A PERSONAL NOTE FROM DAVE
I remember what it felt like to struggle.
It was a long time ago. But wow, did I struggle.
I was tall, lanky, and injured early in life. I bounced in the saddle, leaned back to follow the horse, and my left hand had a life of its own. I could train horses, but my seat and aids were anything but quiet or consistent. I thought I simply needed to work harder.
In my early twenties, a trainer invited me to lunch—and advised me to give up dressage. My body, she felt, wasn't suited to it. I should stick with jumping.
Then I found the Feldenkrais Method.
The pain went away. The struggle eased. My sense of feel seemed to light up. I learned to organize my body differently, to follow the horse, and to give clearer aids through my seat. At last, I could exhale.
At my German trainer examination, I earned the highest marks in my group. Later, Monica Theodorescu asked where I had learned to ride; she said I didn't ride like a North American. I told her about my German education. But I knew what else she was seeing: the changes Feldenkrais had made in my riding.
About fifteen years after that lunch, the trainer who had advised me to quit attended one of my clinics. “Do you remember our last lunch?” I asked. “I was hoping you'd forgotten,” she replied. She apologized, wondering what might have happened if I'd listened.
“Maybe it was exactly what I needed to hear.”
I know what it is to struggle. And I know what it feels like to discover another way. That's why I want to share this.
— Dave