Softening the ribs

I am still at my MBS training with Mia and Leora. Tomorrow is our last day. We have spent the past 8 days doing Awareness Through Movement® lessons that work on the ribs, specifically softening them.

It has been a fascinating exploration of this area of my body. I have (like so many other horse people) had a fair amount of damage to my ribs not to mention the times I landed on my back and knocked all the wind out of me. Two events I recall clearly happened to the left side. While in Italy in 1998 a horse kicked me and broke three ribs on the lower left. It was very painful, breathing difficult, bending impossible and I stopped sneezing for six weeks!

Now we are working on softening the ribs and I recall this injury because all of my ribs on the left feel more stiff than on the right. Funny thing, my horse bends better to the right just like me. As we continued with the lesson I have felt various areas in my back become more flexible, more alive. Even so there are whole areas of mystery that I become aware of when someone else places her hand on my back. All of this reminds me of my horse, Al.

He is softer to the right. His lower ribs on the left do not want to get closer together. When I work on his spine he looks at me over his shoulder like he doesn't understand his own landscape along the top line. He is so interested in what I am doing that he stands quietly with his eye on me while I work.

Now that my ribs move differently I wonder what will happen when I ride him again. That is going to have to wait until April 14th as I will not be home until then. I can't wait!

The Eyes of March

I am in Calistoga, CA at the MBS Academy Feldenkrais® Training. Today we did a very subtle lesson with the eyes. We paid attention to how we were lying on the floor during a scan. Then we worked with the right eye moving it back and forth noticing how the tone in the body changed or if there were places that started to hold while moving the eye particularly the jaw and neck.

What was fascinating is that I could not move my right eye to the upper right quadrant (9 and 10 o'clock). I would jump across the clock instead of going around. Once that got easier my right shoulder and hip let go. We took rests covering the eyes with both hands. Leora said that if you see black your nervous system is resting. After a break we did both eyes comparing the right and left.

Just before coming out here I worked on several horses who were anxious by covering their eyes one at a time. I cupped my hand over the eye so that I didn't put any pressure on the eye but simply blocked the vision. The horses relaxed and got calmer. One horse started out with trying to only use the left eye. As I continued to cover one and then the other she went from her eyes jumping back and forth to smoothly panning across from right to left. This is so similar to the lesson we did today.

I wonder if the horse's experienced the same kinds of things in their bodies I felt in mine. I do know they got calmer so there is some effect on calming the nervous system. I will have to continue to explore this idea as it was such a powerful lesson today.

Use the driving time to the show productively

Yesterday I took Al to a schooling show at Morven Park Equestrian Center in Leesburg, VA. This was his 3rd show and first time doing Training Level. We did Training 1 and 2. We have been working through the concept of keeping the contact during the canter transitions. Al's idea was that it is OK for contact when you are hunting but not when working on dressage in the arena.

We have been getting better this past week but weren't confirmed to say the least. As I was driving to the show I was practicing Training 1 in my head. Suddenly I realized I could only "see" his difficulties in the transitions instead of the calm quiet ones I prefer.

As I was driving I began to change the image so that I could visualize a calm horse, round and on contact during the canter departs. I also visualized the half-halts leading up to the transition. Sometimes Al's stride is so big the rear end runs over the front end and the only way to get the front out of the way is to hollow and fling the front legs up.

I continued my visualization until I got to the show grounds. I got on in plenty of time for my class so that I could continue to practice the new image before the test. While walking on a loose rein I went through the half halts again this time paying attention to my mouth and jaw so that I wouldn't tighten this area. The mouth affects the entire body so it is crucial to remain soft here. Pretty soon I could feel Al listening to my visualization.

We warmed up at the trot and canter, again focusing on the image of good transitions. Finally it was our turn. We got 7's for the canter transitions! We won our second class with a 71%. Very impressive since the canter transition were far from smooth earlier in the week.

Today I am leaving for several weeks of teaching and educational courses. I will continue my visualization of the canter transitions and hopefully Al will also.

Start of the season

March is such a funny month.

It teases of Spring yet holds onto Winter.

I can tell that Spring is coming:

I saw a robin in my driveway

Al (my horse) isn't wearing his blanket during the day

The crocus are blooming in my garden

The cat wants to go out and sit in her chair

Other signs of Spring:

The daylight is getting longer

The horses are covered in mud

Al had his first bath of the season

Everyone is contacting me for lessons

Signs that Spring isn't quite here:

It is below freezing in the morning

The cat sleeps in at night

The horses aren't really shedding yet

There isn't enough light to ride at 7pm