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Core
Feb 2, 2016 16:04:44 GMT
Post by horseguy on Feb 2, 2016 16:04:44 GMT
We use the term core to describe the use of strength but there is more to core than just strength. Core is our physical center. It is from core that we balance, cue, allow or counter motion in our horse, and most importantly connect with our horse. If we have little or no core development, there are inherent limits to what we can accomplish with a horse. If we have no vocal cords, we cannot speak. Similarly, if we have no core we cannot communicate with our horse.
Typically when we think of an image of a rider with little or no core we conger up a vision of an overweight person sitting on a horse. This may be true, but not always.
It is possible to have high core strength and be overweight. It is equally true, and in my experience increasingly true, that a rider can have a very trim body and have no core strength.
If we think of core not as simple muscle development or strength but rather as our central source of energy, we can better direct that energy as a means of communication. For lack of a better word, I will use the martial arts term for core energy. They call it Ki. Ki derives its power mostly from focus like using a magnifying glass to start a fire with the sun's energy.
In this analogy our body is the sun and our core is the magnifying glass. We therefore must have some physical "brute" strength, but perhaps more importantly we must be able to draw this Ki together in order to focus and deliver it in a coherent way to our horse using our core.
I want to step back here and acknowledge that this Ki energy discussion might sound more metaphysical than practical to many readers. My purpose in delving directly into the focused Ki through core control is to contrast it to the very common riding practice of not using any Ki in riding or communicating with the horse. The contrasting vision to Ki is a rider who throws their horse's head around with the reins, pokes their horse's sides with spurs or grabs a hold of a horse's head using a bridle and bit as brakes. These all too common "techniques" are devoid of core focused Ki energy. They are crude, often abusive and unnecessary. They involve communication with hands and legs which are not integrated with or connected to the rider's core or physical center. To a horse these proddings from the rider's extremities feel like so many independent annoying insects, never a coherent, understandable, whole communication.
Therefore, good and effective riding requires the rider to develop core in order to focus Ki in order to communicate clearly.
How do we do this?
In the example of riding a circle we feel centrifugal force. In an unsophisticated rider the impulse is to counter this force by leaning in toward the center of the circle as if riding a bicycle. If we yield to this common impulse we make our upper body into just another extremity like a leg or arm used in balance.
The use of Ki energy is not the separate use of parts of the body to balance. It is the use of the entire body as a whole. Again, the separated use of hands, arms, legs, feet, upper body is the use of brute force. The use of the whole integrated body strength focused through the core is the use of Ki.
Core is then a physical attribute of the body but its use is one of precise focus not brute strength. We must learn to use it for two primary reasons. First, it is more efficient to use core focused energy than attempting to direct disconnected energy from separate body parts and locations to our horse. Second, because horses can relate far better to one coherent energy coming from the rider. Also, and most important, horses will return this coherent whole Ki energy from the rider with their own coherent energy, which is the energetic level of true unity.
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Core
Feb 2, 2016 19:47:34 GMT
Post by lilyun on Feb 2, 2016 19:47:34 GMT
I'm looking forward to hearing more about this topic.
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Core
Feb 2, 2016 20:19:28 GMT
Post by rideforever on Feb 2, 2016 20:19:28 GMT
I have studied Martial Arts for years, and I love this topic.
Chi (Ki) is the energy of our body. Our center/core, also called "hara" is where all movement originates. Where the center is located on your body can change, dependent on how you breathe, where your weight is located. For instance if you are standing straight up and breathing only in the very top of your lungs, your center is higher on your body than if you bend your knees, sinking your weight down and breathing all the way down in your lungs. Where your center is located affects balance. Without being balanced, your chi/ki/energy cannot travel effectively.
Being able to focus that energy is also important.
This weekend I gave a groundwork lesson to some absolute beginners. My horse had stood quietly next to me, not trying to get closer for the introductory part of the lesson. When one of the students took her lead and stood listening for a few minutes while I gave additional instruction...my mare suddenly got restless and got closer and closer to the student until she was close enough to rub her head on the student. I showed her how to correct the behavior, which she did. as soon as the student's focus was back on me...my mare was back to rubbing on her. The student was not at all aware of her body in relation to the horse, and was easily taken off balance by the rubbing.
So we had to work on being aware of our surroundings, and body awareness...and where to focus. These are the baby steps that will lead to her being able to find balance, and use her focus/energy to communicate with the horse.
If you are interested in someone who's really good at explaining the relationship between horses and martial arts is Mark Rashid. His books are a little on the dry side. But if you already know a bit about martial arts and a bit about horses, he will really be good to read. Some of it won't make a lot of sense unless you have studied martial arts before
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Core
Feb 3, 2016 16:23:46 GMT
Post by horseguy on Feb 3, 2016 16:23:46 GMT
... Where the center is located on your body can change, dependent on how you breathe, where your weight is located. For instance if you are standing straight up and breathing only in the very top of your lungs, your center is higher on your body than if you bend your knees, sinking your weight down and breathing all the way down in your lungs. Where your center is located affects balance. Without being balanced, your chi/ki/energy cannot travel effectively.
Yes, the location of the physical center can move. It tends to move vertically.
In riding the ability to specifically define the movement of the center, from which the Ki energy is focused, is the essence of applying Ki energy as the primary means of communication with our horse. Breath is one means of moving or lowering this point or center of focus. It is in this lowering that we begin to ride "in" our horse instead of "on" our horse.
By the way, Chi or Ki are different spellings of the word/sound depending on which Asian culture is describing it. Whether it is Korean, Chinese or Japanese the words describe a sound, and sounds are partially a function of breath. Therefore, if we say Ki in the proper way, it can lower our point of energy focus. Try it. Basically, you can say Ki and have you belly button go outward as you say it, or you can say Ki and have your belly button go inward as you say it. Which way, inward or out ward, do you feel lowers your physical center? Most people would say the solar plexus/belly button going inward as you make the Ki sound lowers the physical center, and thus gets you deeper into your horse.
We had a horse named Red Cloud at the farm for a number of years that would not canter. It took a great deal of leg and a crop to get even a few canter strides out of him. He had always been ridden from the rider's extremities, never from a whole singular rider energy that he could relate to. He shut down and stayed shut down. His owner was a professional woman in her 40s. I convince her to try the Ki energy. I asked her to ride him in the outdoor along the perimeter. Going down the long side of the arena I had her trot and post, and then sit to ask for a canter. Nothing. Then I asked her to sit and say Ki with her belly button going inward as she made the sound. The horse's ears went back.
Then I told her to scream Ki, belly button going inward, as loud and in as deeply a tone as she could muster. After a few embarrassing attempts, she was able to make a very deep and loud Ki sound as she sat into the saddle from a posting trot. Red Cloud cantered, no whip, no leg.
She thought it was the loud sound that made him canter, and in the weeks that followed I taught her to use breath without the sound to lower her center into her horse and create/focus in herself a singular energy, which is the Ki.
This is the point, the singular energy. It's not the sound. It's not even the location of the point of focus descending into the horse. It's the ability of the rider to offer the horse one whole communication in the form of one clear energy. When we ride using separated aids like leg, rein, seat, (even if they are mechanically coordinated) the horse experiences the separateness of those aids. Sometimes a skilled trainer will intentionally separate the experience of an aid or two to allow the horse to feel it separately, but such a skilled trainer will always go back to giving the horse in training a singular whole experience of the rider/trainer's energy. Horses have a singular energy. They expect it from other beings. Furthermore, they are willing and able to merge their singular energy with a rider's singular energy to make a combined or unified singular energy (as in the "train" vs. locomotive, train car, caboose analogy).
A horse cannot combine his singular energy with your swarm of separate insect kind of energies. We must learn to bring our energies together into one for the horse. In order to do this, we must begin by experiencing our physical center, which requires body awareness. Once experienced, the rider must learn to move their center deeper in the vertical plane, and lastly the rider must learn to focus the energy passing through their center as we would focus the sun's energy with a magnifying glass.
What you will find, if you go down this road of energetic exploration, is that you are already doing much of it (unless, of course, you are an absolutely terrible rider). By exploring this energy and how to focus it consciously, you will be increasing your body awareness to a point that your awareness may become "horse-like". At that level, you experience yourself as a horse might experience you. This is horsemanship, empathy with the horse's experience of the rider.
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Core
Feb 4, 2016 13:12:40 GMT
Post by horseguy on Feb 4, 2016 13:12:40 GMT
I would like to step back and look at the language used in this discussion. I titled this topic "core" because that is how the western mind thinks about using the human body when riding a horse. Great books like Riding Logic by Wilhelm Museler provide us with a very clear but western culture view of how to use the braced back to align the core energy of the rider and transmit it into the horse through the seat. I am trying here to shift the perspective somewhat to a more eastern view of the same process. The eastern is different in principle and, I think, more elegant as eastern processes often are. Example: cutting a wood board. The evolution of tools reflects the cultures that produce them. In western culture the common wood saw is based on pushing energy. The teeth of a western hand saw slant forward away from the handle, and cut by means of the user pushing the saw blade forward across the wood.  By contrast, the eastern hand saw is based on the pulling the blade across the wood. Therefore the teeth of the saw are pointed backward toward the handle so that they cut the wood as the blade is pulled across the wood by the user.  Both saws cut wood effectively, yet the principles of the application of energy into the two saws are opposite. When I say that the eastern principle is often more elegant than the western, I think we see this here in the eastern and western saws. Because the western saw is based on pushing the blade into the wood, the blade can bend when it meets resistance. Who hasn't tried to use this kind of saw and had the blade wobble, get caught in the wood and bend, going off the line of the cut as a result? By contrast, when the eastern blade is pulled across the wood it remains straight when it meets resistance because the tension caused by pulling maintains straightness, whereas the pushing on the western saw blade creates compression that can easily distort the blade's straightness. Two wood saws, both have teeth, metal blades and handles for the human hand to grasp, but one pulls while the other pushes. One inherently stays straight as a result of how th energy is applied to it, the other is prone to distortion because of how the energy is applied. This is the distinction I am trying to apply to riding a horse. I see riders using core energy, pushing it into the saddle through their seat. Sometimes this pushing appears so forced that the rider looks oddly like they are rowing a boat, shoulders swinging back and forth as if moving oars. And then I see riders who allow their energy to be pulled down into the saddle by the motion of their horse and by gravity. More elegant. No flailing of extremities, no unnecessary movement. More allowing, less making it happen. Core exists in both the western and the eastern mindsets. Focusing core to align the rider's body energy are well defined by great riders. The question is whether or not a rider feels the elegant pull that aligns versus the forced push in the irder. In the eastern mind, less is required in sawing wood and in riding a horse. Do less. |
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Core
Feb 9, 2016 19:29:04 GMT
Post by horseguy on Feb 9, 2016 19:29:04 GMT
I am really curious why this topic has had no replies and few hits. The forum is getting an average of 200 page views a day now, lower on weekends, and mostly guest readers. To me core is where we all can improve our riding the most. It is in how we apply or use our core that brings us together so our horse experiences us as a single unified being or energy that they can relate to. I think the biggest challenge for the average rider is presenting yourself to your horse in a way that they can connect with you. If a rider cannot do this, the rider is to their horse a confusing set of unrelated movements, balances and cues that the horse must sort out in order to do anything. Conscious coherent use of core make us understandable to our horse. It's essential. How come no one want to discuss it?  |
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Core
Feb 10, 2016 6:26:37 GMT
Post by jimmy on Feb 10, 2016 6:26:37 GMT
Well, because you're right, and I have nothing to add.
I've been giving some thought to the pulling instead of pushing idea.
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Core
Feb 10, 2016 11:52:38 GMT
Post by rideanotherday on Feb 10, 2016 11:52:38 GMT
The saw analogy...sort of works. Until you start in thinking about the difference between ripping and cross-cutting. One of these two saw types has blades on both sides of the teeth, allowing the blade to cut in both directions which is more efficient.
Core as a concept to use focus to turn the body and thereby the cues presented to the horse as a cohesive, sensible communication should be part of training a rider. Theoretical riding, conceptual riding and the parts that make that up often get lost in the early and formative portions of a rider's education. Quite frankly, most people just aren't that interested in the "why" somethings work and somethings just fall apart. They what to know actions...what and how to reproduce actions with a horse, as long as it's easy.
The horse wants easy too.
Core and focus, chi etc have more to be discussed. Timing, rhythm, balance (though this may arguably be a function of chi). Chi and focus do not give a rider timing. When cues are applied are just, if not more, important than how the cue is applied.
I don't think the application of chi in horse riding is as easy as "Eastern vs Western" in concept, but certainly one worth exploring.
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Core
Feb 10, 2016 15:05:34 GMT
Post by horseguy on Feb 10, 2016 15:05:34 GMT
... Core as a concept to use focus to turn the body and thereby the cues presented to the horse as a cohesive, sensible communication should be part of training a rider. Theoretical riding, conceptual riding and the parts that make that up often get lost in the early and formative portions of a rider's education. Quite frankly, most people just aren't that interested in the "why" somethings work and somethings just fall apart. They what to know actions...what and how to reproduce actions with a horse, as long as it's easy ...
"They what to know actions...what and how to reproduce actions with a horse, as long as it's easy."
I began the discussion of core with a focus on energy because I have found that it is the easiest way to teach unity of motion, of balance and of purpose with a horse. But I guess you are correct, people want to know actions, they want to know the physical steps because they see riding as a physical activity. I do not believe horses think of it that way. I think horses think of riding like they think of being with horses. They want to know if the rider is above or below them in the herd pecking order. They want to make sense out of the rider's cues. Yes, it's a physical relationship between horse and rider, but it has some very important communication and comfort elements that if a rider rides only from an action perspective, it makes it difficult fo the horse. Most of the problems I have had to fix in horses, I believe, come from that simplistic idea of a physical, action based relationship with a horse. Most horses don't like that approach because it ends up being sit "on" your horse as opposed to sit "in" your horse. Horses don't generally like to be sat on and ridden like a bus with a passenger.
But OK, here's a "translation" of the energy approach into an action approach around the trot. The trot has two beats, the diagonal pairs of legs. A rider can sit that motion or post it. Either way, we need to stay within the horse's motion or we become a counter force to the horse's movement. Once we become a counter force to the horse's movement, we become separated from it and the horse probably gets annoyed at us. AT THAT POINT we have a choice of how to get within the horse's motion, if we want a cooperative horse. We can get into our horse's motion by mechanical action means, or we can do it by energetic means. The latter is easier. But you say people prefer the mechanical action method of achieving unity, assuming they want unity and a cooperative horse.
The mechanical means of aligning our movement with our horse's movement at the trot is well explained by Gordon Wright (George Morris' main instructor) in both his books. Wright believes the optimum method of finding the horse's motion and getting within it is by the use of hip angle and hip openness. He would tell you to sit the trot and lean forward (classic Caprilli). Once forward, at the sitting trot, the rider will feel the diagonal two beat moving him/her forward with the horse's gait, and somewhat upward. Wright would also say that if you sit more vertically at the sitting trot, the rider will be tossed more upward and somewhat forward, and that combination will put the rider behind, not in, the horse's motion. So, it's simple, just lean forward, let the horse toss you forward and up, not up and forward and you will be fine and in unity with the motion of the gait. Simple enough?
It is simple until you ride a different horse with a different reach under the belly, or you are trotting on uneven ground, or if there are many other variables. And that is my point. Mechanical action approaches to finding unity of motion and balance with your horse are nearly limitless because the variables are nearly limitless unless you stay in a flat arena with even footing. Oh wait, that is a description of contemporary American riding.
And that is my true point. Simplistic mechanical action based methods are very limited in finding unity with a horse. Advocating for them does not generally elevate riding, but rather results in dumbing down where and under what conditions we ride.
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Core
Feb 10, 2016 15:47:55 GMT
Post by rideanotherday on Feb 10, 2016 15:47:55 GMT
Air conditioning and fast food. Horsemanship has gone down the same road. Be comfortable always and get it quickly with less work.
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Core
Feb 10, 2016 17:39:03 GMT
Post by horseguy on Feb 10, 2016 17:39:03 GMT
Air conditioning and fast food. Horsemanship has gone down the same road. Be comfortable always and get it quickly with less work. It's funny you should mention air conditioning. I played polo and trained polo horses for a number of years, during that time I hauled horses with a Ford F-350 dually with an International 6.9L diesel, still got it, with no AC. It gets hot in our region in the summer and most of the players, all actually, had trucks with AC. I had vent windows and a breeze. I always considered it a positive that I drove to games with no AC because when I got out of the truck at the field I was good to go. The other guys complained about the heat, some to great distraction. It's the same with core being focused through feel or energy, versus mechanical actions involving core to achieve unity. It seems easier to go to a game in AC but you pay when you get there and have to play in the heat. Likewise, if you ignore feel/energy and rely on mechanics, you pay later when circumstances vary as they always do. There really is no easy way. Life has taught me that what most people call the hard way is usually the easiest way if you consider the whole picture. |
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Core
Feb 10, 2016 17:57:05 GMT
Post by rideanotherday on Feb 10, 2016 17:57:05 GMT
Air conditioning and fast food. Horsemanship has gone down the same road. Be comfortable always and get it quickly with less work. It's funny you should mention air conditioning. I played polo and trained polo horses for a number of years, during that time I hauled horses with a Ford F-350 dually with an International 6.9L diesel, still got it, with no AC. It gets hot in our region in the summer and most of the players, all actually, had trucks with AC. I had vent windows and a breeze. I always considered it a positive that I drove to games with no AC because when I got out of the truck at the field I was good to go. The other guys complained about the heat, some to great distraction. It's the same with core being focused through feel or energy, versus mechanical actions involving core to achieve unity. It seems easier to go to a game in AC but you pay when you get there and have to play in the heat. Likewise, if you ignore feel/energy and rely on mechanics, you pay later when circumstances vary as they always do. There really is no easy way. Life has taught me that what most people call the hard way is usually the easiest way if you consider the whole picture. It makes more sense to "train" in the conditions you intend to play in. When I was in college, I worked at a trail barn, so my job didn't have AC, my car didn't have AC and neither did my apartment. It was tough to go grocery shopping or be in a restaurant because of the AC. I wore long sleeves to ride and work in. I will argue about it being less about "mechanics" than feel/energy. Your mechanics have to be sound for focus and energy to even be close to effective. However...using mechanical "cheats", like elevator bits or draw reins remove the need for skill and instead rely on mechanical advantage. A rider's mechanics pertain to how the body moves and how it is used. See the difference? |
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Core
Feb 10, 2016 18:46:50 GMT
Post by jacki on Feb 10, 2016 18:46:50 GMT
Don't discount pure and simple core STRENGTH. My daughter took Irish dance classes beginning around the age of 3. She danced for at least 5 years, and in the process she learned discipline, focus, coordination, body awareness, etc - plus she developed a very strong core. Her core strength and footwork helped her tremendously when she began fencing (saber). Around the same time, she began horseback riding lessons. At only 65 pounds soaking wet, she still seemed to have a way of "communicating" with a horse. The horseback riding kept her core strong and developed her leg and arm strength. Last year, when she turned to track and field, she seemed to be a "natural" at every event she tried, taking firsts in high jump (I've seen her jump a bar as high as her chin), long jump and hurdles. She is now a distance runner and made the varsity cross country team as a freshman. She has never gone to a single yoga class or martial arts class; she simply has a super-strong core and is very fit.
My point is that I believe her core strength/stability development BEFORE she learned the "mechanics" of riding helped her learn very quickly. She has always had a great deal of "feel" and never minded more technical lessons. I think the two are related. Think of the riders you know that have great "feel" -- I suspect they will "coincidentally" also have strong core strength/stability.
Focus is key also, especially in kids. After watching hundreds of lessons, her focus gave her an advantage in that she would listen to instruction and immediately apply it. Horseguy rarely had to repeat things over and over with her, with the exception of "Close your fingers"! 
Laura's last ride on Mac was like magic. I've seen her gallop him in that field dozens and dozens of times - with a saddle, balanced in her 2-point up the hill. This time, though, she was bareback. Thinking back, I don't know how she did it, because I was so transfixed by the horse, who was flying through the deep snow like a horse with no rider - fast, light ("collected" would be an understatement) and so ALIVE. It was like something in the snow or the galloping or both awakened something in him, and Laura simply "disappeared" into the horse.
I still believe that some things relating to "feel" simply cannot be taught; however, a strong core sure helps.
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Core
Feb 10, 2016 19:00:09 GMT
Post by rideanotherday on Feb 10, 2016 19:00:09 GMT
Don't discount pure and simple core STRENGTH. My daughter took Irish dance classes beginning around the age of 3. She danced for at least 5 years, and in the process she learned discipline, focus, coordination, body awareness, etc - plus she developed a very strong core. Her core strength and footwork helped her tremendously when she began fencing (saber). Around the same time, she began horseback riding lessons. At only 65 pounds soaking wet, she still seemed to have a way of "communicating" with a horse. The horseback riding kept her core strong and developed her leg and arm strength. Last year, when she turned to track and field, she seemed to be a "natural" at every event she tried, taking firsts in high jump (I've seen her jump a bar as high as her chin), long jump and hurdles. She is now a distance runner and made the varsity cross country team as a freshman. She has never gone to a single yoga class or martial arts class; she simply has a super-strong core and is very fit.
My point is that I believe her core strength/stability development BEFORE she learned the "mechanics" of riding helped her learn very quickly. She has always had a great deal of "feel" and never minded more technical lessons. I think the two are related. Think of the riders you know that have great "feel" -- I suspect they will "coincidentally" also have strong core strength/stability.
Focus is key also, especially in kids. After watching hundreds of lessons, her focus gave her an advantage in that she would listen to instruction and immediately apply it. Horseguy rarely had to repeat things over and over with her, with the exception of "Close your fingers"!
Laura's last ride on Mac was like magic. I've seen her gallop him in that field dozens and dozens of times - with a saddle, balanced in her 2-point up the hill. This time, though, she was bareback. Thinking back, I don't know how she did it, because I was so transfixed by the horse, who was flying through the deep snow like a horse with no rider - fast, light ("collected" would be an understatement) and so ALIVE. It was like something in the snow or the galloping or both awakened something in him, and Laura simply "disappeared" into the horse.
I still believe that some things relating to "feel" simply cannot be taught; however, a strong core sure helps.
I'm not discounting your daughter's skills here... Strength without finesse makes you a bully. Forcing a horse to do something does NOT a good horseman, nor even a good rider make. Strength may be successful, there's no discounting that. But strength cannot and should not replace finesse and feel. There has to be balance with strength. Having good "feel" can be learned, though teaching it is difficult. Currently, I would say that I have good feel, but not awesome core strength, simply because I haven't ridden lately. That's not going to remove my knowledge of how to affect a horse's movements. It probably won't be as pretty though. |
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Core
Feb 10, 2016 21:44:35 GMT
Post by horseguy on Feb 10, 2016 21:44:35 GMT
Core strength is becoming a rare commodity. That's why I spend more time talking about focusing it than using ample amounts of it. It is an significant advantage to have a lot of core strength, not because you can throw a horse around with it, but because when a fraction of a rider's strength is used to ride, they can be much more elegant. It's like weight lifters.  When they are lifting their maximum weight, their body shakes from the intensity of their effort. But if you ask the to lift half that weight, they can be very precise and graceful lifting it. Likewise, when we try to use limited core strength in a brute way we cannot be precise. We do not appear elegant. We are obviously at or near our limit and that is taking all we have. It's ugly. So, it is better to develop core strength and use a fraction of it when riding. |
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