Newrider, 15 februari 2000:
'The recent posts contrasting Heather's method with that of Mary Wanless, motivated me to go back and re-read parts of one of Mary's books, as well as Sally Swift's book. I'd like to throw in my two-cents worth concerning how their methods compare with Heather's.
Before I had read Heather's book, I had read Mary Wanless's most recent book, For the Good of the Rider, and Sally Swift's book,
Centered Riding. Both of these books rely mainly on imagery and analogy, which I had trouble understanding. Heather's book, on
the other hand, is simple to understand and apply. For example, once I knew how the back was supposed to move during the sitting
trot and had practiced the move a few times on a chair, I found that by holding my back correctly I didn't SEEM to have to do
anything when riding, at least for a collected trot -- my back automatically hollowed on the up beat and straightened on the down beat. My guess is that those who don't feel comfortable with this method are trying too hard.
I do not believe that Mary's and Heather's approaches to riding differ that much, but their methods of teaching differ immensely.
As I mentioned above, I find Mary's use of imagery confusing, and it is my guess that many reader's who believe they understand
what Mary is recommending really don't. For example, I was only able to understand what Mary was getting at with regard to the
sitting trot after reading Heather's book. In particular, it seems to me that Mary's "bottom walking" is very close to what
Heather recommends with regard to the seat bones: "the feeling is of your seat bones being walked forward" (p. 34). As far as
the movement of the back is concerned, what Mary is recommending is difficult to figure out from her discussion. However, her
drawing illustrating the sitting trot shows the top of pelvis rocking forward on the up beat and backward on the down beat. This is the same movement that occurs when the back is slightly hollowed on the up beat and straightened on the down beat, as Heather recommends.
Note that none of this has anything to do with the "pinch". Mary admits in "For the Good of the Rider" that the term "pinch" has been misunderstood. She now prefers to describe this technique as "narrowing
in" or "lacing up across your back." To understand what she has in mind, one needs to know a little about the anatomy of the hip. The thigh bone or femur is set out from the hip socket by a short "neck" before extending down to the knee. This neck slopes somewhat down and back. By rotating the outer thigh backward, this neck is brought down toward the saddle. Mary believes that doing this gives the seat stability. The rider is not only resting on her seat bones but also
on the knobs of the femurs. According to Mary this is what is meant by "spreading your seat out." The challenge is to do this without tightening the buttocks muscles. Instead, one has to tighten the muscles that go across the sacrum (lower end of the spine) to the hips without tightening the muscles that you sit on.
This interpretation of "spreading your seat out" is the very opposite of that given by Sally Swift. She recommends that the rider "open her seat" by rotating the outside of the thighs FORWARD. This brings the neck of the femur, which normally angles slightly back, forward so that the hips are now wider apart, making it possible for the rider to
sit deeper in the seat and with longer legs.
Heather doesn't directly comment on this issue, although she does recommend against tucking under the flesh of the thigh, which would have the effect of rotating the thigh forward, and recommends only as a "remedial measure" a move that might have the effect of a slight rotation of the thigh backward (p. 26). My guess is that what works depends a lot on the structure of the rider's pelvis and hips.
What Heather calls the "pinch technique" in her post of Feb. 8 is totally different from Mary's "pinch" and serves a different purpose. Heather's pinch, the tightening of the buttocks, is for collection and downward transitions. Mary, on the other hand,
recommends a momentary holding of the down beat in order to collect the horse. I believe that this is the same method that Heather attributes to Desi Lorent, the "bracing of the spine inwards and the stopping of the movement of the back" (p. 48). Finally, Sally recommends a third method: a further opening of the seat by a slight rotating of the thighs forward while letting the legs drop down and back.' - Larry Eschelman
Wat zou dat allemaal een stuk helderder en eenvoudig communiceren zijn geweest (en waarschijnlijk tot niet-differentiatie hebben geleid) als de betreffende dames Moffett, Swift, Wanless én TT-Jones het voor hun idee-uitwerking al bestaande boekje van Schusdziarra zouden hebben gelezen
HC
http://users.telenet.be/huertecilla
Warboel
