A hamster has a wheel. It’s lucky because it can head for the open road.

The image of the door opening and closing. Pete reminded me of it the other day when we were riding. I may have heard of it for the first time in a Centered Riding clinic. Pete and I were coming down the road, towards home. He mentioned closing the door for Hrimmi. I decided to try this with Raudi – I shut the door fast and she jerked to a halt. I then closed the door slowly and she halted more smoothly and slowly.

This is an example of the use of imagery. I am at some point going to write at length about this. I want to know why picturing something in the mind’s eye makes it happen. There must be a neurological basis for this. I mean, I can picture having an alligator tail when going downhill – I do this and my seat seems to adhere to my saddle. Or I can put a smile on my chest and this broadens my shoulders. I also want to know why this works for some people and not for others. Are some incapable of bringing an image to mind? Or is there a disconnect between picturing the image and acting upon it? Does anyone have any ideas about this or am I charting new territory? After I finish up some other projects and I will get going on this. . . .

Back to doors opening and closing. I would not say that new doors are opening for me or that I’m pushing upon existent doors. But it seems like good things are happening. I am going to give a brief presentation on Bones for Life – more broadly defined this is going to be a presentation on movement science – on October 6, at the Recycling Center.

And although my ideas were are not always super well received, after working with some younger riders I have become all that more convinced that there are connections to be made in the area of horse/human body awareness.

And tonight, when we were at the above-mentioned concert, Pete and I sat next to friends, one of whom said that the Centered Riding clinic was “a real game changer” for her in that it changed her posture and outlook, and consequently her relations with her students. So wait, an ahh haa moment here – pushing doors open so that others might step through them is as important as pushing open my own doors.

On Sunday we are having the Stoffels over. Dick was the one who gave us the fence posts and is my first Centered Riding student. I want him and Mariann, his wife, to see what we are doing. I am hoping that Dick will find the motivation to resume working with me on horse/human body awareness and that Mariann will find the motivation to resume working with me on human body awareness.

You never know. You step in the cage and you go where that wheel takes you.

Next: 263. 9/23/17: At the End of a Long Hard Day