Almost every rider knows, he has to train and develop himself if he wants to be able to ride his horse well. The better a rider is in balances and the better a rider can control his body, the better his seat will be and the better he can give the aids, without hindering the horse. This helps the horse to work better and develop itself.
To carry a rider and to be able to meet the demand that is asked of the horse, it needs to be straight. It also needs good balance, a strong back, freedom of movement and good coordination. These are the conditions the horse has to fulfil to be able to perform its tasks And just like the horse, the rider also needs these physical conditions to be able to ride the horse well!! There are however only few people, who can meet these conditions, without effort. These people are called gifted or talented people. Most of us aren’t this talented and we need to train hard to keep developing ourselves
Having worked for the Centre of Anatomically Correct Riding (ARR) for several years, I observed horses in training. There are some horses who are talented and some who aren’t. Even though the talent varies, ALL horses are able to develop, by correct training in a very short time period. Every horse is able to develop, disregard age. The development is seen most of all in the area of suppleness, strength, coordination and balance. Humans also have these areas and they can develop themselves in these areas too.
Because the by Klaus Schöneich and Gabriele Rachen-Schöneich developed Straightness Training for horses, came up with many astounding results, the idea arose to use the basics of this Straightness Training to develop a training for people. Human Straightness Training. Even though this Human Straightness Training is only at the beginning of its development, phenomenal results have been reached already. Several different physical complaints and illnesses can become less or even disappear. The body will develop in different areas. It improves the balance, coordination, suppleness and strength (muscles) and often it reduces pain.
Besides, several people have experienced improvement in different areas of the body. Some of these are:
- The entire Spine (The back becomes more straight, neck problems become less)
- Digestion
- Balance
- All Senses (Eyes, Ears, Taste, Smell,…)
- All Organs (Intestines, Lungs, Kidneys, Heart, …)
- Blood circulation
- The entire nervous system including the brain
- Shoulders and ribs
- Feet
- Legs
- Jaw
Just like the horse, humans have some sort of natural crookedness. Although I prefer to call it „unnatural“ crookedness, because the human body is made to be straight, in balance an free of hindrances. Therefore crookedness is not natural but unnatural. Being straight, in balance and free of hindrances is natural. There are however certain elements, which can lead us away from this „straight road“ and – again just like with horses – these elements develop abnormalities in the various parts of the body.
Some of these elements, which develop abnormalities are for instance left or right handedness, shifting of the weight on the left or right leg, lack of movement, wrong movement, sitting all day, gravity, eyesight, digestion, blockages, old injuries, etc.
Very often our body isn’t straight, but we don’t notice it ourselves. That’s because our brain didn’t qualify to be a „maths or physics teacher“ to us. Our brain has the task to take us through life safely, using as little energy as possible. This means when a person moves in a crooked way, but this way of moving takes less energy than trying to move straight, our brain will accept this crooked movement as correct and won’t give us some sort of warning signal. When somewhere in the body pain arises, our brain will try to find a solution, to experience as little pain as possible. Mostly however this solution doesn’t result in straightness. It usually costs more energy (according to the brain) to have a limp for a while or to move deeper into the crookedness, than to try and move straight. When we don’t focus on our movement and posture, we will move in a crooked way throughout our lives. This however isn’t without consequences!! Many small and large physical problems can develop, due to crookedness.
Human Straightness Training influences the brain in a way, it will train the body to bring itself into straightness. This straight posture helps the body to improve in all areas, to become more healthy and it could help to reduce pain. The movement pattern changes. To move correct and straight is often very difficult. We can try and make a great effort to focus on moving correct, straight and in balance. Usually this takes lots of time, energy and concentration. And if we forgets to think of it for even a moment, we immediately move crooked again. We can think „move straight!“ a thousand times, it still won’t function continually to stay straight. Think for a moment of a riding teacher, who has to repeat the same correction of the seat and posture of the rider over and over again, because the rider continually makes the same mistake. This is not because the rider doesn’t want to sit correctly or because he doesn’t try. Usually this has to do with normalised crookedness in the riders body. It’s not working, due to the riders crookedness, because the brain constantly gives the wrong directions or because the rider isn’t able to move and sit correctly at all.
How can this be? How could a person not be able to be straight? There are several possible answers to this question. It could be caused by tension in muscles, tendons, old injuries, blockages in the body. Or simply because the person is stiff. Of course stiffness has is origin in a wrong posture and crookedness. Also digestion problems or other inner malfunctions could hinder a person to move straight.
A direct approach to solve crookedness usually doesn’t work. To correct our seat or posture while riding, doesn’t have a lasting impact. To try and focus on moving straight doesn’t either. As soon as we forget to focus on it, we move crooked again. Human Straightness Training is an indirect approach, to handle this problem step by step. The body will become more and more straight, because this training develops suppleness, strength, balance. This has a deep effect on the body. Instead of being an exception using lots of energy, it will become simple and normal for us to move straight.
But the most important thing for a rider (and for the horse too!!) is of course the fact that by Human Straightness Training, we develop a better seat and the rider will improve his riding abilities. It would be such a shame, when the horse is properly prepared, supple and with impulsion, straightened, when it has perfect shoeing, a perfectly fitting saddle, teeth well taken care of, the best of food and is supervised by a veterinarian; to make sure everything is perfect, and the rider isn’t able, due to his own physical crookedness, to ride the horse well. Besides the fact that all these thing are very important and have to be optimized, it is equally important, the rider is able to help his horse develop and reach next stages in its further schooling.
Human Straightness Training helps riders to develop themselves physically and to develop their ability as rider. Only then can we really use the term “Anatomically Correct Riding”. Both the anatomy of the horse and of the rider needs to be taken into consideration and needs to be applied in a correct way, for the riding to become a joy to both rider and horse.
Petra van Weelden
Phone: +49-163-1327769
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