a strange fancy

[Please visit our sponsor:]

[Jeanne Shepard]

Sometimes when I've lost focus in class, I find myself thinking of the days when I was in a college with a riding program. We never got to ride our favorite horse day after day and we all got very good at adapting to all the horses in the stables.
I think now, if I'd been doing Aikido then, I'd be much better at staying with my horse. So now, to amuse myself, I look at my partner as if s(he ) is a horse I've never ridden before, and I get a new perspective on them. Not just how they move physically, but what their frame of mind is towards their rider, and what their mental attitude is. I even get a picture of what they'd be like ( a big, dark thorobred with alot of suspension in his movement, a smallish pony mare with a short stride and alot of attitude, etc.)

Jeanne :p

[Amelia Smith]

Bad, bad!!! Now you'll have me picturing all my dojo-mates as horses! It's not much of a stretch, but some of them might wonder what I'm laughing at.

[MikeLogan]

It's a good idea as far as making the best of ukes of challenging proportions. Unless you've got a bit of Sid Caesar in you, or some Mungo of Blazing Saddles fame, I wouldn't saturate your training with such a notion ;)

michael.

neat perpective though.

[Janet Rosen]

LOL!!! thanks (I think...), Jeanne.

[jimbaker]

Not all that fanciful... http://www.centeredriding.org/whatiscenteredriding.asp

Now imagining they're all penguins is a horse of a different feather.

JIM

[aikigirl10]

Interesting lol

[Jeanne Shepard]

I have to say, I got badly razzed when I tried to explain it to someone at the dojo, got teased about wanting to "ride" the guys!

Now I must ponder how I'd respond if my partner was a penguin,(thanks Jim!)

Jeanne :p

[Mark Uttech]

Adapting ourselves to all kinds of partners is exactly the aikido journey. For you to see the correlation from the days of your experiences with the horses is exactly paying attention. You should be grateful and proud. In gassho

[Dajo251]

I once got kicked by a 19 hand percheron throughbred cross.....I really dont want to repeat a simalar experience in aikido.......

[Ecosamurai]

My girlfriend (as well as aikido) practices Parelli Natural Horsemanship (PNH) and we've discovered that its basically just aikido with horses instead of people. In fact we've decided all horses are tenth dans because there's no way you could move one if they don't want to be moved :)

Amusingly, my girlfriend got me learning PNH and the first time I rode a horse was bareback in the dark. I didn't fall off and the horse seemed quite happy. We think that it was my ten years of aikido that made me able to do that.
It only took a few times on horseback to be able to trot and canter comfortably, I haven't tried to gallop yet though. In fact at first my girlfriend and her mother kept forgetting that I didn't really know how to ride because I looked quite clam and comfortable on horseback, it was only when they heard me say things like "Er how do I make him stop?" that they remembered I didn't really know what I was doing :D

Mike

[Dajo251]

AT the barn I used to work at they had a natural horsemenship clinic and some of it was cool but I thought alot of it was a giant load of crap....it seemed the folks were just out for money.....I miss being around horses

[David Orange]

So now, to amuse myself, I look at my partner as if s(he ) is a horse I've never ridden before, and I get a new perspective on them.

Another way to look at it is to think of your own body as a horse and rider. Your upper body is the rider. From the hips down, it's the horse. A mounted warrior always stays upright on the horse. The horse maneuvers him around (at the rider's direction), and the rider has free use and movement of his arms and head. :)

I felt easier in technique when I began to look at it that way.

David

[gdandscompserv]

In fact we've decided all horses are tenth dans because there's no way you could move one if they don't want to be moved :)
That's why you must move their mind first.

[Ecosamurai]

That's why you must move their mind first.

Hehe, thats it exactly! :D

Mike

[Setka]

Horseriding is all about concentrating on all your bodyparts at once. It really aids concentration. And it keeps your legs nice and strong. :p My horse is really fat so. . .

They're very emphatic. They communicate through feelings. So, like aikido, if you get your mind right you are halfway there.

[James Davis]

That's why you must move their mind first.
A carrot or an apple will usually work for that. :)

[Lee Mulgrew]

A carrot or an apple will usually work for that. :)

the same thing works for men but you use breasts instead! :D :D :D :blush:

[ian]

Jeanne - you are strange!

[eyrie]

Another way to look at it is to think of your own body as a horse and rider. Your upper body is the rider. From the hips down, it's the horse. A mounted warrior always stays upright on the horse. The horse maneuvers him around (at the rider's direction), and the rider has free use and movement of his arms and head. :)

I felt easier in technique when I began to look at it that way.

David

1. They don't call it kiba dachi for nothing... ;)
2. Old Chinese kungfu proverb - your kungfu is only as strong as your horse...

For some reason I can't get this Centaur outta my mind!

[Setka]

Something weird happened to me last night. We were training and sensei said he had this new technique to show us. So we all sat down and he demonstrated it on some unlucky guy. I almost died of laughter. It seems aikido is like horseriding. I don't know the technique's name but in the finishing move you kindof straddle your uke like a horse and force his arms down. This is very painful. Don't try this on you horse. :D