Welcome to Therapeutic Horseback Riding and the Feldenkrais Method

My name is Sandy Kessler, and I use horseback riding and the Feldenkrais Method as a way to help people increase their physical, mental, and emotional self awareness, for improving both their own movement and their personal and interpersonal functioning.

This method has been proven effective with people of all types: From children with birth defects and victims of accidents and war, to stressed out yuppies and professional groups interested in improving their teamwork. We use experimentation and re-education to increase self-awareness and inner perception.

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Horseback Riding

A horse's motion is three-dimensional: from side to side, forwards and backwards, up and down. It is indeed quite similar to the way a person walks and can teach us much about our own movements and how to improve them. A rider on the back of a moving horse is constantly receiving information through their own muscles, bones and joints about the horse's movement -- and their own. Riding teaches a person to activate and use various parts of the body, in new and varied ways, acquiring skills that in the course of time become an integral part of his life. Riding entails active involvement and self-discipline, improves the rider's self-image, balance and spatial orientation and encourages his independence and decision-making abilities. So does The Feldenkrais Method

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The Feldenkrais Method is a learning process aimed at enabling a person to maximize potential through developing awareness of their body.

Nobody changes their way of moving -- their "bad posture" -- unless they are aware that it is for their own good. You can tell a person to "stand up straight", or "hold your head up" but only when a person becomes aware that by changing their own movement they can function better, does the neural system adopt the new system of movement and internalize it into the person's natural movement.

The Feldenkrais method examines varieties of movement and chooses new ones appropriate for each individual.

All instruction is verbal, with no visual imitation. Ultimately, the method is based upon employing inner perception. The object, wrote Moshe Feldenkrais, "is to improve ability and expand the limits of performance, to make the impossible, possible, the difficult easy and the easy, enjoyable, elegant and aesthetically pleasing."

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Posture

The Feldenkrais method defines "posture" as a state from which a person moves with the greatest efficiency and with the least amount of conscious preparation.

Posture is not a state of immobility, nor is it the same for everyone. Posture is a springboard for movement.

Over time, people naturally become more cautious, less daring, and less willing to try new things. Posture changes accordingly, becoming more closed, stagnant, and less conducive for moving into action. Experimentation and movement are confined to the survival level, but we can operate on other levels apart from that of survival.

When we fine-tune the subtle nuances of our movement, our level of survival also improves. People need to experiment with movement because the tensions and compulsive behavior reflected by movement are barricades to mental development, adventurousness and creativity.

When the block is removed, personal initiative increases as well as creativity on the level of the individual with himself and vis-a-vis his environment.

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Everyone has patterns of movement. We develop them over the years, and they become a reflection of our own self-image, and the way we are perceived.

Some of these habits are good, even necessary. But others are limiting, sometimes to the point of pain and injury and damage to the body. Through re-education we can restore our mobility to an optimal level, learning to experiment with our movement for the best results.

A person who always takes the same route, following the same directions without ever trying an alternative route will eventually get lost when a signpost is moved or weather conditions change.

But a person who knows the way from three different directions, in any kind of weather, and can freely adopt a different method of travel will not get lost so easily. The Feldenkrais Method teaches us to learn how to learn new ways to move.

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People who sit at desks for long periods of time facing computer screens suffer from eye problems, backaches and headaches. Any work done in the same place under unchanging conditions is likely to result in inefficient monotony.

Remember the motion of the horse? Side to side, forwards and backwards, up and down. The motion of the horse enables the rider to learn about himself, as well as about animals and other people. Movement on the horse's back and the connection with it constitutes an infinite source of experience in the most subtle, significant nuances of our own bodies. We learn to be aware of our inner perceptions

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An ancient story tells of a test that used to be put to an intended bride on her first visit to her future in-laws. She would be asked to untangle a large web of knots. As she worked, the traits of her character would be revealed in her tactile sensitivity and inner serenity that enabled her to deal with situations without becoming impatient or frustrated. Even her breathing during the frustrating exercise would reveal a great deal about her ability to endure difficult situations. Finally, her resourcefulness in thinking of new ideas for solving the problem would also become apparent.

Like the rider who must learn to get home in the mountains three different ways, the bride could have worked mechanically, according to precise instructions. But the knot might never have been untied.

The Feldenkrais Method encourages the unique qualities of every individual. It teaches us to move physically in the way most appropriate for us, and by doing so teaches us about our selves. In our workshops, we do not fight individual differences, but encourage optimal work within the framework of each person's unique physical and mental make-up.

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Our workshop activity takes a holistic approach to mental and physical health and combines an interesting, enjoyable experimentation experience with the aim of improving personal ability in many fields:

We hold workshops for individuals and groups up to eight people. A session lasts about two and a half hours, either in a one-time experimentation session, or as a program of weekly or daily sessions.

Contact Sandy Kessler

Sandra Kessler

Moshav Ramat-Raziel

D.N. Tsfon Harei-Yehuda

Tel: 972-2-5344222

If you are interested in more about therapeutic riding, you'll want to check out Little Bits Riding Club home page, where John Fairchild has put together an impressive list of riding therapy web sites.

If you're interested in the Feldenkrais Method try visiting The Feldenkrais Site maintained by Jerry Larsen.

Back to the Top

| Riding | | Feldenkrais | Posture |

| Experimentation | Learn to Move |

| Self-awareness | Bibliography | Workshops |

Workshops for the Visually Impaired and Blind Recommended links

sandy@ariga.com

sandy@ariga.com

Contact

Sandy Kessler

Recommended hippotherapy links

Adaptive Riding Institute

Disabled riders tired of the arena? Challenging horseback adventures, riding lessons, and recreational activities for all abilities. This program offers recreational horseback activities including trail rides, beach trips and horse camping trips in beautiful Oregon.

Alaska Therapeutic Riding Association

A non-profit organization providing horseback riding and animal-assisted activity therapy programs for children, especially children with physical, mental, and emotional disabilities.

Eagle Crest Theraputic Center

Texas

Fran Joswick Therapeutic Riding Center

San Juan Capistrano, Ca. A non-profit organization that offers horseback riding as a means of therapy for people with mental and physical disabilities.

Freedom Rider

A catalog of equipment for people with disabilities who ride horses. Driving and vaulting equipment and anything to enable people to do more with horses. Free listing of events for disabled equestrians.

Hearts & Horses

A non-profit therapeutic riding center located in Loveland, Colorado.

Little Bits - Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Horse riding for the disabled, summer camp, therapeutic horseback riding

Magic Moments Riding Therapy

Therapeutic horseback riding therapy.In Diamond, MO.

Mesa Vista Farm

Located 18 miles west of Richmond,in Powhatan, VA, offers traditional boarding, riding lessons and therapeutic programs.

Mounted Miracles ETC

Non-profit recreational/therapeutic center for disabled located in Southern Illinois east of St Louis, MO.

North American Riding for the Handicapped Association

NARHA is a membership organization which fosters safe, professional, ethical and therapeutic equine activities through education, communication, standards and research for people with and without disabilities.

Northern Virginia Therapeutic Riding Program

Non-competitive horseback riding lessons to persons with disabilities and special needs.

Over The Rainbow Special Needs Riding Program

Port Orford, OR

Partners in Equestrian Therapy (PET)

Equestrian therapy for individuals with disabilities, on central California coast. We use Norwegian Fjords!

Prancing Horse - Cameron, NC

Accredited by North American Riding for the Handicapped Association

Rexford Center

A caring facility in New Haven, Michigan that offers therapeutic horseback riding for mentally and physically challenged adults and children.

RideAble, for Equestrians with Disabilities

Riding for persons impaired, or with dsability - Eugene, Or.

River Cities Therapeutic Riding Center, Inc.

A non-profit 501 (c) 3 tax-exempt organization whose mission is to provide equine facilitated therapy and recreational therapy services to WV, KY and OH children and adults.

Shady Hollow Assisted Riding

A non-profit therapeutic riding center located in Birdsboro PA

Southern Nevada Theraputic Riding Center

non-profit organization using horses as therapy for the disabled (hippotherapy)

Special Equestrian Riding Therapy, Inc. (SERT)

Therapeutic riding for the disabled.

The CATRA Page

Capital Area Therapeutic Riding Association. Therapeutic horseback riding, based in Grantville Pennsylvania. Articles, a bulletin board and links.

Therapeutic Horsemanship of Hawaii

recreational and therapeutic riding and pony carts for children that have a physical impairment.

Therapeutic Riding of Tucson

A non-profit organization founded on the accepted principle that horseback riding is a unique form of therapy for disabled individuals.

Vanessa Martin Equine Therapy Consultant

Offers seminars, clinics, training, and public address in all phases of therapeutic riding therapy.

Windrush Farm Therapeutic Equitation, Inc.

A non-profit working horse farm of therapeutic challenge and reward for the disabled in Boxford, Massachusetts.

Therapy with animals, a simply site listing links to various sites devoted to human therapy with the help of animals -- horses, dogs, cats, etc.

Bibliography Alon, Ruth (1990) Mindful Spontaneity, Prism Press, England. Engel, Barbara Teichmann (1992) Therapeutic Riding Programs, Omnipress, Madison, WI. Feldenkrais, Moshe (1972) Awareness Through Movement Harper & Row, San Francisco. Feldenkrais, Moshe (1981) Elusive Obvious, Meta, CA. Feldenkrais, Moshe (1988) Body + Mature Behaviour, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London Tellington-Jones, Linda (1992) The Tellington Touch Viking, Penguin U.S.A. Tellington-Jones, Linda (1988) Equine Awareness Method, Breakthrough Publications, N.Y.

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