Sally Swift - Centered Riding 2: Further Exploration

S ince the publication of my first book, Centered Riding in 1985, the concept of Centered Riding has helped many people improve their riding, and consequently the communication with their horses. This approach to riding enables people to use their bodies more efficiently and fluidly, and to understand more clearly the relationship between their own, and their horses bodies. The emphasis is essentially on the rider. It makes it clear how profoundly you influence your horse by the way you use your own body.

Centered Riding 2: Further Exploration does not replace the first book, it complements it. The books belong side by side, and readers will do well to have read Centered Riding. This second book includes more about the horse. It explains in broad terms how you can improve your horses musculature and way of going through your expanded understanding and application of Centered Riding. You cannot fail to improve your horses body as you progress in your riding skills. They are interchangeable and can produce a lovely interplay between horse and rider.

As I continue to teach Centered Riding, I have discovered that this approach to riding keeps evolving in new and interesting ways. The basics and the philosophy remain constant, but new ways of using or expressing them have emerged continually through the teaching process. Over the years, I have frequently found myself developing a whole new direction of teaching a familiar concept. This book not only reviews the all-important basics, but also presents these expanded applications of the Centered Riding method.

Very importantly, I want to emphasize that Centered Riding is not a special form of riding. It is a most effective way to learn to ride a horse classically well in all disciplines. Excellence in riding is achieved when a rider is able to ride in harmony with a horse and thus allow him to achieve his maximum potential of dynamic movement, athleticism, and obedience. Centered Riding lies at the core of all good riding, from beginner to Olympic level, from dressage and jumping to reining or endurance riding.

Occasionally I ask myself, How did this happen? Why am I excitedly working at this project in my retirement years? Chance and circumstances do surprising things. The fact that I have had a back problem since childhood (a scoliosis) led me to work with some remarkable people who helped me use my awkward body well. Through this exposure to methods of movement and body control, I developed a deep interest in the way the human body works. So, when I retired at age sixty-two from office work, I began playing with my concepts. I had meant to travel a bit and teach a few of my friends riding, for fun. When people recognized that I was teaching something that was largely missing in riding instruction, the demand for my ideas simply swept me along.