Correction through motion
By Joni Bentley
When Michelangelo was asked how he created his sculpture out of a lump of stone, he said he just chipped away until the beauty within revealed itself.
In creating their revolutionary therapeutic bodywork practices, Feldenkrais and F M Alexander chipped away at discovering what interferes with the sound, natural use of the body. They recognized that trying to be perfect only brings more tension. It was far more fruitful to notice what was actually happening – what they and their patients were doing. Then they could see how everyone has habitual ways of using their bodies that make them one-sided and asymmetrical.
And then they could see how chipping away at the problems and dissolving them allows the beautiful, perfect organisation of the body to reveal itself – just like Michelangelo’s sculpture.
Feldenkrais and Alexander became experts in biomechanics because they let go of trying to be perfect.
This is the opposite of our teaching culture that focuses only on getting it right – and defines “right” according to a one-size-fits-all model of picture-perfect position.
Horses were not designed to be sat on!
I received an email last week from someone who had bought my new DVD training programme. She wrote, “I haven't watched all the disks, but have seen enough to know it is not what I expected. The main problem I have is that, for what is supposed to be a course on correct riding position, I was very unhappy to see the position of the man (Christian I think) on the chestnut horse. He was slumped in a very pronounced chair seat, and I don't feel I can watch this to improve my own riding given his position is so bad. I have no problem with having less than perfect riders on instructional DVDs, and I understand it is helpful to see examples of normal people with riding faults and how they are corrected, but I would have hoped and expected to see more of what is correct rather than what is wrong.”
Christian, the rider on the DVD, loves his 17-year-old horse Annie, and came to me because he wanted to keep her sound for hunting.
Before Christian bought her, Annie had very little schooling. Because of this, she never developed a top line to protect her back from the weight of the rider. She’s very twisted and asymmetrical, and as you can see in the photo, her quarters are a long way out behind – notice how the saddle tilts backwards.
Because she has a very high wither and an undeveloped top line, Annie’s back has a huge dip. This makes the platform the rider is sitting on even more challenging. Attempting to ride her with so-called “perfect position” during this stage of her training would be a lot like trying to have perfect posture on a deck chair at the beach. Not only is it virtually impossible for Christian to sit upright in the technically correct position my email correspondent hoped to see, but when you try to have a “perfect” seat on a foundation like Annie's, you only put more strain on her back.
At this point in her training, a horse like Annie needs the rider to sit lightly and softly so she can stretch her head and neck out of her shoulders, letting the back muscles under the rider’s seat begin to work and strengthen. It’s only as she develops her upper suspension – the top line – that the rider can begin to work in a more advanced outline without damaging the horse.
Of course it’s important to have correct riding posture. And it’s even more important to realize that “correct posture” will vary depending on the situation. Until you understand how your biomechanics interact with and affect your horse’s biomechanics, and vice versa, you’re missing key variables – the biggest pieces of the riding puzzle.
(And I’m grateful to my email correspondent for showing me the importance of including an advanced rider in my DVD which I have now done to demonstrate that even advanced riders have unresolved spinal twists and one-sidedness.)
Good posture is not a position.
We tend to describe and prescribe positions rather than movement. Positions are easier to talk about and to comprehend — they have shapes, they're visual, they stay still. The trouble is, they also have nothing to do with life. They’re dead, unyielding, and often cruel.
Go beyond the mind and listen to the body’s reality
To make real, lasting improvements in our riding posture and the way we apply our aids, we need strategies that will help us reach beyond the mind, into the parts of our being that are actually in control of movement.
We need to work with our bodies and our horses’ bodies in the natural ways that Feldenkrais and Alexander discovered. We need to go beyond manipulating our outline to conform with an accepted ideal position, and instead discover the organic flow of good posture.
In short, we need strategies that are in an alignment with real bodies, not imagined ones.
“I attended your clinic last week in Scotland – and I learned so much about being squint! You may not remember, but I said at one point that when I rode up the centre line in a dressage test I always expected the judges to comment on my terrible squint, uneven legs. I used to push and shove my right leg down causing chronic pain in the left side of my back. I’ve concentrated on your Bentleysize diagonal stretches every day, combining these with your side bending exercise. Sometimes I even feel my right intercostals popping and crunching. And I did a dressage test on Sunday, and I rode straight up the centre line feeling even, my horse got a much better left bend, and I finished up the centreline at the end feeling straight!
Thank you!
Sandra Lamb
Ultimately, that supposed “ideal” works against rather than with the body – and look at the effect on the horse! When there’s no regard for the rider’s or horse’s individuality, both the rider’s and the horse’s bodies are stiff and awkward.
How, then, can you begin to develop awareness of posture – and let go of enforcing position?
The good news is that you can change this easily.
My Correction through Motion Training DVD home-study is now hot off the press.
This programme is very thorough and very simple to understand.
It consists of 2 DVDs The first DVD shows how you can straighten and re-align yourself without being fixed into a position.
The second DVD illustrates mounted work you’ll use to bring yourself and your horse into alignment together.
You can buy them on their own or buy the DVDs with a one-on-one personal assessment with me on your specific challenges and how to customise the exercises to get the results you want.
When you understand more about your own and your horse’s crookedness, you’ll also understand the effect of the crookedness the two of you have together.
Then you’ll know how to blend and harmonize with each other in a true partnership.
For more information on workshops go to www.jonibentley.co.uk
If you can’t attend the workshops in your area and would like to host one, or are a group of friends who would like Joni to come to your yard please contact us on Tel 01442 402756 mob 07771 911561.
Up and coming workshops
The winter workshops will be in the following area:
Sussex, Kent, Essex, Surrey.
If you would like join us or host a workshop out of or in the above areas please email us or call for a chat.
