Three pair of words to devote your life to

This is a description of three pair of words which play an important role in the Alexander Technique.

First out is inhibition and direction.
Inhibition, to cancel something, can also be summarized in the word no. Direction is what you consciously choose to do instead. For riders, the ability to inhibit is crucial. In practical terms this means that if you give the horse an aid you sit quietly and inhibit all impulses to do anything further and wait for the horse's response.

If you work the horse from the ground and would like to make a "join-up” inhibition is necessary. It is when you remain silent and still you give the horse space to make a choice - join up or await. And the horse's response will determine your next move - not your own impatience or desire for a specific outcome.

And that automatically leads to the next pair of words; means-where-by and end gaining. Our proverb "the end justifies the means" sums it up pretty well. What do you do to achieve your goal? Is the goal primary and how it is reached secondary? Do you make your horse sacrifice himself, his health, his life for you to reach your goals? Or do you let your horse have a say and take account of it? Are you taking account of yourself?

But, as it is said in Alice in Wonderland, if you don’t know where you are going you can go either way…So a goal give our directions something to aim for.

And finally, use and function. How you use your body affects how well it can function. Muscles that works tense up, tense muscles become tight muscles and that means that all blood vessels inside the muscle is squeezed together. If you constantly have high muscle tension in your body the circulatory systems within will have a hard time working properly and that means that oxygen, nutrients and waste products have difficulty travelling inside you.

For the rider the high muscle tension affects your ability to be flexible and pliable on the horse. Tense muscles will lead to less mobility in the joints and that is detrimental because it is through having access to freely moving joints we absorb the horse's movements.

Now you have a task to train you in all three word pairs.
Take a pen and paper. Grasp the pen, as if you were to start writing,
say NO to the impulse and
check whether or not you have leaned into the paper by rounding your back, check how hard you hold the pen.
Now straighten your back, keep a certain distance to the mission. How hard do you need to hold the pen to keep in place? How light can you hold it between your fingers and still be able to write? A light touch generates less tension which in turn leaves freedom for movement in the joints.

Take that light touch and straight back with you to your next ride and see what happens...