Clinician Peggy Cummings' goal for her students is to "unjam'' the lines of communication between horse and rider and open them up so both can move together freely and harmoniously.
Armed with a combination of bio-mechanical and mental techniques acquired over decades of training and teaching, the Hailey, Idaho resident travels for nine months out of each year bringing Connected Riding Ï a kind of "holistic'' approach to riding and training Ï to her students.
With stops across the country from California to Wisconsin to New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, Ms. Cummings puts on presentations at conventions and meetings such as Equitana and Equine Affaire and holds clinics for instructors, upper level riders, and people who just want to enjoy the moment with their horses. During July and August, she conducts intensive five-day sessions, or "camps'' in Hailey. The camps, advertised mainly through word-of-mouth, have become immensely successful, with some riders traveling all the way from the East Coast.
A rider since her childhood in El Salvador, Ms. Cummings has competed in many disciplines from saddle seat to dressage. After she opened a riding school, she continued her own education by hosting clinics by respected U.S. and European trainers. She found, however, that they taught her to be a still rider, and eventually a stiff, motionless one who damaged her body and that of her horse. Discovering Sally Swift, developer of Centered Riding techniques which combine relaxation and imagery, changed that.
"She taught me how to ride without pain,'' Ms. Cummings pointed out. Work with Linda Tellington-Jones (Ms. Cummings is now a T.E.A.M. Practitioner as well as a Centered Riding Master Instructor) added to the tools she was acquiring for working with the whole horse and rider.
Although molded by other technicians, her style is her own. "I am a traditional trainer using nontraditional tools,'' she said. Her work is founded on the classical riding principles of self-carriage, engagement, contact and balance.
"My work has evolved since 1990, when I started pursuing all the avenues that have helped me to help the rider really become a partner with the horse. It's not only learning ways to relax while they're in movement with their horse, but it's also how to move bio-mechanically correctly as they're being effective.''
According to her, riding has traditionally been about creating resistance within the rider's body. Connected Riding, Ms. Cummings explained, is about creating stability and flow with the motion of the horse.
In contrast to the warm-up on horseback that introduces most traditional lessons, a Connected Riding session may start with some of the ground exercises Ms. Cummings has developed. She describes these as " in-hand work to teach horses to come through from behind into your hand before you get on them Ï to release the poll, bring up the withers, and bring the hind end under.''
At the outset of a lesson, one horse Ms. Cummings described as being so "jammed in its body'' that it displayed both behavior and "going forward'' problems, seemed stiff and resistant. The rider, who had been working on her own since Ms. Cummings' last visit to New Jersey, began by walking alongside her gelding, alternately pushing his head away from her and bringing it back to release his poll. All the while there was a low-key dialogue going on between student and instructor about how the horse felt, was it going well, and if not, what action could be taken and what would the reaction be.
Eventually, the rider mounted and the quiet work, at first at a walk, then a trot, and question-and-answer session continued. The rider was utilizing techniques to relax and balance her body while gently moving her horse to encourage him to move freely. By the end of the lesson, the formerly stiff and inattentive animal had been replaced by one who moved willingly and easily.
Some of Ms. Cummings' client relationships begin with a call to help solve behavior problems on the ground, such as a horse that won't load. The "lesson'' for horse or rider may also go beyond riding technique and include saddle fitting, nutrition, and conformation, plus consultations with farriers, equine dentists and chiropractic practitioners which whom she has a professional relationship. Students who are on their own between visits from Ms. Cummings receive "homework'' and can call her and work on problems by talking them through. Some of them videotape clinics and lessons and then spot each other.
Instructors benefit from Connected Riding, Ms. Cummings said, because it helps sharpen their ability to see and feel and "to know how to explain things to students they have difficulty with. It teaches them to teach from the inside out instead of from the outside in.'' Riders who compete gain "resiliency under stress and a horse who doesn't burn out from nervous energy.''
Ms. Cummings knows this from personal experience. In 1992, she put the principles of Connected Riding to work during an 80-mile competitive endurance ride. Her only previous experience was a 15-mile ride. She and her mustang (and her dressage saddle) came in first and her horse won for best condition. "If I didn't know how to use my body, I wouldn't have survived,'' she said.
Her plans include a return to dressage competition before long. Also upcoming are a teaching video, due out by summer and a book, to be published in the fall. Is such a full schedule daunting? Ms. Cummings laughed: "It's really a lot of fun!''
