I have been riding as an adult for some five years now, and have been taking group and private lessons that have both taught me a great deal and have been very enjoyable. So far, so good.

The problem is that I am now beginning to run into difficulties in finding classes at a level that is suitable for me (I would classify myself as elementary/intermediate although I am frequently put into "advanced" classes) and yet which also conform to the principles of horsemanship to which I subscribe.

I am a devotee of the classical school and although it is possible to have tuition in Portugal at classical yards (I have been three times to the yard of Jorge Pereira, which I unreservedly recommend) it appears to be more difficult in this country. It seems that most people who subscribe to these principles have their own horses, and they are able to attend clinics or work with trainers who can give them the help that they need. But what of the rider like myself, who is passionately interested in the concept of riding as an art form and not merely a sport, but who is financially challenged and unable to afford her own horse? Few conventional schools have horses that are developed enough themselves to be able to help the rider to develop; if they are, their owners are (understandably) reluctant to allow them to be ridden by people who may desensitise them.

I talked to Sue Wingate about this and we agreed that there must be other riders in the same position as myself. From the discussion evolved the idea that we would try and find teachers who subscribed to similar principles, even if they did not necessarily describe themselves as classicists, and who had suitable horses that were capable of helping the rider to develop. I would act as guinea pig and have a series of lessons about which I would then write for the magazine. When I agreed to this I thought it would be an interesting experience but I did not realise the extent to which I was likely to benefit from it personally. If, however, all the lessons do as much for my riding as my very first one with Minette Rice-Edwards, then the life of a guinea pig has much to recommend it.

Minette's initial assessment of Christine....

It was appropriate that my first lesson in the series should be a lunge lesson. It is Minette's practice to start with a lunge lesson for any rider whom she is meeting for the first time. I was more than happy with this approach, both because of what it showed about her attitude towards her horses and to the prospective riders, and because I believe that however advanced a rider he or she will always benefit from periodic sessions on the lunge.

My partner in the experiment was to be Aladdin, a twenty-one year old grey three-quarter thoroughbred, 15h 3, calm, kind, but very sensitive to any shift in my weight and position as I was soon to discover. We started by my walking round on the lunge but with stirrups and reins so that Minette could see how I sat, how I balanced, how I carried myself. I felt quite relaxed and thought that I was doing reasonably well but Minette was obviously not very impressed by what she saw because she soon took me right back to basics.

Christine's first exercise puts her on her seat bones

The first thing I had to do was to develop an awareness of my body in space (the kinesetic sense). I was asked to quit and cross my stirrups and the reins were knotted. I started by bringing both my legs forward over the saddle flaps in a very extreme chair seat position, the torso in the vertical, so that I could feel my seat bones and identify the independent movement of both the left and right hind leg. For safety's sake Minette lead Aladdin, although he was quite used to this manoeuvre. I was also told to find the three points of the seat which Minette identified as the seat bones and the coccyx. Although the rider's weight is mainly on the seat bones it is essential to have a third point for balance, much in the same way as a tripod. When I subsequently dropped my legs down and achieved a position that met with Minette's approval I was sitting in the vertical, deep and very safely; there was no question of my sitting back on my tail with a curved spine, rounded shoulders and collapsed middle - my head and shoulders were over the seat bones. This exercise, as all subsequent exercises, was repeated on both reins and was continued until Minette was satisfied with the way I was carrying it out.

Christine focusing on her "seat wheels"

Next I was asked to hold the front of the saddle and close my eyes while I was led round. At that point Minette asked me to imagine my seat bones as two wheels which were rotating backwards in harmony with the horse's movement, then to imagine my knees as two smaller wheels rotating forwards, and finally to think of my ankles as two wheels rotating backwards again.

This imagery was remarkably helpful and was very effective: my lower back became more supple and moved with Aladdin. I was then asked to imagine the seat wheels as getting smaller but to keep a soft contact with my calf, and instantly I felt Aladdin shorten his stride and begin to collect under me. When I was told to imagine the wheels as tractor wheels he lengthened his stride. This, for me, was a step way beyond the experience of slowing the rhythm of the rising trot through slowing the rising, and for the first time I felt for myself the possibilities of controlling a horse through a combination of leg and seat rather than being dominant with the leg and the hand. It is important that there should be a free flow of energy from the rider to the horse for this, with the rider doing nothing to block that energy - but that, of course, is true of all aspects of riding.

Christine begins to control Aladdin with her back

Throughout I was closely watched to make sure that I maintained my original vertical position and that my seat bones remained in constant deep contact with the saddle. Any tightening of knee or thigh was immediately spotted, and I was asked to release the whole of the weight of my leg down, imagining that it had the consistency of a piece of raw steak. Rather too close a simile for comfort in some ways, perhaps, but very effective!

A further insight came with the next exercise. Still without stirrups and reins, but now at the end of the lunge line, I took my arms behind my back with each hand holding an elbow, taking care not to alter my position below my waist in any way simply because of what was happening with the upper half of my body. Minette told me to push my arms gently into the small of my back (a bracing position) and I learnt that with my back and seat alone I could collect and/or bring Aladdin to a halt.

I found it quite hard to believe that I had done this completely without any check on the reins, however light, but Minette assured me that I had, and that she was not giving any covert signals to the horse. I had always assumed that this type of control would be beyond me, and would be forever something that I would only read about in the texts of the masters.

It is difficult to express the feeling I had when I realised that that it was within my capabilities, albeit on a very well-schooled and co-operative horse, and that a whole new dimension in my riding could be opened up to me.

continues........