Rider Re-Cap: Little Rock OM Clinic

Taking Lisa’s yoga class during the clinic was a refreshing eye-opener for me. I noticed contrasts in the strength from one side of my body to the other, areas of tightness, balance issues, and muscles that needed to be much more flexible if I wanted to achieve true evenness in the saddle. Throughout the class, Lisa pointed out relevance to ridden work so that we could focus on feeling how our bodies impact our horses. Having never done yoga before, I came away from the class with a deeper appreciation for how being in-tune with my body and muscle groups improves my riding. I have since continued taking yoga classes because of how beneficial I felt it was, and I can say with certainty that the class she taught has caused me to make changes in my riding. I could feel a positive difference in my horse within seconds of fixing (or at least attempting to fix!) the issues I discovered during the class. We can all hear that voice of our instructors in our ear, pointing out our various crookednesses, balance issues, leaning, uneven weighting of our seat bones, etc. Sometimes it takes experiencing things in a new way for it to really sink in and help us apply change; that’s what this class did for me. Sometimes the most subtle changes are the most rewarding- that extra little swing of more freedom through the back, the additional activity of that hind leg that’s always been a little stuck- those little things that reveal how extraordinary our ridden relationship is with our horses, and how greatly our own strengths and weaknesses impact them. If we cannot ourselves be balanced, AND strong, AND flexible, how can we expect that of our horses? :)