Alexander Technique and the Art of Horsemanship

by Richard Albert

My root teachers, whom I met over forty years ago, used often to say, "In whatever you do in life, endeavor to be an artist".  When later I began to learn horse riding, those wise words remained with me.

Horse and rider together can be as poetry expressed in motion.  Anyone who appreciates this may also have observed how the quality of the horse’s movement is greatly influenced by the quality of the rider’s movement.  A horse mirrors its rider.  

For example, the tense rider encourages tension in her/his horse, the rider tipping forward in the saddle encourages her horse to tip forward onto its forehand, and the rider who sits with poise, balance and grace tends to elicit these same qualities in her horse.

The difficult thing is for the rider to be truly aware of what she is doing with her body, in other words to be truly aware of what 'aids' she is giving to her horse.  A rider may believe she is giving one particular aid but in fact is giving another.  That this is a very common problem will be evident to anyone who has watched a few riding lessons; what the rider believes she is doing and what the instructor sees that the rider is actually doing are often two very different things.

My profession, The Alexander Technique, exists to teach a human being how to become more body aware, how to perceive more accurately what one is actually doing with one’s body, how to use one’s body in the best way possible, with poise, balance and grace.  (Riders will readily understand why I refer to the Alexander Technique as, 'Dressage for People').  Alexander lessons are taken by people from all walks of life who wish to reduce suffering from stress and tension, back, neck and shoulder pains, poor posture and co-ordination, stiff sore joints, jaw problems, anxiety and depression.  Alexander lessons are also taken by numerous performing artists wishing to improve their capacity to perform well, musicians, singers, actors, dancers, and, horse riders in all disciplines.

Something we all need to remember but often forget is that body awareness is a quality of Mind.  For an improvement in how one’s body moves, there must first be an improvement in what one’s Mind perceives.  Alexander Technique is so effective precisely because it takes this dynamic into account.  In this sense, Alexander work is primarily Mind work, not 'bodywork'.  One’s body is a beneficiary of improvement in one’s Mind, what one’s mind perceives.  It might help to think of one’s Mind as the rider, one’s body as the horse.  Just as regular and good quality communication between rider and horse is the key to improving equitation, regular and good quality communication between one’s Mind and body is the key to improving posture, co-ordination and performance.

When teaching riding I often begin with ten minutes of traditional Alexander work, noting how the student performs everyday movements such as sitting, standing, and walking, then making suggestions for improvements, employing both verbal and hands-on guidance.  Habit patterns that manifest with simple everyday movements are much the same as the ones that manifest in the more complex activity of riding.  The advantage of improving everyday habits first before tackling the more complex faster movements involved in riding is that it is easier for the student to “see” and understand her patterns in these slower movements.  Moreover, in the everyday slower movements I can easily use hand-on guidance to indicate improvements, something I certainly cannot do when the student is seated on a moving horse.

This two-part pedagogical approach, Alexander then Equitation, produces rewarding results.  Students make steady improvements in equitation and feel better too when making everyday movements, less stress, tension, pain and anxiety, more ease, grace, balance and poise.

All those who taught me to love horsemanship were connected directly or indirectly with the Spanish Riding School in Vienna, Austria, one of the world’s great centers preserving the Art of Horsemanship.  As a closing thought it seems fitting therefore to recall the Spanish School’s classic definition of Equestrian Art: that noble activity in which horse and rider, together as one, becomes able to execute all paces and movements with the same grace and ease as can be observed in the horse in the wild.  We could not ask for more, we need not accept less.

For further information, please contact Richard Albert at

613-315-5730;   alextech@magma.ca;   www.beingcarefulwhatwewishfor.ca