Centered Riding Clinic Group Lessons Recap

Friday - Sunday, April 8-10, 2011

Each group on the different days of the Centered Riding Clinic, that I attended in Kansas, had slightly different exercises, as well as a slightly different focus, for their lessons.

Topics and exercises we discussed and performed were:

Leg Release and letting go of tension.

Sitting forward on the seat bones, then dropping the spine and back down into the seat. Think of flash lights pointing straight down from Seat Bones.

Posting effortlessly from the Center - allowing the Center to post you.

Following Seat and feeling the movement of the horse. What motion do you feel? Pedal backwards.

Feeling the steps at the walk and trot, and counting the steps the horse took during each breath.

Soft Eyes vs. Hard Eyes. Where is the level of your gaze.

Broken Line through cones, walking and trotting between cones, breathing, and with soft eyes, turning shoulders through turns.

Turning with Center and shoulders - think eyes in front of shoulders. What do your legs do when you turn? Inside knee opens and outside leg comes on the horse.

Center - with a circle inside the Center. How big is your Center?

As horse walks, give and take with reins and have horse stretch and reach down.

Heavy Elbows and follow walk with lower arms and elbows. Our Center is connected to our hands. Our elbows are shock absorbers.

Barber Pole in the corners at the trot, thinking of a V, and stretching out the sides of your rib cage as you post, for a “Diagonal Connection”.

Find Bubbling Spring on foot, and feel grounded in the stirrup.

Walking in Half Seat (2 Point) position with walking the knees and Dancing Knees.

Posting Trot, feeling the weight in the knees, alternating.

Horses mirror our bodies. Where are we tense and where are they tense?

Prepare for down transitions by spinning Center slower and down yet walk with forward motion.

Hip Circle exercise - on the ground, make a circle with the toes.

Building energy in the Center, while keeping the Center low.

Halts, with Center and Breath.

Ride with a Bubble around you, with Soft Eyes and Breathing.

Think Diagonal line from outside shoulder to inside Seat Bones. Notice other diagonal. Which is easier to imagine. Change direction.

Move your Center to move your horse.

2 point over logs.

Clear Intent - want to turn left, think left.

Release when horse stops. Breathe deep into Center, Exhale deep into Seat Bones, ask for the stop, and release.

Relax your jaw by running your tongue around the bottom set of teeth, then upper set, then write your name, in cursive, on the roof of your mouth. The horse relaxes too!

Half Halts, move on to walk or to trot.

Arm stretches while mounted. Opening up chest. Raising shoulders up. Arms overhead and turn palms out to lower arms slowly.

The inside hand feels the rhythm of the walk.

Walk the arena, staying to the outside of the 4 cones that are set in the corners.

Inside ring finger squeezes the rein, prepares the horse, flexes the horse around the turn.

Think of a Carousel Horse pole as you turn a corner.

Alternate leg aids as the horse walks.

Use outside leg muscles and relax inside leg muscles.

Allow Center to rise for a bigger, extended trot.

Lope from your Center.

Allow the knee to drop.

Drive from behind with the Following Seat.

Recycle the Energy from the horse’s front to the horse’s back.

Rider’s Remarks after Group Lessons:

Horse relaxed when everything came together.

Guide the horse better when looking more with the rider shoulder.

Larger walk when there is more energy coming from the Center.

Keeping a trotting tempo. With shorter posting strides, think and post “up”, with quick strides, think “down”, meaning sit deeper on the down part of the post.

Dropping our weight down in our back, picturing the Alligator tail down, stabilizes ourselves in the saddle.

Ground the outside foot.

Feeling grounded and secure.

Using the Center more.

Having a stronger connection to the horse.

Think what you want the horse to do, not what the horse can’t do. Don’t turns into “do this”.

Lift the shoulders up while turning into the corners.

Transitions become smoother as you Center and Grow, lifting up the shoulders and rib cage.

Posting becomes softer with a taller, but relaxed, back.

Remember the pieces of info you want to keep, do the right thing, and stay with it.

Felt a difference in the Following Seat when I dropped my Alligator tail.

Warmed up, thinking of the X, moving from Center up to shoulder during posting.

Centered Riding Clinic Day 1 Group Lesson

I started off the lesson with leg work. When the legs are relaxed, the pelvis is in position, and the lower back is able to sink down into alignment. The seat becomes deeper and more secure. This is a wonderful feeling.

To ground the outside foot, we did an exercise that isn’t a Centered Riding exercise. We lifted our arms out to the side and did windmills. Turning from the waist, we stretched one arm out front and the other towards the tail, and slowly looked at the tail. Then we changed the arms, bringing the arm that was towards the tail, back towards the head of the horse, and the other arm towards the tail. We looked towards the tail from the other direction, slowly. This helps to stretch out the back and engage the hip joint.

We walked using our “Following Seat”. We worked on spinning our Center, backwards and faster, to move our horses into a longer, freer stride. We added the trot and posted, using only our Center to post. On the corners, we did the “Barber Pole”. We worked on the wrong diagonal and spiraled our posting upwards as we rounded the corners, as well as grounded our outside foot. We squeezed the outside leg as we were sitting, doing this since we were in the wrong diagonal. On the correct diagonal, we maintained the grounded outside foot.

We practiced an exercise to get the correct bend in our horses. 2 cones are in each corner, set at an angle to the corner and far enough away from the corner, so the horse can travel between the 2 cones or on the outside of the cones (between the cones and the arena wall). As you near the corners of the short end of the arena, ride your horse between the first set of cones on a slight bend, then ride your horse on the outside of the 2nd set of cones, asking for a bend to the inside while pushing or keeping the horse to the outside of the cones with your leg.

You may also add some outside rein to help move the horse over, as long as the horse has a bend in his/her body to the inside. Don't pull so much on the outside rein that the horse will look outside, as that will give an incorrect bend and cause the horse to drop the shoulder to the inside. Actually, when you do this, the horse will be in a very slight bend. and the horse will start to frame up. On the straight rail of the long sides of the arena, let go of the horse a little and let him stretch out.

At one point, Carol, the Instructor, told me to not turn with my shoulders so much. This is a habit from looking too far in advance where I am going. I need to look only a little past the corner, so that I don’t have too much turn in my body.

We worked on freeing up the horses and moving them out. I hope Shaggy is ready to move out today. His trot is great. His walk is sluggish, and I need to be able to transfer the energy from my center into his freer walk.

More later tonight after today’s clinic lesson! Have a great day!

Centered Riding Lesson

I'm at a Centered Riding Clinic this weekend, and yesterday afternoon, I had a private lesson. What a great feeling I had when the lesson was over

What a big difference this will make! Post from your Center. To do this, allow
the horse's movement to induce the post. In other words, don't try to post,
just let it happen.

If we're working on the post, then we know how to post. Now, just let the
horse's movement help you to post. And just think about only your center
posting.

I felt like I wasn't posting at all. My instructor, a level 3 CR instructor,
plus a Hunt Seat and Dressage instructor, said the difference was incredible. I
could have posted forever, it was so easy. And as I was letting my center and
the horse's movement do the posting, my horse started stretching out and down
with his neck.

It was so effortless. All I can say is to ride from your center, think about
your center as you are walking, trotting, posting, cantering, loping. Don't
overdo any motions. Just ALLOW them to happen!

and have fun while you figure this all out. remember, this is a journey! and
it takes a lifetime!

Yesterday's lesson should me, even more, that I need to breathe out and let go of the stressors of the day. This is just not a deep breath or two, this is a total relaxation of the body during the deep breaths.

I don't bring "life's moments" to my riding anymore. But the tensions may still be there. Yesterday, Carol did some leg work on me, while I was in the saddle, and it felt wonderfully to feel the legs totally relax, and "let go". It's hard to explain, but it's like a total emptying of anything tight within my legs, or in the body when you work on the body. It felt wonderful to feel the total relaxation. I could have gone to sleep, and that was just a minute of "hands on" relaxing ONE leg.

Later, when she did a little bit of pelvic work with me, and shifted my pelvis forward 1/8", even less, she had me release down into my lower back. She had me feel like I had an "aligator tail" at the end of my pelvis, and to drop that tail into the saddle, and into the ground. What a difference. I did feel very grounded. But I felt like I was on the front of my pelvic bones too much and I also felt "heavy in the cantle", which we don't want for CTR. Carol said that that was because it's our body's memory, which I know, and that the right thing may feel wrong until our body gets used to it. How right she is.

For example, you feel straight in the saddle, but looking in the mirror, you can tell you're leaning forward or backward. You feel right, but you are seeing yourself, and you're not straight. It will take time to have the right stuff feel right, when we have years of doing it wrong. We need to reteach muscle memory that right is RIGHT!

I'm off to my first day of Clinic. later...

"Embrace the Journey!" I'm wearing my bracelet today that has that quote on it!

B

Centered Riding Introductory Lesson

Sunday, August 22, 2010

I had a great group of riders here for a Centered Riding Introduction lesson Sunday morning. Three of the riders where new to me for lessons and 1 of the riders is already taking lessons from me. We started at 9 in the morning with exercises on the ground. Here is a brief report of how much we did in 2 1/2 hours!

We first had some stretching exercises. We worked on opening the chest muscles, both out and up.

We worked on having Soft Eyes and how much more you can see when you use soft eyes as compared to hard eyes. We broke out into pairs, with one person standing still and staring with hard eyes at something on the wall. The other person walked around them, and put a mark on the sand when they walked out of the view of the person who was staring. Then I had that person take a deep breath, and then used soft eyes without staring. Their partner walked around them again, and remarked an area in the sand when they walked out of view. Each time, the person could see at least a foot further with soft eyes.

We worked on deep Breathing and how to do that. I think breathing deep and using your diaphragm is one of those things that you hear about but don't do unless you are a singer and have been taught how to breathe deeply. Everyone only moved their chest when they breathed. I had them put a hand on their belly, and breathed as deep as they could, making an effort to fill their lungs with as much air as they could. This will cause the diaphragm, the largest muscle in the body, to push down, which causes your belly to move.

We talked about out Building Blocks and how to balance our bodies, starting with our head and working down. Our head weighs 8-14 #, and tipping it slight forward puts that much more weight on the horse’s withers and front end. Tipping our head back puts the weight on the back part of the horse’s back or loin. We rocked our head back and forth, and side to side, to find that point where our head is balanced. I find it interesting that every time I do this, I look a few inches higher than I did before.

Then we talked about out Center, where our center is, how our center moves, and how to relate that while on the horse. We have an imaginary ball within our center, spinning at the speed the horse is moving. We can regulate the speed of the horse but slowing or speeding up our center’s motion.

Clear Intent is riding with a purpose and we didn't talk about that except to mention it. During lessons, I talk about having a plan or purpose about where you want the horse to go.

We Grounded our feet, and talked about where to place our foot in the stirrup, which is usually a little further back than where we traditionally put the stirrup. Each person grounded their own feet, finding where that spot is on the bottom of their foot where they feel a “zing” up into their leg. Unless they are like me, and I only feel a dullness.

We did the same exercises on the horse. I Grounded everyone's feet, so they felt that place again on the bottom of their foot. They felt the sole of their foot in the stirrup.

We worked on Balance, starting with balancing our heads and where we are looking. We balanced our upper bodies, rocking back and forth until we found that spot where we weren’t rocking any more. We “woke up” our leg joints, by doing some leg stretches. We rotated our ankles, we moved our legs up and down, we stretched our knees by marching, and the hardest stretch, moving a straight leg from the hip joint. You need to swing your leg slowly, as when I do this, I can feel a “catch” in my hip. We repeated the arm and chest stretching exercises on the horse.

We found our Center and our Neutral Pelvis. We placed one hand in front of us, thumb on our belly and fingers pointing down. The other hand was on our lower back, directly in line with the first hand. Then we felt our hip joint as we swung our leg. By imagining a line between the hip joint and the center of our hands, we found our Center.

To sit balanced, we should be sitting on our seat bones. To find this area, we placed first one leg, than the other, onto the pommel. Slowly dropping each leg and picking up stirrups, we are now sitting correctly. I also did a hip release on 1 rider, showing the correct alignment for the leg. I showed the riders how they can do a hip release by themselves.

We worked on the Following Seat, allowing the horse to move freely and to feel the movement. Imagine a ball in our center, spinning backwards, and imagine the size of the ball. To increase the speed of the walk, imagine the ball growing, spinning larger and faster. To slow the horse's motion down, spin the ball in your center slower and decrease the size. To maintain a slowness but with an extended stride, imagine a large ball spinning slowly. Every now and then, I reminded the riders to use Soft Eyes and Breathe.

We worked at the trot, posting while using our leg joints. While in a revised seat, standing balanced in our stirrups, we worked on allowing the ankle, knee and hip joints to take up the movement of the trot. By doing so, there will be less stress on our joints, allowing our bodies to move with the horse. We worked on Dancing Knees, allowing our knees to move while the horse trotted.

At the end of the 2 ½ hour lesson, 3 of the riders practiced the lope. I had one of the riders practice loping off with their center, by thinking of sending her center forward in time with the horse’s hind leg. I had her maintain a feeling of sitting up as she loped. I wanted her to lope with a feeling of “up” through each stride when the hind leg pushed off and into another lope stride. By just thinking up, the rider had a more correct and gracefulness to her body. It was exciting to see the change in the horse‘s movement also, as he maintained a more collective stride.

Each rider worked at their own level within each of the basics. That is exactly
why Centered Riding works for all disciplines and all riders. Everyone is a
different point in their riding skills but you can work on the exercises and
maneuvers at every level of ability.

I'm excited that 2 of the riders were new to me and they are continuing lessons.
One of the riders wants to continue lessons and learn how to work with desensitizing her horse and to ride balanced if her horse should be jumpy while riding. I can't wait to have my next group lesson!

Click here to check our more about Centered Riding.

The journey has begun for a few more riders!

“Embrace the Journey!”

Centered Riding Lesson with an Adult Beginner Rider

Friday, September 4, 2009

I had a Centered Riding lesson with an adult who is new to horses, new to Centered Riding, and new to riding with me for lessons. When she called for a lesson, she said she had just received the Centered Riding book for her birthday, which was during the week that she called! What a coincidence! Then during the lesson, we found we had many similarities (except our age! Lol I‘m a “few“ years older!) I found out that she had a degree in a field in the horse industry as do I, and she was also interested in horse massage. I graduated in Agriculture in Animal Production and I am an Equine Massage Therapist.

I had a great lesson with this new rider. I enjoy having lessons with adults who wanted to learn, who are excited to be here, and who understand, or try to understand what is new to them, and what is being taught. She worked hard on understanding exactly how her body was moving. I look forward to my adult lesson group, which will be starting soon.

Since this rider was new to me for lessons, we started the lesson time with meeting her horse, Starlet, and grooming and saddling. We also started with a few exercises on the ground, especially with finding the correct seat position by finding the neutral pelvis. Once we mounted, I started with Grounding the feet, as I believe this gives you a deep feeling in the stirrup. Grounding gives you a feeling of stability, and makes you feel that you are connected to the horse and to the ground. When I grounded her feet, she felt the “grounding”, the feeling, up through her legs to her knees. Whereas with me, I have no sensation in my foot or up my leg, and I just have a duller feeling. I did a final adjustment to the stirrup length.

While sitting still on the horse, I had her rock her pelvis back and forth to find her neutral pelvis. We also worked on soft eyes and hard eyes. She understood this well, as she said it was hard for her to focus on just one spot. She has great peripheral vision already.

She sat very straight, and I needed her to relax her back. Since she has not ridden my horse, Starlet, before, I wanted her to walk around and just get a feel for the horse. But instantly, I noticed that she was trying to sit proper, and was stiff through her back. When I asked her to relax, she said she wanted to make sure she was doing everything right. I decided we needed some breathing exercises. She actually already knew how to breathe deep since she studied some music. We talked about exhaling and relaxing. As she exhaled, relax the lower back. Get the feeling that you would have if you laid on the floor and pushed your back flat against the floor. I had to laugh when she told me she felt sloppy, and she was still sitting tall.

Once again we went to the rail. I was riding Finny. We practiced breathing deeply in through our nose, and exhale, slowly, out our mouths. The quiet exhale is a way to quiet our horse. If we exhale loudly and quickly during riding, this is a cue for the horse to pick up momentum. If we exhale and push down into our seat, this is a cue for the horse to slow down or stop. Our breathing is important, and our inhale and exhale should not be taken for granted.

To continue the relaxation through our backs, I had her do some of the Centered Riding exercises. These exercises follow the Alexander Techniques, and I am excited to read the Alexander book that I just got. We did 3 or 4 arm exercises that open up our chests and lift our shoulders. Then we continued working on Seat Bone exercises. Oh, I think we know where they are when you do some of these exercises. We marched in place, first lifting one leg up then the other leg. Once again, I asked her to relax and ride the arena. I’m glad that I get instant feedback from her. Right away, she asked if the seat bones are suppose to hurt! Maybe some at first, but we worked on trying to find an area on the pelvic floor where it wouldn’t hurt. There is an area where you can sit, not just 1 precise spot. We rocked the pelvis back and forth, finding an area that was “less sensitive”! That seemed to help!

This rider also wanted to relax at the trot, which is why I had chosen Starlet for the first ride. When Starlet is really slow, she is extremely smooth! When a horse’s trot is smooth, you can allow your body to relax and feel the trot motion. It is very hard to do this, as a beginner rider, when the trot is rough! We worked on riding serpentines in the arena, so the rider could practice guiding Starlet. I wanted her to use her soft eyes as she made the turns and to look ahead as she turned. We practiced the serpentines at the walk and at the trot. This sounds easy, but try it with deep breathing, inhaling and exhaling deeply, and soft eyes, and staying grounded, and sitting on your seat bones, and relaxing. Yes, this will all become natural soon!

This rider is a natural, as soon after all of this, she was loping Starlet. I did have to get on Starlet and remind her how to lope nice. My horses really do need a job soon!

Another lesson is scheduled in 2 weeks, when we both have a Friday morning free. Then she will be ready to join the adult group. She just wanted to be comfortable with the horses and my style of riding.

Everyone rides in the group at their own pace. If you ever wanted to practice, ride with a group, or even start riding, come now and ride with us. I have adult riders at all levels and skills. (Kids ride at a different time!) And adults love to socialize.

I’m excited for my next lessons. I’m excited for this cooler weather and getting my horse to the field. I’m excited for fall riding! I love the crispness! Come along on these rides with me!

Centered Riding Lessons during Week-long Lessons

June, 2009

As soon as I returned home from the Centered Riding Instructors Course in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, I had 2 weeks of weeklong morning lessons with 4-5 youth each day. The weeklong lessons during the summer are different than the regular lessons. I incorporate more games into the summer sessions rather than just teach horsemanship and pleasure like I do during their regular lessons.

Week-long morning sessions are 3 hours long. When the youth first arrive, we tie the horse with a quick release knot, and show them how to safely move around the horses. We never going under the tie rope to cross in front of the horse while the horse is tied. For new riders who haven’t come for lessons before, we show them how to curry and brush, especially checking the top of the back, the withers, and the girth area for dirt. They groom their horses, learning about health and hoof care and safety. The youth learn to saddle, first adjusting the saddle pad, making sure to protect the wither area. They learn the cinch knot, first just snugging up the girth lightly as to not make the horse cinchy and irritated by the girth. After we walk the horse to the arena, we tighten the girth. The riders mount, using a step stool as to not pull the saddle off balance, and we adjust the stirrups.

During the first ride session, I grounded the rider’s feet. I tapped on the bottom of their foot, asking them to tell me when the tap felt a little different on a part of their foot. Some of the youth could tell the difference, some couldn’t. Some felt a little dull, some felt a ting. I asked the ones that couldn’t feel a difference, if their foot felt different in the stirrup. I had hoped that they could feel the “whole foot” be part of the stirrup, not just the toe or middle part of the foot.

We worked on riding in a bubble. I think they liked this the best! I think that they could actually picture an invisible bubble around them (like a gigantic bumble gum bubble or from the jars of bubbles that you blow!). With soft eyes, they walked over and around logs, being careful not to get into anyone else’s bubble. Then we rode in our bubble at the trot. We rode over the logs again and in small circles at the trot. We changed directions while staying in our own bubble.

We worked on trotting and posting and 2 pointing. We worked on sitting the trot and getting the correct diagonal when we started posting. We worked on the correct body position, whether we were sitting the trot, posting or 2 pointing.

As the kids worked on relaxing and breathing, the horses relaxed. Towards the end of the week, we worked on individually working a trail course. The key was to breathe and stay relaxed. Remembering to use soft eyes, looking for the next obstacle.

The kids are having fun and I plan on using more of the Centered Riding Techniques in my lessons with them.

Centered Riding Lesson with Sara

June 13, 2009

I have just completed the first part of the Level 1 Centered Riding Instructors Course. I left Steamboat Springs and headed back to Nunn, CO, via Laramie, Wyoming. Back up and over Rabbit Ears Pass and passing the Continental Divide sign. Eyes straight ahead, not looking over those edges! Especially since I ran into some rain going over the pass!

Sara lives northeast of Fort Collins, CO. She, her husband Jake, and 6 month old daughter Makenzie, live on 8 acres with 3 Quarter Horses, 2 Heelers and 1 German Shorthair, a cat, and many pigeons that they are raising. I traveled with my horse, Finny, and Sara has a round pen that I can keep him in while I visit for a day.

Sara wanted to have me show her what I have been learning. Since having the baby, she hasn’t had as much time as she would have wanted to exercise her horses. She has been riding Peaches and Roz, but she likes to lunge them down first. We had put Makenzie down for a nap, and we decided to use Finny for a lesson with Sara. Sara has a very knowledgeable background with horses. She showed for many years as a youth, studied equine science in college, and was on the college equestrain team as well as the horse judging team. (Her judging team won Congress and placed 2nd at the World Show. What an achievement for her!)

I showed her a few things while we were in the house. I grounded her feet, talked about soft eyes, and breathing deep. I showed her the idea of tipping the pelvis as if a ball was rolling back and forth.

We saddled Finny but I didn’t bridle him as I thought I would only show Sara a few things. We ended up having more time as Makenzie took a long nap! I started from the beginning and grounded Sara’s feet. I wanted her to feel her whole foot in the stirrup. I did a hip release and she could feel the difference. I told her to start out with small changes as her body may not be used to the stretch and we don’t want to make her sore. She had some back trouble since having the baby and recently had gone to the chiropractor. I didn’t want her back to start hurting if we did too many changes too fast.

Sara rode Finny with the lead rope attached to both sides of Finny’s halter. I talked again about riding with Soft Eyes and using your peripheral vision to see all around you. We talked about breathing deep through the abdomen, and exhaling out so that the horse can hear the exhale. As you breathe, so does your horse.

As Sara walked Finny, I showed her how to find her seat bones by rolling her pelvis back and forth. Another exercise is to sit with the legs up on the pommel and slowly lowering them and picking up the stirrups. You can raise and lower one leg at a time if you are uncomfortable putting both legs on the pommel at the same time.

We worked on walking the knees, which is a great exercise to start allowing the body to relax, and allowing the hip, knee, and ankle joints to move and absorb the motion of the horse. Sara said she had some knee discomfort, but after she allowed her whole leg to move with the horse, her knee felt better. I explained to her that when she worked on allowing her joints to move more, her horse will have a better movement. Our relaxation in our joints will allow our horse to relax. The horse will begin stretching his hind leg deeper under his body and will begin to have more freedom in his movement.

Sara needs to work on allowing her body to move, just as I do. The many years of showing horsemanship and being taught to not move is a hard habit to break. Our bodies have a memory too. The easiest way I found to allow the leg joints to move was while I was trotting in 2 point position. Concentrate on being relaxed and allow the knee to take the motion of the horse.

Sara rode at the trot. First, sitting and feeling the motion of the horse in her knees, and trying to see the knees raise and lower as the horse moves. Then moving up to the trot, and while in 2 point, allowing the body to relax. Once you realize that the legs can move and absorb the movement, it becomes easier and easier to relax and feel the motion in the joints. Once you can let the joints take all the movement, you will not have sore legs, knees, ankles, thighs!

Sara was excited to do what she has always done with the horses, but now to ride in a centered, relax style. Even though she is a relaxed rider, and is very comfortable with what she is doing with the horses, she feels like she is even more relaxed and secure in the saddle. She can see how being centered will help her ride reining horses.

And I am excited to have done my first lesson immediately after my Instructors Course! I love teaching what works! I love showing people the techniques and seeing the results in a short time. If you are open to change, then you can change. You just never realize what your body can do until you try!

This is an amazing journey and I am so happy that Sara is along on the journey with me. Makenzie will be, too, as soon as she can sit in a saddle and be safe. Come along on the journey with us!

Centered Riding Lesson

I was so excited after the Centered Riding Introductory Clinic at my barn in March, that I knew that I wanted to learn more about Centered Riding! I had bought Sally Swift’s book a long time ago and had read it, but had forgotten about it. I dug the book back out to re-read. Now I need to get Centered Riding 2!

After thinking about the difference that I felt that this style of riding would make in my life, I signed up for another Centered Riding Clinic, this time in Kansas! I know that something has clicked in me to make me realize that this style of riding is going to make me a better rider and a better instructor. Realizing this, I decided to sign up for the Centered Riding Instructors Course in June and August in Colorado!

With just an introductory course, an open clinic, and now a private lesson under my belt, I already feel more relaxed. I feel like a light bulb has gone on in my life. I feel like what I am searching for, I have found. At least I have found the beginning, as from what I have already learned of Centered Riding, it is an ongoing journey! A journey of knowledge, of continuing education, of lessons and clinics, both participating in and giving, and of helping people!!!

I loved my private lesson. I could focus on what Finny and I needed, not only to compete at our CTR the very same weekend, but to become a better team. I want each of us to be willing partners. Each of us needs to learn to relax in our own way. Soft eyes and breathing deep within the body is a start. Understanding how the body responds when we think or move a certain way is a start. Having my body consciously make an effort to change what I am doing to have Finny react in a positive, relaxing way is a start, and to accomplish this is the ultimate goal!

When the lesson first starts, I walk the arena, allowing relaxation to come to my body and to Finny, while Carol observes. We work on what is needed at the moment. One or two things at a time, not 20. As we work on one area, other areas just fall into place.

“Walk in the Following Seat” is an exercise to feel the seat bones. You should feel the backward peddling of the seat bones. First at the walk, and then at the trot. Smaller circles and larger circles, depending on how fast you want the horse to go. You can slow the movement of the horse by peddling your seat bones, and your center, backwards.

I have a hard time with upper body sway going downhill at the CTRs. Carol had me on the mini trampoline at the clinic, walking in place. This is the same sensation as what my feet would be doing as I walked downhill on the trail. At this lesson, we worked on “Dancing Knees”. As we walk and trot, I focused on the movement of my knees. I felt my knees rise and fall in time with each foot fall.

I worked on the “3 Seats at the Trot”, the 2 point, sitting and posting the trot. From 2 point for a few strides, to sitting for a few strides, to rising into the post for a few strides, then repeating the transitions. If your feet are grounded, this should be easy transitions. I will work on getting the transitions every 2 strides.

I have a lot of log obstacles at the CTR’s. I worked on using my “Center” for leg yields. I did a few arena exercises, moving to and from the wall, using leg yields in both directions. I would first ask with my center and my seat bones, then add my leg cues. As I became more in rhythm with my horse, the yields became easier and effortless. As I moved up to a log to work on the side pass, I stayed focused on the end result - where I was going to - with soft eyes! As I took the focus away from the log directly beneath my leg, and looked at the log at the end, and stayed aware of the whole area with soft eyes, Finny moved across the log at ease in a very pretty side pass!

We are getting it! I want him to be relaxed when he is asked to work an obstacle. I want him not to be so worried, or anxious about what lays ahead. It will be all right! But how do you translate that feeling to the horse? I started breathing deeper, and blowing out on the exhale, to let me horse feel the movement of the breath.

I find that it is the understanding and realization of what my body is doing as I work on the exercises that I fully want to comprehend. How does my hips move, what are my knees doing, are my shoulders up and back, where are my feet? Is my horse responding? What is my center telling me? I want to know what my soul is telling me also. Is this right for me? Do I feel centered? Do I feel at peace?

Come along on this journey with me! I am excited and I know you would be, too!

Using Centered Riding with my Lesson kids!

After my weekend of the Centered Riding Clinic, I was able to put my newly learned knowledge to work the following Monday. Three of my teenage lesson kids came for their morning long lesson. They are a great group, and will be my guinea pigs all summer!

I started the morning lesson with teaching about “soft eyes”. The girls found that it was amazing how much they could “see”. One of the girls knew that the arena was tree lined, but she said she never realized that the trees were as tall as they were! Another girl, who has only had 3 lessons with me, said she was much more relaxed. The 3rd girl said that she was more aware of her horse.

We practiced the deep breathing to relax. We rode with “hard eyes” and then “soft eyes” to feel the difference in our breathing, in our focus, and to see how our horses relaxed or tensed. Once the girls rode with more soft eyes, the horses began lowering their necks.

The girls had fun “riding in their bubble”. They each took a turn practicing going over the poles. Then I had 2 girls ride over the poles in their bubble. Then the 3rd girl joined them. As they were comfortable at the walk, they rode the arena, still in their bubble, at the trot. They rode much more confidently.

We rode for an 1 1/2 hours and the time flew by! I asked the girls to keep a journal this summer. I asked them to write about what they did each lesson, how they felt, what was new, and if they had any “ah ha” moments. Moments when the light bulb went on. We will call these “LB” moments!

I asked the girls to share any thoughts that they had. They all agreed that they were much more aware of everything. They felt that they could relax the horses easier. They felt like they were much more relaxed when they rode.

It is amazing how much more aware, of everything, that you are once you start seeing with soft eyes! I think the girls had fun! And I am excited to show them more! Come along on the ride with us!