The Thrill of It
Centered Riding is a high bar
Remember this phrase: "… the thrill of victory
… and the agony of defeat …" by Jim McKay, The
Wide World of Sports? Well, this is Centered
Riding. Sometimes in a single ride!
One time, at a show, I heard a local trainer, complete
with retinue, mock Centered Riding as 'remedial' riding --
as in, riding for dummies. And I've also, sadly, watched some faux Centered Riding "trainer"
conduct a Centered Riding Clinic! Word salad.
There is a vibe out there that Centered Riding is somehow
for the physically inept and yet only accessible through
the elite.
The real deal is something else.
Sally Swift asked us to take up Tai Chi for a reason.
Here's another clip from Sally's book, pp 135-136,
referencing the diagram from
before. She describes what is possible when the rider
is totally balanced -- and what happens when the rider is
not.
slightly modified pages 135, 136 of Centered
Riding by Sally Swift.
One time a student broke down in lessons, wailing
"But I thought you said this was easy!"
(This would be the "agony of defeat" moment.)
I have to say, I really had to think. Had I ever
actually said that? (!) (Did anyone in CR ever
actually say that? (!)) (Who in the world told her
that?!)
After searching my memory how I replied was "I'm
pretty sure what I said was it's simple. It's not
easy. It's simple. ... It's not easy at
all." (as I reflected on my own journey!)
I think sometimes those concepts -- simple and
easy, get
confused.
And perhaps there was some confusion about how true athletes
look like it's all natural and they were born that way --
when they've actually put in those 10,000 hours it takes to
get there!
(Or maybe one of those big name trainers said it?
It's a great marketing slogan, just not true.)
Centered Riding is actually
immensely simple and insanely hard.
There is no slacking off. There is no 'I'm not
balanced but you, horse, can make up for it.' It's
not about getting on or creating a push button horse.
It's about developing an honest, interactive
partnership.
It's not beach volleyball where you swing one handed
because you're holding a beer.
On the other hand, if you do
it, it works.
Which is why there are successes even the first time
someone uses this approach.
Check it out:
For instance, balanced is a simple concept. Put
half in front, half in back, half on the left, half on the
right ... As you sit there, or walk, you can check this out
now. Mentally this is not hard at all.
Physically? Physically while moving?
In a traditional lesson you may be told, simply,
"balance yourself." Or even "Put half
in front, half in back, half on the left, half on the
right." Or maybe you're told, "You're
tipping too far forward; stop that."
As you do this, how do you go about doing it? What
are you activating? What are you monitoring?
How do you know what you've done?
The break through Sally Swift gave riding was to use the
parasympathetic system of the body to accomplish the
results.
As is now a lot more commonly known, the parasympathetic
system is connected directly to the physical body.
The talking portion is not. Which is why verbal words
don't help so much although mental images and neutral
observation do.
So in Centered Riding, we hand out weebles so you can
feel what they are and what they do. We let you walk
around with them, 'trot' with them. Then ask you to
imagine being a weeble. If you do that now, what is
it like? How does your relationship to your body
differ? How does your relationship to gravity change?
Imagining you're a weeble will get you quicker results
than telling yourself "I need to balance front to
back." (The true death knell is "I am
balanced front to back" btw -- even if you are!)
I am confident it is already better. (The thrill
of victory!)
To circle back to the excerpt, from experience, having
taught Centered Riding for nearly 30 years, I have to say,
this rider in the clip is on top of her game! And she
got there by exploring her weebleness for some time.
To get these results, she needed to be totally balanced.
That took a lot of familiarity with her inner weeble.
10,000 hours? Maybe.
And the horse didn't get it in one hour.
And yet, is it worth it?
Yes!
How your horse responds, how your body responds, the
bond you both share. That is thrill of
victory.
It is a high bar.
And totally worth it.
Well...
If you find this interesting, there is more where this came from! Drop me an email:
lynn@satoriconnections.com
L
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