You may know more than you think you know !
By Joni Bentley
Both Degas and Leonardo da Vinci were infatuated with the mechanics of movement as illustrated in their beautiful pictures above. Degas especially identified with the subject of dance, but what interested him more than the pretty dresses and beautiful women, was the living breathing mechanics of the dancer’s movement. Likewise Leonardo da Vinci believed that the artist must know not just the rules of perspective in art, but all the laws of nature that flow through it. They were great thinkers of their time because they thought- outside- the- box!
I have to admit I think I was born thinking outside the box. Perhaps being hung upside down at birth and then promptly slapped on my derriere had something to do with not trusting the experts. I felt the same entering the horse world. When I had a riding lesson it didn’t feel comfortable or clear to me as to what I should be doing.
All I asked for was to be able to ride my horse, on the bit; in good balance and that it would be enjoyable and comfortable for both me and my Ned. It’s not rocket science so why was it so complicated?
Rescued by one of the greatest human movement specialist F M Alexander’s Alexander teacher training, and then Moshe Feldenkrais, my journey to simplicity and thinking without boundaries finally arrived.
What was even more liberating was that both of these great men agreed that the secret of good biomechanics lay deep within each and every one of us, so we don’t have to fork out loads of money, forever, to the “experts,” hoping to gain a few crumbs from their table. All we need to do, and it is deceptively simple, is to find our way back to how we learned and moved when we were innocent young children before we got bent out of shape.
Have you noticed how well young children move; their posture is naturally graceful and biomechically perfect? Have you noticed how adamant they are about finding out how things work for themselves by trial and error? Have you noticed how we bend out of shape as we grow up and stop using our enquiring mind because we are made to believe that the experts know best?
Putting my childhood cap back on with regards to horse training, I decided to work out how riding works for both horse and rider equally. Since then like Degas, Da Vinci, Alexander and Feldenkrais over the past 20 years I have become infatuated with living biomechanics, in other words the study of movement as it is - warts and all!
In brief I found out:
1. Right-or left-handedness in humans spreads a misalignment throughout their whole body, developing over the course of years. It can’t be voluntarily switched off or relaxed. And it is the root cause of problems in horsemanship.
2. Just as we are right-or left-handed, so are horses and all the above relates to them.
3. Trying to fix your body into an ideal position always fails because when you start mucking out, driving or generally living, your one-sidedness reinforces your spinal twist knocking your ideal position out of shape.
4. Your horse suffers the same malady and makes it impossible for you to sit straight.
5. You actually increase your own and your horse’s crookedness by trying to build an ideal position on a wonky foundation, giving yourself and your horse a double dose of crookedness.
6. If a horse has soundness problems, the vet has checked them out, and is happy for you to ride them, usually I find that your problem is a ridden one that often doesn’t go away permanently by treating either horse or rider separately. The rider has to learn how to counterbalance their own and their horse’s one-sidedness during riding. And that is what I specialise in at the remedial level and now call it, “ridden massage therapy.”
Degas, Da Vinci, Alexander and Feldenkrais were not taught by experts, they used their child like (not to be confused with childish) curiosity to create something wonderful. Encouraged by them I found out over time that I actually knew more than I thought I did.
I allowed myself to relax and started to figure out how riding works using the simple logic of a child. If we would only become child like, go with the flow, and stop micromanaging ourselves and our horses the world would be a happier place. Our childhood memories are still buried deep inside all of us which is why so many of my students say to me during a lesson, “Oh I used to do that when I was a kid before I got uptight!” Ring any bells?
Good posture is not a position.
We tend to describe and prescribe positions rather than movement- the very thing that Da Vinci, Degas, Alexander and Feldenkrais were moving away from because they felt it was lifeless, much like dressage today. See photo.
Positions are easier to talk about and to comprehend - they have shapes, they're visual, they stay still. The trouble is they also have nothing to do with life. They’re dead, unyielding, and often cruel and let’s be honest not much fun, just look into the eyes of the horse and rider!
Go beyond the mind and listen to the body’s reality
To make real, lasting improvements in our riding posture and the way we apply our aids, we need strategies that will help us reach beyond the mind, into the parts of our being that are actually in control of movement.
We need to work with our bodies and our horses’ bodies in a natural way as Feldenkrais and Alexander discovered in their lifetime. We need to go beyond manipulating our outline to conform to an accepted ideal position, and instead discover the organic flow of good posture.
In short, we need strategies that are in an alignment with real bodies, not imagined ones.
Biomechanics in motion.
My, “Ridden massage therapy.” Which I cover in the remedial level of my training never ceases to amaze rider’s when they discover how their body fits their horse’s body and how they can easily counterbalance crookedness and unsoundness problems that previously wouldn’t go away
The Bentley technique is so easy and different to any training I have ever come across and I believe it will revolutionise training in the future. It gives the most careful consideration to all the different factors involved in crookedness, it then shows you through simple exercises how by "unfixing" rather than "fixing" horse and rider, crookedness gradually crystallises out more and more up to a point where it dissolves and solves itself." Andy Ford Kent
If you believe in the power of partnership between horse and rider … my new DVD programme gives you a great start with. “Contact in detail,” You can see free DVD footage on my website www.jonibentley.co.uk. You can also:
• Download a free workbook.
• Check out the times and dates of my October and November workshops at Writtle Colleges Essex, Brinsbury College Sussex and Hadlow College in Kent.
• Check out how you can start a new career with horse’s by becoming a Joni Bentley workshop or night school teacher?
I am also personally available to teach private lessons in your area. I will work at the pace and speed you and your horse are comfortable with. Without pressure riders are free to enjoy learning one thing at a time until they uncover their own personal winning formula.
Don’t forget to find out more about my new DVDs and watch video previews go to my website www.jonibentley.co.uk or call for a chat Tel 07771 811561
