Connected Riding®: An Introduction - book 

Many riders are taught to ride as if they are perched on a sawhorse (a horse that doesn't move!) I was taught to ride by many wonderful and well-known professionals. I received the best knowledge about riding available at that time: to sit still, heels down, pull back on the reins, sit back, squeeze with my legs, push and drive with my seat. I drilled and practiced. That was then. Fifteen years later my body rejected the abuse I had imposed on it. By riding mechanistically and by shutting down the movement of my body with the horse's movement, I had acquired a variety of compression injuries and complaints. The biggest one, a compressed spine, put me in a back brace for a year, and I was told I shouldn't ride. Since riding was my life, I was forced to find another way to ride which my body could withstand. That began my journey to what I now call Connected Riding®. Connected Riding® is based upon the premise that a rider's body must be free and able to move astride a horse. Learn to sit up and sit still against the horse's movement is how riding has been taught to many people. This is biomechanically ineffective and stressful - often injurious to both horse and rider. The techniques of Connected Riding® shows riders how to find the place where the body can automatically rebalance itself with each stride.

There are two primary points of connection in riding. The first is the position of the rider's pelvis in the saddle Ğ the foundation for unobstructed movement of the rider's body. The 'neutral' position of the rider's pelvis is the place where the rider is sitting on the ends of the seat bones. If the body is either arched or slouched in the spine, the pelvis is tipped either forward of backward and is out of balance. The 'neutral' position is biomechanically the only unobstructed place a rider can sit in order to move with the horse. It is the only position where the hips remain free to move, allowing each leg to move freely and separately as well. This seat position connects the spine of the horse and rider. The second point of connection is the rider's elbow; the receiving end of 'from bit to elbow.'

When the rider is sitting in a neutral pelvic position, the legs freely follow and the upper body buoys to balance each stride. As the upper body (torso) buoys forward over the hips, the bent elbows move imperceptibly backwards, elastically receiving connection from the movement of the horse's head out, forward, and down. As the rider learns the cycle of rebalancing and connecting, the horse is supported and able to seek balance too. With the rider aligned and connected, the body language and messages to turn, slow, stop, "pickup", and engage all become clear and simple. Over-reactive horses become less reactive and sluggish horses become more attuned and willing because the rider is in balance. If the rider supports the horse to rebalance, move, and self-carry, the horse can willingly feel, think, cooperate, and respond to the rider Ğ there is a conversation through movement, much like dance partners.

Our responsibility as riders is to remove the restrictions and blocks through our Connected Riding® movements. Some of these that riders might wish to examine are: tight or unlevel saddles, tight or unbalanced riding, imbalanced trimming and shoeing, equine teeth or jaw problems, tie-downs, tight nose or brow bands, harsh bits, and all gadgets that create false frames and mechanical movement. Connected Riding® is the cycle of a horse's movement going through the rider's body, returning that movement back through the horse's body to form a synchronized, reciprocal, rhythmical system. It is an elastic connection from horse through rider, and rider through horse that supports the two moving together. The rider is the metronome that sets the rhythm and direction of the dance, influencing the horse's movements with movement instead of pressure and compression. This system creates lightness, willingness, and ease.

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