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Core
Feb 11, 2016 4:12:37 GMT
Post by Laura on Feb 11, 2016 4:12:37 GMT
Having/using "Chi" or whatever is not the same as having a physically strong core. Having a strong core is how you stay balanced in your seat, allowing you to feel your horse more effectively. Having a strong core does not translate in any way to throwing a horse around by using just your muscles, its how you stay balanced. I personally would say that I have a pretty strong core, but there's no way that I could throw a horse around. I have what you could call a massive case of "noodle arms". I'm sure that using Chi has its advantages like yoga or jogging, but its definitely not something I would use to replace having a physically strong core. Balance is the key to riding, and you need a strong core to achieve balance, in my opinion.
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Post by rideanotherday on Feb 11, 2016 13:21:00 GMT
Having/using "Chi" or whatever is not the same as having a physically strong core. Having a strong core is how you stay balanced in your seat, allowing you to feel your horse more effectively. Having a strong core does not translate in any way to throwing a horse around by using just your muscles, its how you stay balanced. I personally would say that I have a pretty strong core, but there's no way that I could throw a horse around. I have what you could call a massive case of "noodle arms". I'm sure that using Chi has its advantages like yoga or jogging, but its definitely not something I would use to replace having a physically strong core. Balance is the key to riding, and you need a strong core to achieve balance, in my opinion. Chi and a physically strong core are not the same. Chi is more a function of self and core is more a function of the body. They have gotten pretty intermingled in this discussion though. A rider is a bunch of building blocks, and the core happens to be the foundation that it all builds on, in my opinion. It's to a rider's advantage to be able to use them all accurately and separately in order to isolate cues to remove confusion for the horse. For instance, you should be able to use leg aids without affecting what your hands do and vice versa. Without good core strength, that's really difficult.
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Core
Feb 12, 2016 0:59:20 GMT
Post by Laura on Feb 12, 2016 0:59:20 GMT
Having/using "Chi" or whatever is not the same as having a physically strong core. Having a strong core is how you stay balanced in your seat, allowing you to feel your horse more effectively. Having a strong core does not translate in any way to throwing a horse around by using just your muscles, its how you stay balanced. I personally would say that I have a pretty strong core, but there's no way that I could throw a horse around. I have what you could call a massive case of "noodle arms". I'm sure that using Chi has its advantages like yoga or jogging, but its definitely not something I would use to replace having a physically strong core. Balance is the key to riding, and you need a strong core to achieve balance, in my opinion. Chi and a physically strong core are not the same. Chi is more a function of self and core is more a function of the body. They have gotten pretty intermingled in this discussion though. A rider is a bunch of building blocks, and the core happens to be the foundation that it all builds on, in my opinion. It's to a rider's advantage to be able to use them all accurately and separately in order to isolate cues to remove confusion for the horse. For instance, you should be able to use leg aids without affecting what your hands do and vice versa. Without good core strength, that's really difficult. Rideanotherday, I completely agree with you that the core is the foundation to the building blocks that make up a rider. Although, I don't exactly see how that has any significant relation to Chi. I know that I am in no place to say much because I'm not very familiar with the subject of Chi, but I just don't see the relevance of it in riding. I've been riding for a few years with exposure in a few disciplines, but I don't think Chi would improve my feel. I am open to the idea of it, but I feel like it could be compared to something like yoga, which is definitely good for your body, but not a necessity. What makes it so important in your opinion? I'm genuinely curious.
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Core
Feb 12, 2016 11:15:04 GMT
Post by rideanotherday on Feb 12, 2016 11:15:04 GMT
It might be easier to understand Chi and how it pertains to feel and riding if you accept that Chi is a form of energy. In this case, your personal energy. Horses will respond and react to your energy.
Again, Chi and core are 2 radically different things.
Chi is a concept typically introduced in martial arts. While I've studied martial arts, I will let others with better words explain what it is. I can at least talk about how it can be used with horses
Horses can feel even gnats land on their skin and shake just that tiny bit of skin - they are extremely sensitive. Animals use their senses and sensitivities to survive and we humans can utilize that sensitivity to our advantage.
I'll talk again about a horse I used to own named Chili. Chili was a cutting bred quarter horse. Typically that type of horse is pretty reactive and Chili was no exception. He'd flinch if your hands were moving towards him to fast, get upset if you even held on to the lead too hard. He was calmest with just the lead flopped over your arm and leading him was like an invisible horse. He would stop and stand almost before you did. He could feel your hand before it touched him to ask him to step his hips over in the aisle.
It was that behavior that was the most fun to play with. Trying to get particular body parts to move, without actually touching him. I worked on reducing my movements, but increasing my energy and pushing it out towards him. He responded to my intent every time. He loved it too. His whole demeanor was totally relaxed, but every bit of his attention was focused.
So, next time you are out and around horses, try imagining that a cushion of air is wrapped around your hand...and that cushion is what will touch and move the horse. See if that horse will move for you. Feel is a two-way activity. If you aren't feeling for your horse, the horse is probably going to start ignoring things that it figures you don't care about.
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Core
Feb 12, 2016 13:50:30 GMT
via mobile
Post by rideforever on Feb 12, 2016 13:50:30 GMT
I think that using the term chi is becoming confusing for folks that don't have a background in martial arts. Chi is simply the energy that moves through your body. A strong core allows you to become subtle in directing that energy, to focus on using that energy to influence the horse. Also a strong core, with flexibility and sensitivity to the horses motion and energy allows the rider to feel what the horse is doing and thinking.
Basically, I use it as another tool to being a sensitive rider and find harmony with the horse I'm riding
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Core
Feb 12, 2016 14:44:27 GMT
Post by horseguy on Feb 12, 2016 14:44:27 GMT
It can be confusing to make a distinction between simple muscle strength and Ki (I like that spelling best because if I shout it I feel it best in my core. It's about how the sound feels) but it is a very useful distinction. I have to go back to the image of the magnifying glass starting a fire by focusing the sun's energy. I think of the sun's energy as brute force strength and the Ki as the much more focused and efficient beam of energy created by means of the magnifying lens.
So many horses are ruined by brute force because it is crude energy that shuts horses down. The Ki energy comes out of a kind of "silence" or equilibrium, and thus it seems loud by contrast with the silence. That is what horses need, quiet clear unified energy, to become collaborative and precise.
Back when I was coaching competition riders it seemed that I said the same thing to 90% of them, "Do less". By the time a rider would get to a regional or national level of competition they would have picked up numerous techniques and skills that they could apply to deal with any situation. As a result they often drove their horses nuts with the "noise" of multiple techniques that most often involved simple core strength. This kind of advanced rider could overwhelm a horse with their repertoire of techniques. Too much, I would tell them. Do less and let your energy be the bit, spurs and crop, is what I would tell them, and we'd go out and ride and I would help them give up their toolbox of so many noisy skills. Horses need simple, and they resist brute strength either physically or mentally or both.
Maybe if we continue this discussion we will discover some of the distinctions between simple core strength and Ki strength. The first distinction is in pulling the rider's strength/energy together into one experience for the horse. A dressage command like "inside rein to outside leg" and "inside leg to outside rein" can be done as a series of separate rider extremity cues (done simultaneously but not energetically integrated) or as one cue done with one energy. Delivering several cues simultaneously with our extremities can feel like a bunch of bees swarming around a horse all at once, or it can feel to the horse like one wind blowing over the horse. That's the best description I can come up with for riding from Ki. We want to have our horses feel our cues as one energy. It's that one energy that can join with the horse's one energy to create unity. That's it.
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