Horse owner seminar to feature natural riding movement

A new way to ride a horse will be taught in April. The new technique can benefit both the horse and the rider.

“When you waltz with a tense, unyielding partner, what is supposed to be a floating dance becomes an awkward, jerky battle,” notes Peggy Cummings, a riding instructor and clinician from Idaho who travels the nation to share her riding and training approach called Connected Riding.

On Saturday, April 2, riders from all disciplines will have a chance to learn Cummings’ technique that allows both horse and rider to move freely. She is the featured speaker for the School of Veterinary Medicine’s 16th Annual Seminar for the Serious Horse Owner.

Cummings shares what she’s learned over a lifetime through a riding and training approach called “Connected Riding.” She has made a mission of teaching people to free up their bodies so that their horses can do the same.

It’s a technique Cummings developed when back problems caused by riding forced her to find another way to spend time on a horse. She’ll cover how movement can be synchronized with minimal pressure and compression, and the biomechanical and mental techniques that allow riders to move in harmony with the horse. She’ll also demonstrate how her system works with different riding disciplines.

Cummings hopes that eventually the rigid, traditional ways of teaching riding will give way to the flowing, natural movement taught through Connected Riding.

The seminar will be from 8:30 a.m.- 5 p.m. at the Stock Pavilion. Registration is $45 per person, or $40 per person for groups of five or more, due on or before March 18. After that date, admission becomes $50 per person.

For further information or to register, call Karen Meinholz or Kathy Nelson 265-5206/263-6266. A complete brochure, including registration information, is available under the continuing education link on the School of Veterinary Medicine’s Web site at http://www.vetmed.wisc.edu.