Anyone who has ever ridden the passage knows that the horse that is performing this incredible gravity defying feat is anything but relaxed! His body is employed in a special tension that seems to help him remain suspended as if from a cloud.
Similarly, any ballet dancer who has performed leaps into the air knows that he is anything but relaxed when doing so. Then why is it that we use this word 'relaxation' so often in riding? More than one of my riding masters of the past have told me to stop trying to relax....that's something you do when you are home in bed!
So then why do we still keep hearing people shout "relax" and talk about relaxing the horse as well? I think the answer is in the poverty of description. What I think people are seeking is calm and ease....not to be confused with 'easy'!!!
Someone who is calm and at ease might be so relaxed that both he and his horse are nearly asleep. If that same person were to switch on some body tone and change himself into a state of readiness or poise, the possibilities for the horse would also change. Poise carries a special quality of tension. Why people confuse relaxation with poise is because they have not understood what specific quality of relaxation they were after and what specific quality of tension they should steer away from.
I see it like this: the rider must have the complete ability to control the energy flowing through his own body. We are not well designed to be in a state of relaxation all day long but we are designed for outstanding energy flow. So what is the point we must focus our attention on? It is the opening up of cramped joints, loosening of fascia around muscle and organs and the quieting of the mind to remain on task to direct the body and the complete surrender of the body to the direction of the mind.
When the mind of the rider is separated from its task the body begins to develop many little minds that operate on their own. I recently heard Bettina Drummond jokingly tell riders to talk to their bodies...."bad hand! Stop doing that! You bad bad hand!!" The humor of her comments was so refreshingly realistic to exactly what one must do with oneself daily to bring wayward parts of one's own body into submission to the mind. Without awareness of what we are doing, without the humility to realize we need constant self-supervision and without the will to recapture ourselves we are forever going to romance that 'relaxation' is the panacea for our problems!
If we have a tight elbow, we need to find out why it is tight! It might be the improper placement too close to the body that is causing this. Or it might be that the elbow is held too far from the body. It might be a muscle in the wrist that is blocking the elbow. It might be your clothing is too snug or one tiny sinew in the elbow joint that you have not accessed and commanded to let go. You may have inflammation in the elbow from an injury or the elbow may simply be tired from overwork! Whatever it is, you must fix it!
So the state we are after is free access to all our parts and the ability to learn how to coordinate parts without losing access to any of them. Tension can be created in this state to great benefit!
Interestingly, this is exactly what we want for the horse! We do not want him to be like a sack of flour. We want him to carry himself with poise and form....to be in control of himself and yet....willing and able to work with us and respond to our requests. The horse is by nature enormously strong. Continuously trying to either strengthen or relax him is not the objective. What we are after, however, is the ability to organize his strength in a way that preserves and fosters calmness and ease. So opening and accessing the appropriate parts of both horse and rider bodies to render energy flow complete is the real relaxation and the real tension we should seek.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
The Trot: Influencing it's Energy(Part 2 Sitting)
In some ways the posting trot is similar to sitting trot and in just as many ways they are quite different. One thing is clear, however, and that is the sitting trot is probably one of the hardest things a rider will need to learn to master. To sit the trot well is all a question of how able you are to take charge of your body when all forces are working against you.
To fully develop horses you will absolutely need to be able to sit the trot for the mechanics of the posting trot limit the rider's subtlety of influence. To begin, it is helpful to have read the article on posting trot if for nothing else but to gain additional perspective on how to feel for the energy and work with it. It is also helpful to have mastered the posting trot to gain its value in developing better tone in the thigh muscles and the torso.
When you learn something, generally it is unhelpful to learn what it is you DON'T wish to do. But in this case I feel justified in doing just that! What the sitting trot is NOT is a sort of hula or shimmy or belly dance in the saddle. What I have found is that the more upholstered a saddle is with its fancy knee and thigh rolls and depth of seat, the more likely it is that the rider will try to master one of two ways of sitting, neither of which are right in my opinion. One is this wiggle I mention above and the other is the 'wedged' seat where the knee and thigh are held in a vice-like hold to clamp the rider's seat down against the saddle. This latter method is possibly the worst mistake of all. It produces a visual picture of stillness but it completely blocks energy flow to the horse. What ends up happening is the rider then kicks or squeezes on the horse to generate what he THINKS is missing....forward motion! What is actually stymied is energy flow! Until saddle makers finally figure out that riders can only make their horses happier when there is full energy flow, we will continue to see a flood of these type saddles in the market. I recommend to all my students that they remove knee and thigh rolls from their saddles. Most are skeptical at first but when they follow through they are eternally grateful for what 'sitting ability' they recover by having done so!
The hard part, however, is that without help from the saddle, the rider will need to use himself in a very special way that requires thought and effort and maintenance. The best way to understand how to sit the trot is to start out with the intention of influencing the horse. If you begin with only the intention of following the horse you are more likely to miss the secrets of success! So let us start by thinking of a basketball player dribbling a ball. The hand of the player remains virtually 'attached' to the ball as it bounces up and down. The back of the horse does not actually bounce----it rather undulates rhythmically in a wavelike motion. But the forces that travel upward from the ground as each of the horse's hind feet touch down send a sensation to the rider as though the horse is a bouncing ball. Now imagine the ball is travelling forward as it is bouncing. The hand of the basketball player needs to move, shift and mould accordingly to stay with the ball and influence how powerfully it bounces.
Essentially, the rider imagines that he is sitting on a big round ball and he is bouncing it without falling off the ball. What allows the rider to bounce this ball? If his feet touch the ground he can use the touch down of his feet to spring off the ground, bounce the ball and then advance the ball forward. Once the ball is in motion, now he can employ the folds in his seat----groin, hip, waist, knee----and cause them to act as springs or levers, opening and closing to activate momentum in the bounce and the advance(forward or sideways) of the bounce.
Practically speaking then, in the saddle the rider uses the angles of his legs and the gentle curves in his torso to absorb the shock of the concussion of the bounce as well as to influence the intensity of the bounce. In order to minimize the amount of motion in the rider's body so that this motion does not get out of control and/or irritate or hinder the horse in his job to deal with the wobbling weight on his back, the rider learns to bolster his body through an intricate orchestration of isometric holds and releases. It is these holds and releases that are the basis for energy management. Breath control exercises, especially as they help you learn to lower the diaphragm and use expansion of the chest to still the torso, are very helpful.
Just as in the posting trot, the rider needs to focus on directing energy the horse sends up into his buttocks and lower back forward and through into a distinct spot on the withers(the hopper). So, without actually hoisting the body up out of the saddle as in the rising trot, the rider uses the angle between his thigh and hip as a sort of pin to 'attach' to the saddle, receive the horse's energy, process it in his 'oven'(or dan tien as in Tai Chi) and then open the angle to release and send the energy forward to the withers....dropping it down the hopper. Very quickly, as the wave of motion continues, the attachment 'pin' closes to catch the next installment of energy from the horse. This 'pin' cannot be held too tightly or the flow will be blocked. The tension on the 'pin' is very carefully regulated by the rider to assist him with stillness and to catch and hold the energy and to then release it.
In addition, the hip bones will spark energy into the elbows and send it forward in a 'push-like' action down the lower arm and into the rein. And in another way energy travels fluidly down the thigh into the knee and the knees spark to the horse's shoulders to move ahead. There should be an even tone in the thigh between hip and knee and even touch against the horse. The very upper inner thigh acts by pulsing energy inward and forward. The ankle should have a looseness as should the toes which touch the stirrup gently. The action upon the stirrup, not by actual pressure on it but by the springing action off it, can enable upward lift of the horse(something to be described later). The heel of the rider feels back for the energy of the horse's hind feet bringing power up from the ground-----sort of a reverse gravity pull! So the springing open and closed of the rider's ankle as he touches lightly upon the stirrup feeds energy up into the rider's calf which naturally becomes hard and soft....hard and soft....in a pulse-like action of its own. This pulse is so remarkable. It does not need to be deliberately generated by the rider. Simply allowing the springing action on the stirrup enables the calf to do this. The horse is so sensitive that he can feel this pulse through the stiffest hardest leather boot. As all these sparks and pulses harmonize with the beat of the trot motion the horse becomes pumped with energy which he is just bubbling over with desire to release in beautiful soft forward and upward motion. The hallmark of good trot motion is the gentle articulation of the horse's joints. This can best be facilitated through the movement of free flowing energy(or chi) through the rider which he releases to the horse who then sends more back which the rider takes in.....the cycle of repetition is aligned to the beat. The harmonious taking, mixing, and releasing is the exchange that makes the trot come alive and aids the rider in his ability to sit effectively.
One more word, the subject of which I will take up in another article, is that the sitting trot will truly make sense to the body and form real neuro-connections that turn sitting into something that feels more comfortable and natural when the rider starts to grasp the concept of 'follow through'. If an effort to sit the trot feels particularly difficult, I am certain it is the result of held back energy which you were not aware you were stifling. Think like this: when you throw a ball, you must let go of the ball! Let go....and catch another....throw it....and let go. Do this in a pattern of regularity and watch amazing things begin to happen!
To fully develop horses you will absolutely need to be able to sit the trot for the mechanics of the posting trot limit the rider's subtlety of influence. To begin, it is helpful to have read the article on posting trot if for nothing else but to gain additional perspective on how to feel for the energy and work with it. It is also helpful to have mastered the posting trot to gain its value in developing better tone in the thigh muscles and the torso.
When you learn something, generally it is unhelpful to learn what it is you DON'T wish to do. But in this case I feel justified in doing just that! What the sitting trot is NOT is a sort of hula or shimmy or belly dance in the saddle. What I have found is that the more upholstered a saddle is with its fancy knee and thigh rolls and depth of seat, the more likely it is that the rider will try to master one of two ways of sitting, neither of which are right in my opinion. One is this wiggle I mention above and the other is the 'wedged' seat where the knee and thigh are held in a vice-like hold to clamp the rider's seat down against the saddle. This latter method is possibly the worst mistake of all. It produces a visual picture of stillness but it completely blocks energy flow to the horse. What ends up happening is the rider then kicks or squeezes on the horse to generate what he THINKS is missing....forward motion! What is actually stymied is energy flow! Until saddle makers finally figure out that riders can only make their horses happier when there is full energy flow, we will continue to see a flood of these type saddles in the market. I recommend to all my students that they remove knee and thigh rolls from their saddles. Most are skeptical at first but when they follow through they are eternally grateful for what 'sitting ability' they recover by having done so!
The hard part, however, is that without help from the saddle, the rider will need to use himself in a very special way that requires thought and effort and maintenance. The best way to understand how to sit the trot is to start out with the intention of influencing the horse. If you begin with only the intention of following the horse you are more likely to miss the secrets of success! So let us start by thinking of a basketball player dribbling a ball. The hand of the player remains virtually 'attached' to the ball as it bounces up and down. The back of the horse does not actually bounce----it rather undulates rhythmically in a wavelike motion. But the forces that travel upward from the ground as each of the horse's hind feet touch down send a sensation to the rider as though the horse is a bouncing ball. Now imagine the ball is travelling forward as it is bouncing. The hand of the basketball player needs to move, shift and mould accordingly to stay with the ball and influence how powerfully it bounces.
Essentially, the rider imagines that he is sitting on a big round ball and he is bouncing it without falling off the ball. What allows the rider to bounce this ball? If his feet touch the ground he can use the touch down of his feet to spring off the ground, bounce the ball and then advance the ball forward. Once the ball is in motion, now he can employ the folds in his seat----groin, hip, waist, knee----and cause them to act as springs or levers, opening and closing to activate momentum in the bounce and the advance(forward or sideways) of the bounce.
Practically speaking then, in the saddle the rider uses the angles of his legs and the gentle curves in his torso to absorb the shock of the concussion of the bounce as well as to influence the intensity of the bounce. In order to minimize the amount of motion in the rider's body so that this motion does not get out of control and/or irritate or hinder the horse in his job to deal with the wobbling weight on his back, the rider learns to bolster his body through an intricate orchestration of isometric holds and releases. It is these holds and releases that are the basis for energy management. Breath control exercises, especially as they help you learn to lower the diaphragm and use expansion of the chest to still the torso, are very helpful.
Just as in the posting trot, the rider needs to focus on directing energy the horse sends up into his buttocks and lower back forward and through into a distinct spot on the withers(the hopper). So, without actually hoisting the body up out of the saddle as in the rising trot, the rider uses the angle between his thigh and hip as a sort of pin to 'attach' to the saddle, receive the horse's energy, process it in his 'oven'(or dan tien as in Tai Chi) and then open the angle to release and send the energy forward to the withers....dropping it down the hopper. Very quickly, as the wave of motion continues, the attachment 'pin' closes to catch the next installment of energy from the horse. This 'pin' cannot be held too tightly or the flow will be blocked. The tension on the 'pin' is very carefully regulated by the rider to assist him with stillness and to catch and hold the energy and to then release it.
In addition, the hip bones will spark energy into the elbows and send it forward in a 'push-like' action down the lower arm and into the rein. And in another way energy travels fluidly down the thigh into the knee and the knees spark to the horse's shoulders to move ahead. There should be an even tone in the thigh between hip and knee and even touch against the horse. The very upper inner thigh acts by pulsing energy inward and forward. The ankle should have a looseness as should the toes which touch the stirrup gently. The action upon the stirrup, not by actual pressure on it but by the springing action off it, can enable upward lift of the horse(something to be described later). The heel of the rider feels back for the energy of the horse's hind feet bringing power up from the ground-----sort of a reverse gravity pull! So the springing open and closed of the rider's ankle as he touches lightly upon the stirrup feeds energy up into the rider's calf which naturally becomes hard and soft....hard and soft....in a pulse-like action of its own. This pulse is so remarkable. It does not need to be deliberately generated by the rider. Simply allowing the springing action on the stirrup enables the calf to do this. The horse is so sensitive that he can feel this pulse through the stiffest hardest leather boot. As all these sparks and pulses harmonize with the beat of the trot motion the horse becomes pumped with energy which he is just bubbling over with desire to release in beautiful soft forward and upward motion. The hallmark of good trot motion is the gentle articulation of the horse's joints. This can best be facilitated through the movement of free flowing energy(or chi) through the rider which he releases to the horse who then sends more back which the rider takes in.....the cycle of repetition is aligned to the beat. The harmonious taking, mixing, and releasing is the exchange that makes the trot come alive and aids the rider in his ability to sit effectively.
One more word, the subject of which I will take up in another article, is that the sitting trot will truly make sense to the body and form real neuro-connections that turn sitting into something that feels more comfortable and natural when the rider starts to grasp the concept of 'follow through'. If an effort to sit the trot feels particularly difficult, I am certain it is the result of held back energy which you were not aware you were stifling. Think like this: when you throw a ball, you must let go of the ball! Let go....and catch another....throw it....and let go. Do this in a pattern of regularity and watch amazing things begin to happen!
The Trot: Influencing it's Energy(Part 1 Posting)
When I begin riders at the trot I have found that the easiest way to help them feel the placement of the body is to ask them to hold on to a neck strap which is nothing more than a stirrup leather I secure around the horse's neck. The rider holds on to the strap at approximately the withers, leaning into it in the rising phase with the idea of coming forward and setting 'something' down with the hips into the place they are leaning on. Almost without exception the rider catches on to the posting(or rising) trot within minutes, the horse remains at ease and the awkwardness of this first experience is minimized.
When he displays more confidence and steadiness, I then ask the rider to simply lean into the neck strap and eventually hold the hands still in that place. The most difficult part to achieve is the correct use of the large quadricep muscles of the thighs to hoist the torso up out of the saddle and forward. During this time it is also important for the feet to remain light in the stirrups so that the correct part of the leg is used to bring the body forward. The knee remains relatively still at a fixed point and the thigh hinges off the knee.
If the rider begins this way he soon learns just how easily his horse will respond to a forward aid from a mere touch of the leg. A soft flexing in a relaxed ankle produces a slight bulge in the calf which the horse can feel and respond to. Believing it is this simple is one part of getting the rider to appreciate his horse as a sensitive creature and to develop patience while he learns to communicate in a way he can be understood without resorting to force.
As the hand learns to remain still in its place because the torso is moving forward out of the saddle and back as a result of adequate tone of the thighs, the hand 'appreciates' that this 'something' that the hips deposit into the withers is related to the 'something' that seems to stream forth from the arm to hand into the same spot! This 'something' I call 'energy' sparks over from the hip bones to the elbows and thus the rider's entire body participates in a continual regular pattern of carrying forward the thrust the horse generates as his hind legs push into the ground. The rider in this pattern connects the back end to the front end via the horse's spine and related musculature. It is a neatly orchestrated activity which the horse can accomplish completely on his own but which can be radically disturbed by the additional weight of a rider. The act of sitting in the correct place over thoracic vertebrae T-12 and T-13 and using the mechanics of posting trot in a way that works in harmony with this orchestration instead of in a way that fights it is what brings to light another process. This process, which even though it cannot be seen, is at work simultaneously together with the mechanics that are visible. And this process is what I call 'energetics'. It involves the recognition of a simultaneous flow and the entrance of the rider into the flow and gradually away from the reliance on the mechanics!
Interestingly, young riders can catch onto this very early when they are introduced to it at an innocent and pure stage in their learning. All they need is guidance to feel the flow and to recognize how their own body either interferes with it or embraces and engages with it in a creative fashion. Of course in this limited article I have not begun to touch upon the problems that might be innate in the horse in terms of blockage of this flow. At this stage in my articles I simply wish to enlighten the rider of his responsibility to seek this important thing and to work toward the very real possibility that at some point later on in his personal development as a rider he will be able to influence the horse more distinctly and precisely and can bring forth healing to a horse, leading him out of bondage to his own self.
Allow me to sum up posting trot and integrate energetics into this picture. The rider instigates trot with a touch of the leg, focusing the mind on the image of sending energy the horse throws up from under the saddle forward and down into the withers(the hopper). The strong quadricep muscles of the thighs hoist the torso up out of the saddle and the rider imagines tossing a small concentrated ball of energy from deep inside his lower abdomen(the 'oven'!!! or dan tien) forward onto the withers(the hopper). It is a specific concentrated projection onto a specific spot.
The knees will be soft but still and lower leg will hang gently down with feet light in the stirrups. Buttock muscles will firm up as the rider aims the toss into the targeted spot. Hands low(near the withers) remain quiet and still with elbows close to the hips to receive a spark from the hip bones to take down the soft arms through the hands and into the reins. The elbow is 'retained' by the rider but the lower arm and wrist are 'offered' to the horse. The effect is a push from the hips straight into the reins. Rider looks straight between the horse's ears and 'talks' to the poll with an 'ether-like' connection of brain to brain.
There is no backward traction on the reins. The rider lowers the body back into the saddle very gently employing thigh muscles and lower back. The more precisely the integration of the body sends the energy into the 'hopper' without disturbing the regular beat offered by the horse, the more the horse will round himself, mount his back, and collect his body into a graceful form.
Working with energy flow in the posting trot very soon demonstrates to the rider that forward motion is much more than the push from the hind legs of the horse. It is really more a product of the well designed coordination of muscle and nerve impulses that cause the spine to transmit energy forward. How the rider sits and communicates through his seat further demonstrates that motion results from more than what we say to the horse's legs---it's what we say to the spine that matters most!
Speaking from experience, I have seen many riders who have struggled desperately to get and keep their horses moving. When they come to the realization of the futility of working hard with the legs to try to influence the step of the horse's hind legs and of the faulty approach of their seat, riding takes a leap to a new plateau! Discovering the flow that comes from the horse and how to work with that flow opens doors to a much higher level of sophistication in the riding.
When he displays more confidence and steadiness, I then ask the rider to simply lean into the neck strap and eventually hold the hands still in that place. The most difficult part to achieve is the correct use of the large quadricep muscles of the thighs to hoist the torso up out of the saddle and forward. During this time it is also important for the feet to remain light in the stirrups so that the correct part of the leg is used to bring the body forward. The knee remains relatively still at a fixed point and the thigh hinges off the knee.
If the rider begins this way he soon learns just how easily his horse will respond to a forward aid from a mere touch of the leg. A soft flexing in a relaxed ankle produces a slight bulge in the calf which the horse can feel and respond to. Believing it is this simple is one part of getting the rider to appreciate his horse as a sensitive creature and to develop patience while he learns to communicate in a way he can be understood without resorting to force.
As the hand learns to remain still in its place because the torso is moving forward out of the saddle and back as a result of adequate tone of the thighs, the hand 'appreciates' that this 'something' that the hips deposit into the withers is related to the 'something' that seems to stream forth from the arm to hand into the same spot! This 'something' I call 'energy' sparks over from the hip bones to the elbows and thus the rider's entire body participates in a continual regular pattern of carrying forward the thrust the horse generates as his hind legs push into the ground. The rider in this pattern connects the back end to the front end via the horse's spine and related musculature. It is a neatly orchestrated activity which the horse can accomplish completely on his own but which can be radically disturbed by the additional weight of a rider. The act of sitting in the correct place over thoracic vertebrae T-12 and T-13 and using the mechanics of posting trot in a way that works in harmony with this orchestration instead of in a way that fights it is what brings to light another process. This process, which even though it cannot be seen, is at work simultaneously together with the mechanics that are visible. And this process is what I call 'energetics'. It involves the recognition of a simultaneous flow and the entrance of the rider into the flow and gradually away from the reliance on the mechanics!
Interestingly, young riders can catch onto this very early when they are introduced to it at an innocent and pure stage in their learning. All they need is guidance to feel the flow and to recognize how their own body either interferes with it or embraces and engages with it in a creative fashion. Of course in this limited article I have not begun to touch upon the problems that might be innate in the horse in terms of blockage of this flow. At this stage in my articles I simply wish to enlighten the rider of his responsibility to seek this important thing and to work toward the very real possibility that at some point later on in his personal development as a rider he will be able to influence the horse more distinctly and precisely and can bring forth healing to a horse, leading him out of bondage to his own self.
Allow me to sum up posting trot and integrate energetics into this picture. The rider instigates trot with a touch of the leg, focusing the mind on the image of sending energy the horse throws up from under the saddle forward and down into the withers(the hopper). The strong quadricep muscles of the thighs hoist the torso up out of the saddle and the rider imagines tossing a small concentrated ball of energy from deep inside his lower abdomen(the 'oven'!!! or dan tien) forward onto the withers(the hopper). It is a specific concentrated projection onto a specific spot.
The knees will be soft but still and lower leg will hang gently down with feet light in the stirrups. Buttock muscles will firm up as the rider aims the toss into the targeted spot. Hands low(near the withers) remain quiet and still with elbows close to the hips to receive a spark from the hip bones to take down the soft arms through the hands and into the reins. The elbow is 'retained' by the rider but the lower arm and wrist are 'offered' to the horse. The effect is a push from the hips straight into the reins. Rider looks straight between the horse's ears and 'talks' to the poll with an 'ether-like' connection of brain to brain.
There is no backward traction on the reins. The rider lowers the body back into the saddle very gently employing thigh muscles and lower back. The more precisely the integration of the body sends the energy into the 'hopper' without disturbing the regular beat offered by the horse, the more the horse will round himself, mount his back, and collect his body into a graceful form.
Working with energy flow in the posting trot very soon demonstrates to the rider that forward motion is much more than the push from the hind legs of the horse. It is really more a product of the well designed coordination of muscle and nerve impulses that cause the spine to transmit energy forward. How the rider sits and communicates through his seat further demonstrates that motion results from more than what we say to the horse's legs---it's what we say to the spine that matters most!
Speaking from experience, I have seen many riders who have struggled desperately to get and keep their horses moving. When they come to the realization of the futility of working hard with the legs to try to influence the step of the horse's hind legs and of the faulty approach of their seat, riding takes a leap to a new plateau! Discovering the flow that comes from the horse and how to work with that flow opens doors to a much higher level of sophistication in the riding.
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