My riding has become an exploration of responsiveness.
I understand now that as soon as I require my leg to be here, or my arm to be there…
That as soon as I fix my hands or assume a position that I have created in my mind’s eye as the ideal…
I have pulled myself out of the moment. I have cancelled out any opportunity that my unconscious brain has to seek, tweak and adjust the position of my body in response to the movement of my horse.
I am no longer with her.
So instead, I seek two points.
I ask, can I match my midline up with the midline of your body?
Where is my pubic symphysis in relation to my belly button?
Are my armpits over my iliac crests? Do they feel wider? Narrower? Forward or behind them?
As I turn, does my midline turn first? Or does the shoulder lead? Or the hip?
Does my trigeminal nerve stay closer to the surface of my skin as I go this direction, or does it draw in towards the midline of my body?
I don’t change or judge. I don’t forcibly adjust.
I simply observe. And in my observations, I give my unconscious brain more information about where it is I sit in space. I let it make the decision about where I need to be, and how best to be in harmony within the movement.
My role is to observe, to give my unconscious brain more information about what is happening in the here and now.
Onwards.
❤️ Jane
