Western Dressage Group

A group met on Friday evening at a local barn to watch Dressage Demos and set up a schedule to have a monthly meeting.  This is a group of Western Dressage, so you can use whatever tack is comfortable for you and your horse.  We will learn basic dressage in a fun environment!

Our fun loving, informative instructor, Dara,

my co-organizer Jennifer! Thanks so much for the wonderful idea and group gathering!

 Gathering time with Pizza,

and Introductions.

Talking about schedules and when to meet for our lessons.

Jamie's daughter, Jayda, enjoyed herself too!

 We watched demos in the arena.

and covered with blankets to stay warm!

I could not get very good action shots in the indoor arena.  Even though this is out of focus, can you see the great movement!

This was a 17.2 H horse!  Just gorgeous!

Are you a Balanced Rider

Why do you think you are not a balanced rider? What is not in balance? Your upper body? Your lower body? Or an individual part of your body? Your legs? Your head? Your right or left shoulder?

One of the Centered Riding Basics is Building Blocks. The alignment, that we were all taught in 4-H or basic riding lessons, still applies. Back of ear, through your shoulders and hips, to the back of the heel. A straight line from your shoulder, hip to your heel. But what is also just as important is the ear.

How much do you think your head weighs? 2#? 5#? 10#? How about 10-12# for an adult! That is a lot of weight that can throw your whole upper body off balance. And where do most people go when they are thrown off balance? Forward, over the horse’s neck.

Even if you are not thrown off balance, but you are constantly looking down, where did the weight go? Forward. And down. Down onto your horses withers and shoulders to the front legs.

As I’ve been doing lessons the past few weeks, I have concentrated on balancing the head of the rider, as well as the rest of the body. It is amazing how much more you look UP after you have balanced your head. First, look straight ahead, and look at a point on the wall. Remember where this point is, because we will come back to that point to see if we are still looking at it.

We start to balance our head by tipping the head side to side, first one way than the other, slowly. Each time we go from side to side with out head, we tip our head a little less each time, until we settle into the middle. Then we balance our head from front to back. First touching our chin to our chest, than slowly leaning our head back. We tip our head a little less each time, until we settle into the middle.

Where are you looking now? Every time I do this myself, I am always looking a few inches higher. Another thing that I have realized this past month, as I’m doing the exercises along with the lesson people, is that I’m not as stiff in the neck and shoulder area as I used to be. I still am a little tight behind one shoulder blade, but as I do the stretches, I can tell that my body is starting to relax and to stay in proper alignment.

Another exercise that I feel has been helping with the head alignment is a vertical stretch of our arms. First, let’s get our soft eyes and take a couple of deep breaths. As we stretch, we will breathe deep. Breathe in through your nose, fill up your lungs, so that the air pushes down onto the diaphragm and your stomach moves. Exhale through your mouth. Breathe deep a couple of times.

Now, with your hands on top of your shoulders, and your eyes soft, breathe in deeply. Try this now, sitting in your chair. First put both feet flat on the floor, shoulder width apart. Look straight ahead and see where you are looking.

Now, as you breathe in deeply, slowly straighten your arms upward, then as your breathe out slowly through your mouth, turn your palms out, with palms down as you slowly lower your arms to the sides of your body. (Turning your palms down as you lower your arms is important so there is no twist on the bones in your arms.) Repeat 2 more times, slowly, deep breathing and with soft eyes. Where are you looking? I am looking about 2” higher than I was looking before doing the exercise. On a horse, looking at the arena wall, I may look 6” higher, depending on how far the wall is.

We always want to move our joints slowly, to allow the tight muscles and ligaments to stretch without causing them any harm. And as always, if you feel any pain or discomfort, stop stretching. If the pain or discomfort continues, please see a doctor (I almost said vet! Lol).

I am interested in what you are thinking so I can help you. Do you tend to lean one way? Do you feel like you're not sitting straight? Where are your muscles tight? What gets sore when you ride?

I’ll move on to balancing the shoulders and more upper body exercises next.

Come along on the journey!

Teaching the Lope

July 15, 2010
Part 1

I was exhausted the day after the lope lesson. I think the 4 days of having a vendor booth at State 4-H in the rain and humidity did me in. Then my lesson day started at 6 am, with lessons at 7. I’m still tired, but not as tired as last night. But the way I feel tonight, I still may not get this done. But I will start and post Part 2 tomorrow.

We worked on preparing for the lope. We worked on walking using the following seat. We learn to stay relaxed enough and trotting the arena. Working on control through stopping and backing.

Both adults are comfortable walking and trotting the lesson horses. They understand the Centered Riding exercises. We have been applying the exercises during the lessons. We also do leg exercises to loosen up the ankle, knee and hip joints, especially the hip joints. To get the leg back underneath our bodies, the leg has to move from the hip. Our pelvis needs to be open to do this, and we find our Neutral Pelvis to do this. As we engage our joints and open our hips, our body stay relaxed. We work on the Building Blocks and putting our bodies in alignment. Then we won’t bounce at the trot and the lope. We start with our head, moving to our hips and legs, rocking our body into balance.

We Ground our feet and feel the weight into our stirrup. We want to feel that we are standing in sand, yet feel like we our standing solid on the ground. Breathe and use Soft Eyes. We Center and we move the horse with our center. We allow the ball in our center to grow and go faster to get the horse to move out. We let the ball grow smaller and move slower to slow down the horse. We worked on half halting to the stop by breathing out and sitting deep in our seat.

We ride and moved our horses around the arena with Clear Intent, meaning we ride with a purpose. We need to look where we are going and put the horse there. Last week, we worked on maneuvers, and 2 tracked (half passed) into the corners. When we learn to use our legs as well as our hands to guide the horse, we gain more control. The riders are learning to feel how the horse’s move and to gain control when they lose the movement.

Next we transitioned into the lope. More tomorrow.

Thoughts Before the Summer Lessons

I start my summer lessons this week. Traditionally, my summer has been filled with weeks of youth lessons, here all morning or until the early afternoon. Over the past few years, instead of week-long lessons, where the kids come every day, the kids have decided to come once a week for a morning, so that they could continue their weekly lessons. They come 1 morning a week for 5 or 6 weeks. Why spend all of their horse time in 1 week when they could have horse time over a 6 or 8 week time frame? Smart kids!

Tomorrow is a day without kids though. Tuesday starts kid’s lessons. Tomorrow, Monday, I need to start my 2 year old, Duster, and teach him all about standing tied. I’ll bring him into the barn with Buster. Yes, isn’t that confusing. But Buster is many years older, and definitely needs to be worked. They both need patience training, and will stand tied in a stall for an hour. Then they both will be free lunged. Then Buster is an old enough to have a saddle put on. Duster is a 2 year old, and may need more time to get desensitized to the pad and saddle.

I have 3 lessons tomorrow. I start with a 2 year old that needs to get used to the saddle. Then I have a lesson with the training horse, and to get the owner more comfortable riding him. Then I have a beginner 8 year old. She is fun!

More later this week. Time to go to bed.

Starting Lessons with Shaggy in Tow

Yesterday, I had decided to ride Shaggy. He is a 6 year old gelding with the riding of a 3 year old. He was started as a 3 year old with 60 days, but then only had about 30 days as a 4 year old, and the same as a 5 year old. I just didn’t give him any time.

In August, I started lunging him with the saddle on, but after the 2nd day, he cut the front of his chest. With a 6” cut that went deep, there was nothing to do except rinse it twice a day and let it heal from the inside out. The cut was in an area that couldn’t be stitched. Movement would just pull it apart. After 2 weeks, the cut was amazingly closed. (sorry, I didn’t get pictures of it, and now I wished I would have).

Then, it was the beginning of September, and I had to condition Finny for the next 2 CTR’s. Shaggy went to the back burner. But yesterday morning, something clicked. I was looking out the kitchen window, Shaggy was standing by himself by the fence, looking towards the house. None of the other horses were around. As I continued to look at him, something was telling me that it was time to start working Shaggy again.

I had to go to the store for the morning. I was to have an adult group lesson during the afternoon. When I got home, I decided to get Shaggy out of the lot, saddle and lunge him before the lesson. I wasn’t sure if I would ride him, but at least he would have the saddle on and get used to the arena again.


Shaggy (bay) and Starlet (sorrel)

I pulled Starlet, Chick and Shaggy out of the muddy lot. The 2 adults arrived and we groomed the mud off the 3 horses. At least the mud was dried and came off easily. I thought that was going to be a major job. We saddled and bridled the horses. I had the 2 riders wait to bring their horses out of the stall, as I wanted to free lunge Shaggy.

I brought Shaggy to the arena, tightened his girth, untied the lead rope from the halter, and sent him around the arena. He trotted and loped some, and didn’t buck with the saddle on. Good news. It didn’t take long for him to be winded, as he was out of shape! I stopped him and attached the lead rope on to his halter, preparing to lead him around during the lesson.

The 2 riders brought Starlet and Chick out of the stalls and into the arena. They mounted and we started the lesson, with Shaggy in tow behind me. I had decided to start the lesson, and wait to see if he was going to be calm enough for me to get on at the end of the lesson.

One of the riders had ridden with me as a youth, but this was her first lesson in about 5 years with me. I needed to teach her the Centered Riding basics. The other rider was a middle aged lady that was new to horses and lessons. She has already had 3 or 4 lessons with me in September. Today’s lesson would be a good review for her. As Shaggy walked behind me, and sometimes got in my way as he wanted to visit and be close to his herd mates, I grounded each rider. I taught them how to find their neutral pelvis and to sit centered. We talked about correct breathing.

The riders walked and trotted the arena, working on posting. One new technique for my younger rider was to 2 point, yet keep her center over her “bubbling spring” of her foot, which was the area that we gounded. We will continue to work with that, especially as she is going to be taking jumping lessons with a jumping instructor. She had already realized that she kept her balanced in 2 point if she stayed centered.

My other rider continued to work on using her body to turn the horse. This rider wants to use too much hand and not enough leg and body movement. As she pretended there were flashlights at her shoulders, waist, and knees, she concentrating on moving her “flashlights” as she turned the horses. This made her cue with her legs and she had better turns.

Meanwhile, Shaggy is being exceptionally calm and staying out of my space, after a few reminders with the lead rope to move away. I decided that during free time at the end of the lesson, I would get on him. After I mounted, he perked his ears and we walked off. His turning isn’t very good, and he wanted to lug on the bit, so we will go back to some ground driving. Other then that, we trotted around, and started giving to the bit. I think he is going to be riding well very soon!

I am glad that I decided to get Shaggy out. I have always loved his conformation. He is a big boy, standing 15.3 (I’ll have to stick him to be sure). He has a bigger body than Finny, but then Shaggy is a little overweight right now. I think he will be fun to take to the fields, after a few more rides in the arena.

I think the excitement of riding a different horse is coming back. Shaggy won’t be able to replace Finny, but he is built the same. I love having a tall horse underneath me and Shaggy will be able to move out like Finny. I think I will have fun riding him. Come along on the ride with me!

(I would have added more pictures, but the horses are a muddy mess. The next time I work Shaggy under saddle, I will post pics!)

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!

Groundwork for Centered Riding

I have given 2 lessons to adult riders who are new to Centered Riding. Each lesson was totally unique, yet focused on the basics. The first lesson was groundwork and the 2nd lesson was on the horse. The first lesson is a rider, and who has previously taken lessons from me. The 2nd lesson was a rider new to horses and new to lessons with me.

There is a lot of information that could be given in just teaching the basics, and, as instructors, we shouldn’t do that. But that is what I did with this lesson. The rider, a good friend of mine, had only 1 day with me. And she has taken lessons from me before. And she lives out of state! But, the day before, and the day of the lesson, it rained, and rained, and rained! Yes, we could have pulled horses out of the muddy lot and cleaned them up. We could have used the indoor arena. But it would have been messy, and nosiy with all the rain pelting the roof.

We did an inside lesson with groundwork instead. That made it possible for me to teach all the basics. We went over the 4 basisc: Centering, Building Blocks, Soft Eyes and Breathing. Centered Riding is also about Grounding and Clear Intent.

We started with Grounding the feet and finding the “Bubbling Spring”. This is the area on the bottom of the foot where the middle of the stirrup is placed. Tap on the bottom of the foot until you find an area that feels different. This could be a tingling or just feel a little dull. We can do this Grounding to ourselves, or we can have someone else find the area. Interesting, this area is a little further back than most people realize. The Bubbling Spring absorbs the concussion of the body’s movement.

Deep Breathing releases stress and is relaxing. Breathe deep into the abdomen. Fill your lungs with air, moving the diaphragm down. Breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth, sighing quietly. During all the exercises, we practice deep breathing. Deep breathing needs to become natural. As deep breathing relaxes the rider, the horse relaxes.

With Soft Eyes, we use our peripheral vision and see the world around us. With hard eyes, we see only what we are focused on. Hard eyes also happen when we concentrate too hard. Hold your arms out in front of you, focus on something with hard eyes, and take your arms in a half circle out to your sides. Stop moving your arms when you can’t see them. Take notice of how far your arms went out to your sides. Now, with soft eyes, do the same exercise. See how much further the arms went out to your sides with soft eyes.

Our pelvis is a bowl. At the bottom of the pelvis is our seat bones. Our Center is in the top center of the bowl, “floating” freely. On the ground, we placed our hands on our abdomen, one hand in front, with our thumb on our belly button, and the other hand on our lower back, directly across from our front hand. Our center is between our hands. Once we found our center, we found our neutral pelvis. We tipped our pelvis slowing front wards and backwards, until we tip ever so slightly front and back, settling into a spot where we don’t move front or back. You have found your neutral pelvis.

Building Blocks. Think about stacking children’s building blocks. If the blocks aren’t stacked properly, they will tumble down. If our body isn’t in skeletal alignment, there will be no balance. Poor balance inhibits the horse’s movement. Good balance allows the horse to move freely. As with finding the neutral pelvis, we found our “Building Block” balance in the same way. Move each body part back and forth, a little less each time you move it, until you find the place where it doesn’t move. Remember the head, and move the neck the same way, back and forth, and stretch the neck up.

And always ride with Clear Intent. Have a plan, a goal, an awareness. Yet, don’t be so specific with what you want that you are unbending and unchanging. Your horse is unpredictable and you may have to change your plan for the day. This is fine, as long as you have clear intent. Be aware of where you are going, where you want the horse to go, what you want to do and what you want the horse to do.

I’ll talk about the new rider and her lesson in the next blog. I will go over more exercises for each Centered Riding technique in later blogs.

Thanks for coming along on my Centered Riding journey with me.

Centered Riding Instructor's Course, Level 1 Part 2

August 12-16, 2009

What an experience! I am thrilled with what I have learned! After years of riding, training, and teaching, the freedom of movement has come. Not only to the horse, but to me, as the rider.

I feel like I am a natural rider. I sit the horse with no tension in the body. Legs, arms, and hands are ready to respond to the horse’s movements. Or to the unexpected jump! But from years of riding young horses and older horses with bad habits, there is a tightness in the body through my shoulders and neck. One thing that this week has taught me is that there is years of memory within the body. You may feel relaxed, with no tension, sitting straight, in balance, and body in straight alignment, when actually you are not. I am amazed how I feel when our wonderful instructor, Peggy Brown, had me tip forward a FEW degrees. I felt like I was going to fall forward, when actually I was in alignment. I need to realize that and work on that. I need to learn what my other body parts do when I am tipped back a little. Where do they go? That intrigues me and I will work on that as I ride through this next month.

I have learned to relax my body to ALLOW the hips to follow the action of the horse. This has been the biggest break through on my journey of Centered Riding. After Part 1 of the Instructors Course, I easily learned the “Dancing Knees”. During this riding exercise, while in 2 point position, I allow my 3 leg joints, the hips, knees, and ankles to accept the movement of the horse. Know, in Part 2 f the course, I needed to free up my hips more. And I got it! Well, actually, I got it too well. My body feels like it is moving all over the saddle as my hips move with the horse’s lope motion. My instructor says that this is natural. Riders learn to move, and at first, they move too much. Then, like any balancing act, the body learns to move less and less. The body will finally settle in to the movement of where it needs to be, while staying out of the horse’s way. Yea!!! But know to work on less movement of my body and more natural movement, and one of impulsion, of the horse’s body.

I have learned to straighten my neck - UP! I rode with a “vulture” neck or like a “turtle in the shell” effect. This concept was hard to achieve. I understood how I should look, but getting the look was not easy. One area that Sally Swift enjoyed studying was that of the Alexander Techniques. Alexander is a little bit of stretching, a little bit of meditating, and a little bit of relaxation, all rolled into one technique. As I learn more about the Alexander Exercises, I know my body is going to come into a natural alignment. What I didn’t realize is that with even a few minutes of stretching, how sore your body gets! As I tried to work on my neck through my hour of lessons each day, I became sore through my neck muscles and upper shoulders. I try to stretch and relax every day now. One exercise that helps me, actually 2 exercises, are to stand against a flat wall, feet shoulder width apart and slightly forward off the wall, and stand straight against the wall with the lower back and neck. Another exercise is to lay flat on the floor, with knees bent and a small book under the head. Hands flat against the floor of laying across your midde, and RELAX!

I ride with contact as I work on collection, BUT, as I left go of the tight contact on the reins, and as I rode with a balanced body, my horse’s neck dropped naturally. And with the freer movement of my hips and joints, my horse’s movement was deeper. He naturally drove with impulsion as I freed up my body to get out of his way, to allow his body to do his job. BUT, I felt like even though he was collected, he was strung out, which isn’t possible if he is collected. I think it is just a different feel of collection, with the head and neck down, and out, but not with the nose sticking out. Finny had a much longer neck, and that is what you want. I will work more on his canter this next month, too!

I am so excited to continue this Centered Riding journey! As part of the curriculum, I have to wait 2 years to move on to Level 2. Instructors need time to learn the basics and time to teach what was taught at each level before moving on to the next level. During this time, I will need to continue my own education by continuing with Centered Riding lessons and clinics, as well as auditing and participating in other clinics and workshops.

I will now be using Centered Riding basics and exercises as part of my lessons. So come have a lesson or buy the Centered Riding books and practice with your horse! I’ll enjoy reading your thoughts, what you are doing with your horse, and your accomplishments! Ask me questions and I’ll gladly try to answer them or find the answers!

Come along on the Journey with me!

Summer Lessons are winding down!

This week was the last scheduled lesson for the summer. Or so I thought. I have an awesome group of 5 teenagers and a few pre-teens. I have had some 10-12 year olds that have been returning every summer for a few years. I have some young 6-8 year olds that have started lessons for their first year. All of these youth have made lessons fun!

Some of the kids were brand new to horses. I even had a little girl from California, visiting grandparents here. Some of the kids didn’t know how to brush or to lead a horse. Some weren’t sure how to get the reins over the horse’s necks, let alone how to get on! Heels were up. Backs were slumping. Uncertainty showed. They just didn’t know what to expect. After the first day, they couldn’t wait to come the next day, and try a different horse! I am so lucky to have such good lesson horses, even if they have their “quirks”.

Consistency works. Dedication to weekly lesson works. Just a willing attitude! This summer, many of the kids have learned to post the trot, and even to lope! We have worked on going over logs in a trail pattern. We have worked on pivots and forehand turns and half passing. We have side passed the logs and backing through the logs, even backing in an “L”.

The kids learned balanced, as well as some Centered Riding techniques. We worked on simple things, like soft eyes so we see the world around us as we ride, and each other! We learned deep breaths to help us to relax as we ride, and to exhale so the horse hears the sound and relaxes also. We grounded our feet so that we can feel the whole foot in the stirrup. We actually put a little more foot into the stirrup than we thought we would. We found our seat bones by “marching”, first one foot out of the stirrup and lifting the knee, then the other foot. We didn’t work on intent, the word, as much, but then after I thought about this, maybe we did. By the end of the summer, I talked about how the kids should know what they want their horse to do and to have their horse do what was expected! That is intent. Have a purpose. We did that by have a pattern. We practice weaving through the poles and walking and trotting over them a lot!



The kids loved trotting the barrel and poles pattern. They love weaving through things!!! Poles, cones, logs. They taught me a lesson to always keep things fun. What is amazing is that they don’t even know they are learning to guide their horses. Kids (and adults) do so much better when they don’t “”try”. When we have a set pattern, or the kids try to do something at a specific spot in the arena, things sometimes fall apart. (Same with adults).


(Chick on Working Cow, now an awesome beginner horse!)

This reminded me of what Sally Swift, coordinator of Centered Riding, said. “Work or concentrate 75% of the time on you, as the rider, and only 25% of the time on the horse”. If the rider watches where they are going, and quits watching the horse, things go better! If I gave the kids something to do, like weave these cones going this way in the arena, and on the other side of the arena, weave the barrels, they did awesome! Many of the kids wanted to trot this pattern, as the walking was too simple and easy! Imagine that!

I asked some of the older youth to keep a journal if they wanted to, and to write some thoughts down. I wanted to hear about some of their “ah ha” moments when the light bulb goes off and we “get it!” I’m excited to hear what they wrote about and to hear their thoughts. I’m most anxious to know what their light bulb moments were! We call them “LB’s”!

This morning was suppose to be the last scheduled lesson for the summer. I added next Tuesday. It looks like these kids have come along for the ride. How about you?

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.

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!