Finding Ease of Partnership in Connection
Return To Classical HorsemanshipThe reason I love Connected Riding® so much is that Peggy’s methodology represents an honest and true return to Classical Horsemanship. I always rode because I loved horses and it never set right with me that they suffered as a consequence of being subjected to traditionally sanctioned training methods and devices. For example, if a horse opened his mouth and pried against the bit, there were numerous nosebands designed to clamp that mouth shut so the trainer could carry on. But I studied with the best in the business and that was the kind of advice I received. In Connected Riding® I found a better way with horses, one based in respect and honor for the spirit of the horse. |
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An Open Door To A Kinder, Gentler Approach
In 1971, I passed up the opportunity to study abroad at an American college in Brussels in order to attend the Potomac Horse Center in Gaithersburg, Maryland. I wanted to pursue my dreams of a career in the magical world of horses. At the Horse Center, I learned to, “Yell, yell, yell and make ‘em cry” in an approach to teaching riding that cherished the “no pain, no gain” idiom. I studied hard. I learned all about tack. I investigated every kind of training device known to man, past and present. I learned the benefits of martingales, side reins, draw reins, chambons, spur and whip aids, and other essential training equipment. I studied the mechanics of bits and their actions. Everything I learned was aimed towards mastering the business of "horsekeeping."
At age forty-five, I was managing a boarding facility on 600 beautiful acres in Idaho. I taught riding lessons and had four horses in full training for low-level eventing. I was schooling my horse at Preliminary level and showing him at Training level in regional Horse Trials. I was a storehouse of knowledge and experience. I was living my dream and I was miserable.
Pain in my low back and sciatic nerve was constant. I had suffered one trampoline misstep and several automobile and riding accidents and my doctors wanted to perform a spinal fusion on my back when I was 22 years old. I assumed the growing discomfort in my hips was from walking in arena sand all day. Pain made me irritable. Ask a question about something to do with horses, and I had the answer. But I was hurting and exhausted and on the verge of abandoning my dream because it was becoming a nightmare.
At that critical point in my life, I met Peggy Cummings, founder of Connected Riding® and the rest, as they say, is history.
Pain in my low back and sciatic nerve was constant. I had suffered one trampoline misstep and several automobile and riding accidents and my doctors wanted to perform a spinal fusion on my back when I was 22 years old. I assumed the growing discomfort in my hips was from walking in arena sand all day. Pain made me irritable. Ask a question about something to do with horses, and I had the answer. But I was hurting and exhausted and on the verge of abandoning my dream because it was becoming a nightmare.
At that critical point in my life, I met Peggy Cummings, founder of Connected Riding® and the rest, as they say, is history.