold the stretch for extended periods of time – sends a signal to the brain. The brain then fires up a counter-contraction in the antagonistic muscles to the ones being stretched. So the longer you hold the hamstring stretch, the tighter the quadricep becomes in reaction. Stretching becomes a battle between your muscles’ natural responses and your will – and ultimately restricts movement, robbing you of your inherent physical power. On the other hand, when you work in a body-friendly way with light, easy movements that tap into your nervous system’s inherent wisdom, the muscles stop contracting. They naturally become longer, you become more flexible, and you gain control and choice over your movements. To have a soft hand on the rein, you need to be aware of what muscles you’re using. In gaining awareness of your arm, hand, and hips, you easily develop an independent hand – which is much kinder on your horse’s mouth and on your own body. Training should be fun!
On the other hand, when movement is associated with pain, discomfort, shame, or embarrassment, you won’t spontaneously go there again – and neither will your horse. What would it be like to enjoy moving with your horse, noticing how he’s moving and how you’re responding to that movement? What would it be like to unlock your body so you can respond to your horse’s movements? When you approach training from this perspective, gently changing your habitual ways of doing things, you start to make changes in your own brain and nervous system and in your horse’s. And then it’s just a matter of time – enjoyable, fun, and productive time – for riding to become more and more effortless. And then there’s the
horse. Two of my students comparing notes on their last lesson! Just as you become aware of how your own body moves, so you will also become aware of how your horse’s body moves – and how the two of you naturally move together, horse and rider as a single physical entity. For instance, when you see and feel what’s happening in the horse’s stride, you can see why – as Dr. Gerd Heuschmann points out – “If you use your legs when the horse’s hind leg is standing and bearing weight, the only effect you get is to make the horse dead to the leg, and the whole trunk becomes stiff.” On the other hand, notice that as the horse’s left hind leaves the ground, the right fore is coming back. You can see this happen, even before you develop the sensitivity in your legs that will tell you without looking. Then you can apply your leg aids with awareness of where the horse is in his stride – and you’ll immediately notice how much more effective your aids are. As Dr. Heuschmann emphasizes, “It goes back to the natural biomechanical movement. For example, when the muscles pull the left hind forwards, the left side contracts and the trunk swings to the right. And vice versa. If you’re quiet, you can pick up this rhythm of riding in walk and trot. It’s so simple. The experts like to make us think it’s difficult, but it’s not difficult at all. It’s easy to understand the biomechanics if you want to. It’s easy if you slow down and take the time to feel riding, not just do it.” This approach works Thousands of my clients have experienced what they’ve described as “a magic wand” resolution to their schooling issues. As one rider exclaimed, “This new, calm power is very exciting! I’m thrilled with us, it really feels like Con is coming on in leaps and bounds, and I feel much more effective and able to help him out. I am at peace with the world and grateful to you for making the world a better place.” On my website, you can find a free Correction in Movement™ lesson that will help you start relaxing, learning what it means to be at ease with your own body and your horse’s body – and start having fun in your training. Why do it on your own? Don’t let your to-do list, your fear, anger, sadness, or your past struggles keep you from doing the most important work of all: doing the best for your horse in training. Your horse will thank you – and so will your body and your sense of fun and enjoyment. After all, if it turns out you prefer being serious, working hard, and struggling, you can always go back to it after trying my Correction in Movement process. But I’m betting the results you’ll experience will make you as enthusiastic as Kathy Young, who wrote, “After only three lessons with Joni, a lifetime of unanswered questions, misguided tuition, lame horses and an aging body….I have found the skills to retrain my body to become symmetrical, which miraculously is straightening my horses without gadgets or force, giving the feeling of true harmony. What a find!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Never lose hope, I nearly did!” |
|
||
|
All rights reserved. Tel 01442 402756 mobile 07771811561 |
||||
Muscles
fall into two basic groups called “agonists” and “antagonists.”
Think
of a horse gracefully piaffing around a field, full of high spirits
and the joy of living. His body puts itself into perfect
organisation. It’s so perfect that the whole point of
dressage is to emulate it – something I think we tend to forget.
Foals do dressage without any training; it’s natural and fun for
them.