Horseless riding is all about balance and confidence.
Without balance and confidence the other key ingredients of
riding, feel and timing mean little to your horse. This is very
much the mechanical side to Horseless Riding. Where this
journey will take you is to a point where your horse will be able
to read your thoughts in the saddle.
The basis of horseless riding comes from the time I spent
working with blind sportsmen. The key to how blind people are
trained to move is focus. With the right focus the body is
placed into the proper position to be able to correctly maintain
your balance and allow your body to move in the direction that
you have chosen. When you add an allow then your body will
follow your thought and feel.
Now while this basic approach can be learnt while riding, what
if the rider is lacking confidence once in the saddle. What if the
rider would like to better prepare themselves for riding in order
to feel safer once in the saddle. Hence it dawned on me that
many people could learn the correct position and value of
focus while still on the ground or even at work and begin to
build their balance and confidence before they get on their
horse.
What we are looking for is an improved seat, a more relaxed
rider and a rider more able to listen to, to feel for their horse,
and to communicate with their horse. Have you ever noticed
how the new or nervous riders will look at there horse’s ears
and worry about what he or she is going to do, and look at the
ground to make sure there are no nasty things to fall on.
Horseless riding is done without a horse as the name implies
on the ground, or when sitting on a normal swivel type
business chair.
Chair exercises will help to simulate the natural body posture
to some extent that you would achieve when sitting on your
horse. While doing all of these exercises I want you to
experience the difference of being happy and having an allow
verses just thinking that something might go wrong and thus
having what I call a make or block.
• Sit in your chair with your legs relaxed and just your toes
on the floor. Hold your hands at your bellybutton like you have
reins. Your thumbs should be gently resting on your lightly
clenched fist and pointing forward.
• Now relax your whole body but don't droop, just sit up.
Close your eyes nice and softly. This will allow you to build feel
without getting distracted by visual impulses.
• Throughout all of these exercises continue to maintain
your breathing at a nice easy and steady pace.
• When riding it is important to look at or focus in the
direction you are going, but not to stare. If you are
concentrating on where you are going too much, you are not
able to give enough of your attention to listening to what your
horse is telling you through your seat. Staring may also
communicate to your horse that you are worried or very unsure
of what it is you are staring at. Heavy concentration will also
tent to cause your body to because tense and give unwanted
signals to your horse as well as make it almost impossible to
stay balanced. You will notice that the energy does not flow
through your body while there is any tenseness. Your horse is
not longer getting a constant signal of direction.
• With all of these exercises your bellybutton is your center
of energy and balance. Your eyes are what provide the focus
and direction and will guide your energy. The concept is that
you look to where you are going and your bellybutton will
provide the driving force to help you get there or to help you
stay where you are with control and balance.
• Now you have all seen people tap the desk with their
fingers with rhythm, 1234, 1234. Little finger first. You probably
also found it quite annoying, but this is how you should get the
rhythm going with the movements. Work on getting your cues
soft, but try them heavy and light so that you can feel the
difference that lightness provides.
• When I say look up, I mean look up to the horizon like you
are watching a football game. You are concentrating on
following the ball but not staring at it.
1. Give life to your body – switch on the ignition but don’t go
anywhere yet
Look up and out and have your belly button follow, lift your
hands connected to those imaginary reins up and out just a
little to about the mid-point of your thigh. You have put your
chair and body in gear and given it life and the ability to now
move freely.
2. Forward turn – this will make it easier for your horse to
move it’s front feet through a turn.
Look up and out to the left, have your belly button follow your
focus; turn your left wrist out (finger nails down). Do the same
to the right. You should do this with and without the given life to
your body simply to feel the importance of having life in your
body but not tension.
Many of you will have heard how it is the release that teaches
when working with horses. With horseless riding you will see
how to use the release to increase the flow through the turn.
The release in this case is nothing more than returning to the
original position of where you gave life to your body, but with
your focus now in the new direction that you intend to move.
Now do the eyes - bellybutton - wrist - release, and then do it
again without the release.
If you give the release before the chair stops it will actually turn
easier and move farther. Think about how this will change what
you are telling your horse.
3. Backward turn – this will make it easier for your horse to
move it’s hind feet through a turn.
Look down and left behind your chair, have your belly button
follow your focus; and turn your left hand in and up to your chest
(finger nails up).
Now do the forward and backward turns to the right.
Now combine the 3 exercises into one smooth motion. Give
life to your body, make a backward turn and then allow that
energy to flow smoothly into a forward turn.
Try the turning exercises without first giving life to your body. In
other words sit down and then try and turn by using only your
eyes – bellybutton.
4. Stop
Sit down in the chair. This is a leg and hip motion only so don't
let your body droop, look or by now focus at your belly button
but do not drop your head and shoulders, allow your hands to
come back to your center of energy your belly button to
shutdown your engine. Feel everything begin to shutdown as
your continue to breath and relax. Imagine yourself to be like a
life buoy sitting on a calm sea and simply allow your natural
balance to center you.
Notes.
• Remember to release the rein cue on each movement as
soon as your chair and one day your horse decides to move.
Don't wait for it to move, release when the chair decides to
move. The chair will still move, but the chair will know that it has
done the right thing by moving and move easier without you
getting in the way of the chair.
The following exercises on the ground will help build the
muscle memory and confidence that you and your horse are
going to love once you get back in the saddle.
Here you actually get to move your feet and get to put some of
your new found focus, feel, and timing to the test and just see
how much more balance you have developed.
It is best to do this as a group, and have someone give the
cues of stop, forward, up left etc. The other members of the
group will also be able to see how much you have improved
your balance and confidence for themselves and give them to
knowledge that this will really work for them too.
See what difference it makes to your direction by looking at
tree level on the horizon, rather than at your horses ears. You
will notice, or at least the other people will notice you wander
when looking at the horse’s ears.
If you feel at anytime that you are going to fall, and some
people will, just give yourself the stop cue. The stop is that little
bend of the knee that you do just before you go to sit in a chair.
Prove to yourself that you can walk and then jog a straight line
by simply looking up at the trees on the horizon just like you are
looking over the head of people at the football. Remember just
close your eyes in a nice relaxed way just as you would when
going to sleep. There is no need for a blindfold, as this will just
tend to get in the way of your focus and in many cases
heighten all that unwanted nervous energy. We are looking for
the controlled release of guided energy not the white noise of
nervous energy.
Now try and do the same thing looking at the ground like you
would if you were looking at your horse’s ears. Don't forget the
stop cue because you may stumble or fall trying to walk let
alone jog whilst looking at the ground with your eyes closed.
Just image what message this might be giving to your horse
whilst riding. You will also not get a straight line, just like you
will not get a straight line on you horse because you have not
given your horse any direction to go.
Take some time now to think how your horse might benefit
from knowing where it should be going. How would you feel if
asked to move but not know where you are going? How are
you going to find your way home if you have no idea where you
are going? What will you find when you get there? Are you
going to a safe place?
Now see what happens when you walk and then look up to the
left. Allow your belly button follow your eyes. The other
members of your group should be paying attention to the
amount of turn and natural flow of your body. Are you moving
more forward or drifting sideways.
Try looking down to the right. This is such an easy thing to do
and you will see that the direction and feel of the movement will
change as your focus changes. Feel how this change will
begin to communicate something very special to your horse.
Add a higher degree of difficulty by setting up some obstacles
or jumps and have someone direct you through or over a
course. If the person you are guiding is focusing at an obstacle
or jump they will hit it. Have them focus up and over the jumps
to go over. Have them focus around the obstacle to go around.
Imagine again how this focus will be translated to your horse. If
you focus at a jump you are asking your horse to go to the
jump, not over the jump.
When with your horse your job is always to communicate to
your horse the speed, direction and even the destination
should that be the case at times that you wish it to go. When it
comes to opening gates, focus at the gate. When you get to
the gate use your stop cue and reward your horse for finding
the destination. Riding in time will become more of a game.
You will pick out the destination, reward your horse for finding
the correct path to take, and then finally reward it for getting
you both to that destination.
Apart from helping people communicate better with their
horse, Paul provides barefoot trimming services and
consulting on the best natural care and environment that you
could provide for your equine friend.
Horseless Riding
by Paul Chapman
by Paul Chapman
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