Ride Right – EASTWARD PRESENTS OUR SPRING SYMPOSIUM FOCUS ON THE RIDER

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Ride Right
EASTWARD PRESENTS OUR SPRING SYMPOSIUM
FOCUS ON THE RIDER

Sunday, April 26, 2015, 9 am to 4pm
28 Reynwood Drive, Brewster, NY 10509

Catherine McWilliams, Ron Postleb, Lisa Postleb-Kaptein, and featuring Alexander Technique teacher Thomas Lemens.

These four expert trainers will show you how to improve your confidence, balance and effectiveness.

• 9am to 10:30 Start by learning how to align your own body.
Thomas Lemens’ lecture-demonstration on the Alexander Technique and its value in improving rider’s posture and use of the body.

• 10:30-11:15 Then how to prepare your horse’s body for work.
Ron Postleb demonstrates training the horse on the longe line in preparation for rider training.

•11:15-12:15 Put the two together without stress.
Catherine Mcwilliams explains some finer details of rider position, and shows exercises for longeing the rider.

• 12:15-12:45 A break to talk about what you have learned.
Gourmet sandwiches catered by Kaptein’s Corner Deli, Danbury,

•12:45-1:30 Use your body to get better results.
Lisa Postleb-Kaptein discusses correct application of the basic aids and the effect on the horse’s gaits, balance, and quality of movement.

•1:30-3:00 And the suppling exercises you need to climb the levels.
Ron Postleb explains and demonstrates the leg-yielding exercises and their great value in horse and rider training.

SUNDAY, APRIL 26, 2015, 9 am to 4pm
$30 bring your own lunch. $10 extra for gourmet lunch.

Register by April 24th at: ceastward@gmail.com or
call / text to: 914-216-6000 $10 extra at the door.
Eastward, 28 Reynwood Drive, Brewster, NY 10509

Training the Rider Along with the Horse

All riders will benefit from training specifically for the skills and strengths they need to be more effective. The skill of the rider determines the quality of the horse’s training.

We can address rider skills both on and off the horse that lead to safer, more effective communication and more willing cooperation from the horse.
So many of the difficulties encountered in riders are caused by problems of balance. If the rider’s balance is faulty, it prevents the horse from moving freely and naturally. And as the horse’s balance is affected by the rider, as well as having its own balance issues, it will lead to stiffness and resistance to even the simplest tasks.

We will demonstrate the basic rider skills needed for comfortable and effective riding, and some methods to improve and develop those skills.
These basic skills are very difficult to learn while riding a horse on your own. A common method of teaching riding is to mount the student on a school horse and by verbal instruction, explain the way to hold the reins and apply the legs to make the horse go, stop, and turn. But these basics are so complex, and each rider has his own mental and physical athletic strengths and weaknesses, that bad habits begin in the first lesson. Unless these are addressed systematically as the student progresses, they will carry through the student’s training. The more times a student repeats a bad habit, the more it becomes embedded in his muscle memory, and the more difficult it becomes to replace it with a good habit.

Our methods follow the classical system of teaching shown to create exceptionally skilled riders. But we also take into account an understanding of human and equine body mechanics, and go more deeply into HOW to achieve a good seat. For most people, it is not enough to be shown where to place the seat, legs, and hands. Repeated explanation, subtle corrections and practice are required before the student can align and position his body correctly, and understand the subtle differences between a seat that looks okay and one that is truly in harmony with the horse.

Our teaching ideally goes along with training off the horse from a trained body worker. We chose the Alexander Technique as being the most fundamental, as it directly affects neuromuscular habits in every human movement to restore a naturally correct use of the body for athletic (or any other) purposes.
We also place great importance on training the student on a correctly trained longe horse, to be able to focus on the individual difficulties of position and balance without the rider having the distraction of controlling the horse.

We will then demonstrate how to continue building those essential skills while actually riding. We will show how a correctly balanced rider using his aids effectively, can make the necessary improvements in his horse’s balance and quality of gaits, to be successful at the highest levels of performance.
Finally we will demonstrate a very important tool in developing both rider control and straightness in the horse, namely the leg-yielding exercises.


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Author: Harlem Valley News