I have a question for men who have taken centered riding
lessons (or women who have been around this situation.)
Do you think the imagery that Sally Swift and centered
riding instructors use works for you?
My husband and I had our first centered riding lesson
today.I have read a Sally Swift book
and so I knew about some of the methods and imagery involved. I’m a fairly technical person, but that
imagery really works for me.My husband
couldn’t quite get past it.He
wants everything broken down to a real movement and when and why.
I tried to explain that it is a heck of a lot easier and
faster to say or think of some of the images than to really describe all the
steps. Also, I think it is natural that
when you (or at least me, maybe as a woman?) start imagining these things that
my head naturally looks up and I am able to take in more around me – it all
just seems to really click.He was wondering after the lesson if the
imagery was something that just naturally worked better for women.
I don’t mind if he really doesn’t want to do the
lessons, but I think he would gain a lot if he were able to get past thinking
some of this is silly. He’s got a
new horse that spooks a lot (his batting average is .50 for going off) and I
think that if the instructor is able to get him to lengthen his legs and flex
in his ankles and some other things she noted, that he will be a lot more
stable on this horse.
He could probably get this from another instructor, and
maybe one more suited to his way of thinking, but we don’t have many
options where we live and I was pretty amazed to find this lady.And he’s not really into spending time
in the arena, she’s willing to work with us wandering around our hills
and trees and out on the trail too.
So any thoughts on whether it makes sense to push him to
find a way to work this out mentally or some ideas I can use to help translate
to his very technical mind?
