Sit_the_Trot

Female

Sisters, OR

United States

Profile Information:

A Bit About Me and my Horse(s)
I own Sit The Trot! Movement Education & Body Awareness for Equestrians. I teach clinics, workshops & classes for riders, athletes and anyone interested in moving with more freedom, ease, and strength.
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Sit The Trot! 2010 Sisters, OR Clinics:
April 9 - 11
May 21-23
Ride Without Fear: Build Confidence & Control in Mind & Body:
May 8 - 11
June 26-29
September 4 - 7
see http://sitthetrot.com/RideWoFear.htm
Sit The Trot! Clinic Experience

In a Sit The Trot! Clinic you listen to your body’s patterns and allow more harmonious movement: within yourself and between you and your horse! I help you sense your patterns of movement, including habits that inhibit or imbalance and habits which are helpful. We work together to retrain your brain, muscles and skeletal alignment for riding ease.

I ask you to be physically and mentally engaged and open to learning about yourself, as you gain tools to help you ride with ease and effectiveness. I evaluate how your position, balance, and muscle inhibitions affect you and your horse’s comfort and athletic ability. From whatever level you start, I help you make your own discoveries so you can attain your goals in a way that suits you. I give you tools to take tension out of riding, improve your feel and timing, and discover a more elegant, balanced way to ride. By riding in fluent balance, you will increase your horse’s chances to have a healthy and pain free life.

Daily Schedule:
Daily activities start with 2 ½ hours of on-the-ground group lessons and continue in the afternoon with a longe lesson or semi-private lesson. During the clinic you will also have one 45 minute personal Functional Integration lesson with Michele.

What Will You Learn?
• self-organization to put you in tune with the motion and balance of your horse;
• improved body awareness which, in the saddle, will improve communication;
• efficient movement patterns and to abandon patterns that interfere with your riding goals;
• life-long tools of self-evaluation to improve your riding skills and enjoyment every day;
• correct breathing for a deep and following seat; and
• horse-supporting, dynamic balance necessary to attain your horse’s top performance.

What Will We Do?
Movement lessons are an opportunity for you to explore your habitual movement patterns and learn patterns that allow you to move in better balance, with fluency and ease. There is no ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ with Feldenkrais work, only ‘what works best for you’. How you move during a lesson is based on your experience of yourself and your own exploration, not some outside ideal. I will guide you toward a greater awareness how you move and your movement potential.

Mounted lessons are your opportunity to apply to riding what you have learned about your own self-perception, movement, and balance. I bring your attention to your habitual patterns of movement and through voice and touch help you increase awareness, balance, coordination, and fluency so you will integrate your new self-awareness with your ability to sense your horse’s balance, movement, and his needs for support. We will generally start the first day with lessons on the longe.

In a private movement lesson, through gentle touch and verbal direction I will guide you through habitual and non-habitual movement patterns, helping you to discover balanced, dynamic movement that will help you move in harmony with your horse. This process is partly subconscious, as your brain connects new neurological pathways between your impulses and actions.
Country
USA
Website:
http://sitthetrot.com
Do you have any pets?
3 horses, 2 cats, 1 dog, a vegetable garden, flowers & shrubs

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  • Jackie Cochran

    Thanks for your comments. I eventually will get it all together. Due to my MS I have a hard time coordinating 2 or 3 things at a time, so I have learned to practice each movement by itself. Eventually everything starts working together like it should.
    The mare I ride has a weak back, when I started riding her it was REALLY weak. Though her back is stronger it still has a ways to go before it is strong enough to take on a rider with a "deeper" seat, so yes, my seat bones are coming somewhat above the saddle when I use my butt muscles. This is on purpose, I am trying to be light enough so she will raise her back somewhat. If my seat is not light her head goes up and her back feels more concave. With the lighter seat at the sitting trot her back is getting stronger as versus staying weakish and inverted when I use the deeper seat.
    Maybe in 6 months or so MY muscles will be stronger and more coordinated and HER back will feel better when I sit down fully. Until that time I will practice coordinating my tummy out and my back, and hope that we both will get strong enough so my body can figure it all out.
    Thanks again for your help.

    Jan 29, 2010

  • Catherine Chamberlain

    All of your work sounds really interesting! And thanks for posting your blogs, they're very helpfull and fun to read. :)

    Feb 10, 2010

  • Jackie Cochran

    Thanks for your comment. I think it is slightly different than your tummy out, like the area between the ribs leading up to the sternum. I have been practicing (separately and alternately) pushing both areas of the belly out. Again, I feel like a belly dancer, who by the way I respect highly.
    Isn't riding fun!

    Feb 15, 2010