RWYM
Ride With Your Mind
I have enjoyed an amazing journey over the last 2 decades, discovering real balance and symmetry with my horses, by riding on ‘Ride With Your Mind’ courses regularly with Mary Wanless. I am not a ‘talented’ rider, and have needed alot of help to get where I am today!
I realised early on in my career as an animal Chiropractor that how a rider sits has a big effect on the health of a horse’s back. Riders who sit truly in balance tend not to have horses with back problems.
I have been training as a Coach in RWYM since 2006, and am an Accredited Coach in the technique. RWYM is a superb method of helping riders to improve their balance and symmetry, thereby significantly improving the way their horses move, and increasing competitive success.
I have some favourite phrases, one of which is:
In other words: if you want your horse to move or react in a different way, e.g. working rounder, bringing the hind legs under more, responding more quickly, moving more evenly on both reins, YOU as the rider need to do something different. You cannot expect your horse to turn right easily if your asymmetry puts you in ‘turn left’ position! (and we all have an asymmetry). Similarly, you cannot expect your horse to suddenly ‘come round’ or ‘reach into the rein’ if you consistently sit behind the balance and squash his back so he can’t.
How you sit on a horse is essential to how the horse carries itself. You cannot not influence the horse. As soon as you land in the saddle the horse ‘reads’ you as a rider. Its amazing how a horse will go completely differently for two different riders, but it is no longer a mystery, and it is possible for everyone from beginners to Grand Prix riders, to make good changes.
Mary Wanless has spent the last 30 years unravelling the mystery by studying talented riders, and has worked out why some riders ‘just sit there’ and get such amazing results, whereas most of us just sit there and struggle!
It is all to do with how you stack your body, especially the spine and pelvis (the good shoulder-hip-heel alignment that we’ve all read or been told about), and what you do with your muscles to stabilise your body on the bouncing, moving horse (high muscle tone – ‘relax’ is one of the most misleading instructions given to riders).
The pictures show the ony way a horse and rider can 'completely relax'!
Mary’s ‘Ride With Your Mind’ approach introduces you to what exactly is happening in your body when you ride, and how you can change it to improve your influence on your horse.
There is nothing unconventional about what RWYM teaches, you will learn what a good shoulder-hip-heel alignment really feels like. You will discover how to have that look of relaxed stillness, you will find out what it is truly like to ride a horse correctly ‘ from back to front’.
Moshe Feldenkrais also said ‘if you know what you are doing, you can do what you want’ i.e. if you are aware of what is happening in your body, you can change things. Thus alot of Mary’s work is on increasing your body awareness, so you become conscious of how you are sitting, what you are doing with your muscles, and how the horse is moving you.
Once you become aware of these things, you can modify them and change your responses, enabling you to radically alter the way your horse moves and responds.
If you would like to really improve your riding and make dramatic progress, then RWYM is for you. It is not always easy, and can challenge your body, but the payoffs in terms of harmony, balance and symmetry with your horse are immeasurable.
Additionally, riding in balance and symmetry is less taxing on your horse, who will potentially have fewer back problems and a longer working life.
To find out more about RWYM look at Mary’s website.