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RE: [RC] falling off the horse-long - Sheila A. Walsh"Captain of my ship", eh? I am the queen of the universe, when I ride. I am totally blessed to have the best centered riding instructor in the southwest. She's taught me to keep my ears over my shoulders and to look ahead or anywhere with my eyes, not swinging my head around. I also have a "body scan" habit, now, that goes from head to toe. The first thing she taught me was to breathe loud enough for my horse to hear me. That way my mount will know that all is well in the immediate world. It works, too. I can feel 'em relax. Of course, my old guy can still balk like there's no tomorrow. He would still be dog food, if I ever let him go.....Now I just go with the flow be staying totally centered. Cheers, Sheila -----Original Message----- From: ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Truman Prevatt Sent: Saturday, September 22, 2007 9:10 AM To: Nancy Sturm Cc: ridecamp Subject: Re: [RC] falling off the horse-long Hi Nancy, Sally Swift compares riding to skiing in her wonderful book "Centered Riding." The key to good skiing - and minimize the number of face plants is to look ahead several turns down the trail. She also talks about that in riding - in order to be properly balanced. When I got the Jbird 11 years ago - because he kept dumping my wife with his quick reactions - he dumped me for awhile. Well pain is a good teacher ;-) and I figured out what I was doing wrong. I was worrying more about watching out for where he puts his feet than down the trail. I figured that where he puts his feet is his problem and responsibility. If I were to be "captain of the ship" I needed to act like the captain and look ahead and chart the course. When I started doing that - he stopped spooking as much since I would alert him to what was ahead and if he did I was ready. I've come off him twice in the last 4 years. One was when we came around a 90 degree turn and there was a turkey in the trail who flew up right in his face. It startled both of us. I was up on a post and had no chance as he spun right out from under me. The other time is when we were galloping hell bent for election up a long hill. Top it and there in the middle of the trail was a inflated innertube. Go figure. But normally I see stuff before he does. At times when I get tired, I have to remind myself to "look ahead" and stay alert. But I think it's saved me more than once. Truman Nancy Sturm wrote: That's a very interesting observation, Truman - pun intended. Gabe, who has so much more fun riding Tali than I ever did, sees everything. "Oh look there's a .... " fill in the blank. He sees bears, deer, a cougar, rattlesnakes, a spotted fawn, a lost pocket knife, an unspent shell, lost tack, a dropped whip. He's forever bailing off to pick up his finds. It really makes me wonder at the visual acuity of youth and also just exactly what it is I am looking at. The back of my horse's head, perhaps. Nancy =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -- ?It doesn't matter how beautiful your theory is, it doesn't matter how smart you are. If it doesn't agree with experiment, it's wrong? Richard Feynman, Nobel Laureate in Physics =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
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