The Art of Natural Dressage

I did a search of the forum and was very surprised to find only one or two reference to the Worlds leading authority on rider biomechanics...Mary Wanless, and those references were just links for her books.

As a lot of folks here appear keen to ride 'classically', albeit bitless, I am surprised that there is not more discussin of her methods. I have watched a few of the riding videos that people have posted and can definitely say that they would benefit from studying Marys body of work.

The 'Ride With Your Mind" system is scientifically researched. Unlike most current 'Gurus' who appear to offer the same thing Mary is both a qualified riding teacher and a scientist. Her instructions are very clear and specific, and the method has its own language for breaking down the elements of sitting/riding into micro elements (in the same way as teaching AND tasks to the horse)

This is probably because many people here are not riding a lot, or even not at all but I want to start riding soon, maybe in few weeks, because my mare will be four years old (and her birthday will be soon too! ) although it will not be more than sitting on her back for a moment, but still I don't want to destroy that nice movement that I was working on for almost two years and there are more reasons - I forgot most of my riding skills probably, and I will probably have to learn them in new way, just like our training is much different from the traditional, too (although not so different from classical, indeed). She learned her lesson very well, so I should have some riding skills to match her...

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"Never just follow the crowd." Margaret Thatcher

I would certianly be interested in learning more! I am finding that both Cisco and Tamarack give me feedback on what is helpful to them and what is annoying , and I think there is nothing at all wrong with riding naturally for most people...and by naturally, I mean with no lessons at all and with nothing more than the desire not to fall off. For that, you learn merely to stay centered in the movement, keeping your balance, and the occasional little reminder to sit up and watch where you're going rather than leaning over and staring at your horse's ears.

In many cases, movements that I did not think possible without learning some drastically different way of riding, really only came down to the horse getting stronger. They can and will compensate for my shortcomings. But I do know that as a part of my educational journey on all of this, that learning precision riding...and shooting for perfection...is all part of the process and every bit as interesting.

So for me, I'm not there yet, so I haven't really expressed much interest in learning it, but I'm always open to learning, and the opportunities always seem to land in front of me when I'm ready to pounce on them

I have benefitted enormously from Mary Wanless' work. I have one of her books, and more than anyone, she has transformed my riding skills.

She helps the rider become much more balanced, secure, distribute their weight better, influence the horse more, be a "proactive" vs a "reactive" rider, etc. I highly recommend reading her books!

Sometimes it sounds like she advocates tension, or too much tightness, but I really don't think she means it that way. Her "tension" is more of a supporting of your own weight. She really helped me understand that a relaxed rider may still have conscious muscle tension in some places, supporting and stabilizing themselves.

Anyway, yes, tiga, thanks for bringing her up again! A good reminder for me to look at her book again...

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"Do you give the horse his strength?"
~Job 39:19a

www.cambriahorsemanship.com

Yes, I use Wanless alot in my riding and teaching. Sally Swift is similar and also good. (Though Wanless is my favorite)

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Learning to put the relationship first.

Over here in the Netherlands Heather Moffett also is popular when it comes to rider biomechanics, just as centered riding.