SallySwift&Raindance

That's Me, up there. Really.



Rainy!! RainEEEE? Whinny, whinny, whinneee. Oh, my pony. The (sorry, dark, grainy picture of) picture above is taken at a little schooling show, with my best advanced rider, Marni, up. Oh, Rainy was cute over fences. He had all kinds of jump, and enjoyed it immensely. This is the same show where another horse I'd brought, died..

Rainy is also auspicious for being the only schoolie I ever taught with, who broke a human bone. Yet another Michelle, last name escapes me. Perfectly fine tall, young rider, she'd started at the lesson factory, so she was kind of unaware of her surroundings. Her eyes were always looking down, and she was forever dropping her weight on her own inside shoulder around her turns. She never looked up, and around the turn. Well, not never, we worked hard on getting her to sit up and LOOK the way she was going.

Rainy was a little crooked, body wise. He was bent to the left. He had an underdeveloped right side, right down to his feet. He was two different horses in front. One foot nice normal size, one foot a little upright, a little contracted in the heel. Mostly from his weirdly bent conformation, I would imagine.

Rainy wasn't AS bad behind, he just always plumed his tail up and left. Never right. Rainy was cranky about swapping leads from left to right. He'd cross-canter very awkwardly, if his rider wasn't on her heels:) (teeHee) Or he wouldn't switch at all, as he was still learning his balance & strength at this point.

"My" school's indoor arena was notoriously slippery at the west end. Going to the right, Rainy and Michelle had just finished a line of fences, and he landed on his left lead. Then, he switched only in front. Going too fast. Sit up, look ahead, do a simple change, I spoke. Michelle, instead, pulled his head hard left and looked down. Boom. Down, they both went. Oh, it was awful. My one and only broken leg in a student, and I'd been preparing them both for a little show. Poor kid. Michelle did come back, and did do a show with RainDance after she'd mended. I sent her a card that read "No Pain, No Gain". I felt so badly. Yelled at Peter, too, because that darned slippery arena corner (which I'd BITCHED about many times) had sure helped with the fall..

Rainy was a curious amalgam of the two breeds. He had a lovely dished Arab face, with a huge QH jowl. A shortish, upright neck. Big ears, pretty ears. Rainy had such a sense of humour. Rainy learned very early in his schoolie days that flattened ears and gnashing teeth chased beginners out of his stall very handily. I just had to walk to his stall door. The sweetest, widest-eyed pony would always appear. WHO, ME?? Sugar would have melted in his mouth. If I turned around, and hid in the next stall, he'd do it all over again. Students had to learn to carry their confidence into his stall, or he'd chase them right back out again:)

I had one little kid, oh she was short, had next to no balance, but a truly ferocious desire to learn to ride. Michelle (yet another) begged me weekly to let her ride Rainy, but I knew he was just too much for her. Green ponies and green riders don't mix very well, IMO.

I used to give little written/oral and ridden tests, to keep all the students horsemanship skills sharp.I was a real PITA about it too. Stickler for details, I was. The students LOVED it. I'd write little critiques of their riding, and where they needed to improve. The parents practically worshiped me, as they should, arrogant b**tch that I am:) (not)

Short Michelle aced the latest test, just ACED it, and she convinced me, as a reward, to let her ride Rainy. I'm a sucker for a tiny ferocious kid. So, short Michelle's tiny legs sticking almost straight out, off she proudly went with Rainy, at a walk. Rainy took one little bouncy step, just one, and shook that short Michelle, plop, on the ground. Rainy stopped, frozen in shock. He'd never had anyone fall off before, at this point. Oh, his face was hilarious. CONTRITE!! Oh, I'm so sorry, why DID you fall off? Good thing the kid just bounced a little, and clambered right back on again. Short Michelle said to me, oh, that was MY fault, I should have looked where I was going. I loved that kid.

RainEEEE!!! The picture of a picture below is of a more advanced, young boy kid, Tim J. He was a pretty darn good little rider, by the time I left teaching. I broke his heart, it still breaks mine a bit, because I heard Tim was pretty troubled, after I quit teaching..
Anyway, Tim was FULL of bravado, very quick with retorts, loved a good laugh. Smart, a little cocky. Boys are like that:) Here, Rainy is over-jumping the fence by about a mile. Tim is hanging on for dearest life. Rainy liked to test the advanced kids. Here, can you ride THIS?? Tim passed, with flying colours.



Oooh, river currents.
Let's take a moment to mourn the passing of Chris Irwin's and Horspoor's Idol, instead.
I have to read her book! It's the bible of riding, I'm told. Wish I'd had a chance to read more. I believe she had several articles published in PracticalHorseman, always a "bible" for me.
Taken from SallySwift
"LEGENDARY WOMAN, AUTHOR AND
FOUNDER OF CENTERED RIDING LEAVES
THE HORSE WORLD IN MOURNING

Sarah Rodman Swift known to her worldwide following as "Sally Swift" passed away on April 2, 2009. Sally was less than three weeks away from reaching her 96th birthday. She was born on April 20, 1913 in Hingham, Massachusetts to Rodman "Tod" Swift and Elizabeth Townsend Swift. She had one sister, Agnes, who died in 2004.

Sally Swift was known all over the world for her innovative horse-riding methodology known as "Centered Riding." She was the author of two books Centered Riding and Centered Riding II - Further Explorations which, together, have had sales of more than 860,000 copies worldwide in fifteen different languages. Sally was the Founder of Centered Riding, Inc., which is the non-profit organization that oversees the worldwide membership of instructors and horse riders. Sally began Centered Riding at the age of 62 upon her retirement from the Holstein Association in Brattleboro Vermont. Her first book, Centered Riding was published in 1985.

In August of 2006, Sally Swift was inducted into the United States Dressage Foundation's Hall of Fame. In June of 2008, she was presented with the seventh annual Equine Industry Vision Award by Pfizer Animal Health and American Horse Publications, an award which recognizes innovation, ingenuity and service across the entire equine market.

At the age of 7, Sally was diagnosed with scoliosis, lateral curvature of the spine. She worked for many years with Mabel Ellsworth Todd, author of "The Thinking Body" who believed that you could control parts of your body with your mind when you couldn't direct them with physical movement. Sally used concepts of her work with Mabel Todd to develop the Four Basics of Centered Riding.

Sally was homeschooled until 7th grade and then attended Milton Academy in Milton Massachusetts for her 7th through 12th grade education. She graduated from Cornell University in 1947 with a B.S. in agriculture. She worked for 21 years at the Holstein Association of America located in Brattleboro, Vermont, retiring in 1975.

Upon her retirement from the Holstein Association in, Sally began teaching her friends at the rate of $10 per lesson and $50 per day for a clinic. She never advertised - her teachings spread by word of mouth. Before long, she was going up and down the East coast with her teachings. In the early 1980's, when Sally was in her early seventies, she began travelling to other locations in the U.S., Canada and eventually to Europe. In 1988, at the age of 75, she went to Australia to work alongside Richard Weis, who was her first apprentice. Sally continued to be very active in Centered Riding until her recent illness.

During the days of her illness, Sally was surrounded by her friends and Centered Riding family who loved her. She was closely attended to by her long-time friend, Lucile Bump, also of Brattleboro, her devoted friend, Munson Hicks, her care-givers, and her special friend Francois Lemaire de Ruffieu. Sally was well-loved by many, many people. Despite her fame, breadth of knowledge and accomplishments, she greeted all who journeyed down her path with warmth and humbleness.

Plans for a memorial service in honor of Sally Swift are underway and will be announced on this website. In lieu of flowers, donations in Sally's memory can be made to Centered Riding, Inc. P.O. Box 157, Perkiomenville, PA, Windham County Human Society, 916 W. River Road, Brattleboro, VT 05301, The Heifer International Foundation. 1015 Louisiana St., P.O. Box 727, Little Rock, AR 72203 or Amnesty International, 16th Floor, 5 Penn Plaza, New York, NY 1001

The world was made a better place by Sally Swift, and the horse world and all who came to love her deeply mourn her passing."

RIP, Sally Swift. Thank you for the inspirations you have given to so many great horse people.

I feel guilty. My fault, she died. She KNEW I hadn't read her book yet!! I'm going to get it, once business picks up.

To Sally Swift.