Page 16 - CR NEWS Summer 2020

By Susan Strong Kelley
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Teaching Centered Riding & Body Work While Mounted
I almost always teach while mounted on my horse. I believe this gives me a great advantage – particularly because I can demonstrate any given exercise before asking my students to try it. By demonstrating, I can show the students clear examples of correct and incorrect use of our bodies in riding.
But there is an extra advantage of teaching while mounted that is particularly helpful during this covid-19 pandemic. While I
am mounted on the horse, it is very easy for me to stay at least a horse’s length away – a little more than the prescribed
six feet of physical distancing – from my students.
As the pandemic continues, it is not yet safe to place our hands on our students to help them with bodywork. Let’s look at this more closely.
#1 Demonstrations
When I am mounted on a horse, I can easily guide my students through many fun Centered Riding exercises. Generally,
I start with the “walk with a following seat” exercise. This allows the rider to discover the three-dimensional movement of the horse’s back and hind legs.
In turn, this leads to a deeper connection to the horse’s balance and rhythmic movement. It can also lead to other useful exercises, including “backward peddling of the seat bones,” riding the “three seats at the trot,” riding with “tippy toes,” and much more.
All these techniques help students to gradually release tightness in their bodies. This helps to accomplish much of what I used to do, in pre-covid times, when I would use my own hands on the student.
#2 Audio/Visual advantage
1. Teaching while mounted improves communication. People have no diffi- culty hearing each other, as is the case when someone is yelling from the end of the arena on a windy day, using ear buds, etc.
2. My students can see and follow me as I ride my horse, or they can ride next to me — at a safe distance – on their horse, as we practice the lesson of the day. I can then send the student out to practice while I observe and offer input. In this way, I am better able to see their progress from many different angles because I can ride next to, or behind them, rather than just standing in the middle, side or corner of the arena.
#3 Horses are Herd Animals
Horses are social beings who have a strong herd mentality. They like being to- gether. This alone can improve a lesson, since horses are comforted and calmed by each other’s company. I teach most of my lessons using my own horses as school horses. But I find that even a visiting horse will feel less anxious if another horse is in the ring, too.
#4 A Win-Win Result
When I teach while mounted, by the end of the day, I have put in more time riding, practicing and clarifying my skills. As the saying goes “You teach best what you need to learn.” My students, my horses and I all benefit greatly from this arrange- ment. n
Susan Strong Kelley is a Level III Centered Riding Clinician living in Geneseo,
New York.
Image by Harty T. Kelley (Susan Kelley’s daughter).