Author Sally Tottle helps riders to learn skills to enhance body-awareness and improve their connection with their horse in her book ‘BodySense- Revolutionize Your Riding with the Alexander Technique’. Although this book has been around for a long time now, it is a great guide for horse-riders wanting to refine their sensitivity and develop a more harmonious partnership with their horse.
In her book, Sally emphasises the importance of learning how to release excess physical tension in our neck and back to allow the head and spine to balance as nature intended, as well as developing our sense of ‘feel’ or kinaesthetic awareness. Our kinaesthetic awareness monitors patterns of sensation and movement in our body as well as receiving sensory impulses from our horse’s body, when we’re riding. In modern life, we tend to spend much of our time on autopilot, with physical sensations and feelings completely out of our awareness. By combining principles of the Alexander Technique with the development of a refined sensory awareness, we can restore ease and connection when working with and riding our horses .
