Sally Swift
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Sally Swift full name Sarah Rodman Swift (April 20, 1913 - May 9, 2009) was an American equestrian, riding instructor and writer on horsemanship. In the 1970s, she developed Centered Riding, an approach to horseback riding and teaching the rider that uses body awareness, centering and imagery. In 1993, Swift established Centered Riding Inc., a U.S.-based, international, non-profit equestrian organization that certifies Centered Riding instructors, and promotes the teaching, awareness and advancement of Centered Riding.[1][2][3][4] [5]
Early life
Swift was born and raised in Hingham, Massachusetts. Her father was Rodman Swift (1880-1959), a civil engineer.[6] Her mother was Elizabeth Townsend Foote (1882-1942), the daughter of American writer/illustrator Mary Hallock Foote (1847–1938).[citation needed] Swift had one sister, five years older, named Agnes.[citation needed]
Swift loved horses and began riding at age three, continuing well into her 80s.[7] As a child, she was diagnosed with severe scoliosis, a serious, lifelong back condition characterized by lateral curvature of the spine.[citation needed]
Swift’s mother home-schooled her daughters[8] until the seventh grade. Swift attended Milton Academy in Milton, Massachusetts. She graduated from secondary school in 1931.[9]
Education and career
After high school, Swift continued her education by studying riding with two key teachers: Phyllis Linnington taught a balanced-seat approach to riding; and Colonel Kadir Azamat Guirey, a former Circassian[10] cavalryman. Swift had instruction from Vladimir S. Littauer, a key early proponent of the forward seat in riding.[11]
Until the early 1940s, Swift taught riding professionally at various private schools. She then decided to change her career, and from 1943 to 1945, she attended the University of Massachusetts. She transferred to Cornell University, graduating in 1947, with a Bachelor of Science degree in agriculture.
Swift worked for 21 years at the Holstein Association of America (now known as Holstein Association USA), in Brattleboro, Vermont. She lived in Brattleboro for the rest of her life.
In her spare time, Swift was involved with the Brattleboro Riding Club and the Brattleboro Dressage Show. Under her leadership, the Brattleboro Riding Club Horse Show grew to be the largest one-day horse show in the United States.
Influence of Mabel Elsworth Todd
From age seven until her twenties, Swift worked with therapist Mabel Elsworth Todd. Todd encouraged Swift to continue riding because it uses both sides of the body equally, and therefore, helps to counter the one-sidedness persons with scoliosis often experience.[12]
Through Todd’s influence, Swift improved her physical condition, and gained an understanding of human anatomy, body awareness and movement.[13] Todd’s teachings were foundational in Swift eventually developing Centered Riding.[14]
Todd’s approach to physical therapy and bodywork emphasized a mind-body connection and the use of imagery. Todd’s landmark 1937 book, The Thinking Body – A Study of the Balancing Forces of Dynamic Man, explores the effect of psychological processes on movement.[15]
Todd also developed what came to be known as “ideokinesis,” a form of body work and movement study that became popular in the 1930s. Swift used these principles in developing Centered Riding, which emphasizes the use of imagery and body awareness in connecting and communicating with the horse.
Swift later said the most important idea she learned from Todd was the concept of centering.[16] Swift observed that persons with scoliosis often tip to one side, but Todd instructed her to stay over her own center – that is, with her head above her pelvis. Through Todd’s teaching, Swift learned to ride a horse from her center – a key principle in Centered Riding.[17]
Influence of the Alexander Technique
Later in life, Swift enhanced her early training with Mabel Todd by studying the Alexander Technique[18] (AT). She then applied AT to riding and teaching riding, and found it added to the depth and subtlety of her work with horse and rider. Using AT principles, Swift focused on various areas of the body rather than specific muscles, and used a balanced approach, teaching to both sides of the brain.
Swift develops Centered Riding
In 1975, Swift retired from the American Holstein Association, and returned her focus to horses and teaching riding in her local area and around Vermont.
As Swift taught riding and observed other riding instructors, she noticed that instructors generally told their students what to do, rather than how to do it.[19] Swift introduced certain concepts she had learned through her work with Mabel Todd. She also developed what she called the Four Basics of Centered Riding.[20]
How Centered Riding expanded
By the early 1980s, as she entered her seventies, Swift faced growing demand for her approach to riding, and so she began teaching lessons and clinics throughout the U.S. and Canada, and traveled to Australia and Europe, as well.
The demand soon became greater than Swift herself could keep up with. So, she began to take on apprentices – fellow riding instructors who helped her teach clinics, and in return, she trained them as Centered Riding instructors.[21] Between 1986 and 1992, Swift had about 12 apprentices.[22]
Publications & DVDs
Swift wrote two books on Centered Riding: “Centered Riding” (1985), and “Centered Riding 2: Further Exploration” (2002). Both books have been translated into several languages.
Swift also produced two videos of her teaching techniques, both of which are available in DVD format: “Centered Riding: Tape 1” and “Centered Riding: Tape 2.”
Swift founds Centered Riding Inc
Swift knew she had to take some serious measures, both to keep up with the demand and to ensure Centered Riding continued after she could no longer teach and after her death.
In 1993, Swift formalized Centered Riding, creating a non-profit, educational organization called Centered Riding Inc., to teach, maintain and promote Centered Riding. She also developed the instructor certification process.
The Centered Riding Instructor Program certifies instructors from Level I through Level IV. Centered Riding instructors are trained by the Senior Level IV clinicians who apprenticed directly with Swift (from 1986 to 1991) or by Level IV clinicians who trained through the Centered Riding Apprenticeship process.
Awards and honors
Swift received the following awards and honors for excellence in teaching riding:
- Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Riding Instructor Certification program (1997);
- Induction into the United States Dressage Foundation Hall of Fame (2006).
- Pfizer Animal Health and American Horse Publications’ seventh-annual Equine Industry Vision Award (2008), for innovation, ingenuity and service across the entire equine market.
- In January 2010, Swift was posthumously awarded the United States Equestrian Federation Pegasus Award – a very prestigious award that honors an individual who has made outstanding contributions to equestrian sport.
References
- ↑ http://archive.boston.com/bostonglobe/obituaries/articles/2009/04/19/sally_swift_95_horsewoman_developed_centered_method_for_riding_horses/
- ↑ https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB123941018269110259
- ↑ https://horsesdaily.com/article/dressage-icon-sarah-rodman-swift-passes-away
- ↑ https://www.horsetalk.co.nz/news/2009/04/023.shtml
- ↑ https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/brattleboro/obituary.aspx?n=sarah-r-swift&pid=125815847
- ↑ Sally Swift, “Sally Speaks: Growing up Sally Swift,” Centered Riding Year in Review 2008 (Centered Riding Inc., 2008), p. 15.
- ↑ Gloria Negri, “Sally Swift, 95, horsewoman; developed centered method for riding horses,” The Boston Globe, April 19, 2009. Found at [1] (accessed February 12, 2020).
- ↑ Sally Swift had one sibling – a sister Agnes, who was five years older.
- ↑ “Centering on Sally” interview with Sally Swift by Wendy Murdoch, found at [2](accessed February 12, 2020).
- ↑ Circassia was an eastern European region in the North Caucasus and along the northeast shore of the Black Sea. The Russian conquest of Circassia began in the late 1700s and continued until the 1860s.
- ↑ “Captain Vladimir S. Littauer,” on the website of EquestrianCoach.com, found at [3] (accessed February 12, 2020).
- ↑ Sally Swift, Centered Riding (North Pomfret, Vermont: A Trafalgar Square Farm Book, 1985), p. 2.
- ↑ “Centering on Sally” interview with Sally Swift by Wendy Murdoch, found at [4] (accessed February 12, 2020).
- ↑ Sally Swift, “Sally Speaks: Growing up Sally Swift,” Centered Riding Year in Review 2008 (Centered Riding Inc., 2008), p. 21.
- ↑ Found on Amazon.ca at [5] (accessed February 10, 2020).
- ↑ “Centering on Sally” interview with Sally Swift by Wendy Murdoch, found at [6] (accessed February 12, 2020).
- ↑ Sally Swift, Centered Riding (North Pomfret, Vermont: A Trafalgar Square Farm Book, 1985), p. 4.
- ↑ The Alexander Technique, named after its creator Frederick Matthias Alexander, is an educational process to retrain habitual patterns of movement and posture.
- ↑ "Sally Swift and the Alternative,” interview with Chris Hector, published in The Horse Magazine, date uncertain but probably mid-1980s, found online at [7] (accessed February 16, 2020).
- ↑ The Four Basics of Centered Riding are: soft eyes, centering, building blocks (or balance) and breathing – in no particular order. Swift later introduced two additional Basics: grounding and clear intent.
- ↑ "Centering on Sally” interview with Sally Swift by Wendy Murdoch, found at [8] (accessed February 16, 2020).
- ↑ Sally Swift, “Sally Speaks: Growing up Sally Swift,” Centered Riding Year in Review 2008 (Centered Riding Inc., 2008), p. 25.
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