Joni Bentley

Hertha · Joni Bentley

Was wondering if anyone has studied with Joni Bentley or has purchased any of her resources.

She deals with balance / imbalance issues in horse and rider.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ultimate-...viour-Training-Book/dp/1872119999

Wieteke

I bought her latest DVD and found it quite valuable for where I am in my riding (I recently sold my western saddle and bought a close-contact dressage saddle, and had to make quite a few postural changes

).

I like the fact that she tries to fix the rider's crookedness before adressing the horse's. From what I've seen, she tries to influence the horse's body mostly through the rider's seat and body, instead of by manipulating the horse's head/neck.

On her website you can sign up for her newsletter to receive an article every month or so. Here are some recent ones:

http://www.jonibentley.co.uk/articles/centre.htm

http://www.jonibentley.co.uk/articles/timing.htm

Julie

Joni Bentley teaches near me, and I know a few people who have held clinics with her.

She has newsletters which come out which have very interesting articles in them which make you think about things.

her book stands the test of time, the work in that is quite valid even though it was written some time ago.

She is basically an alexander teacher who has adapted the techniques for riding. The clinics involve straightening the rider before they get on the horse, you can see the horses imbalance with less interference from the rider.

From a biomechanics viewpoint, having a straight rider is a huge benefit to the horse. Any rider I have who has done ballet, martial arts, etc and has core strength is immediately easier to teach, they are often straightish to start with.

She does tend to take other ideas - Gerd Heushmann and combine them with her ideas sometimes, they were not always hers first and its worth going back to the source for full information.

Here are some useful articles which come in the newsletters but are hard to find on website!

http://www.jonibentley.co.uk/articles/centre.htm

and from the latest newsletter

What is a Biomechanical meltdown? Here are a few signs.
· When you pick out your horse's feet do they object, pull back or appear lazy when giving you one or both hind legs?
· Does your horse dip on one shoulder, on one rein, when you ride a small circle or lunge them?
· Does your horse drag one hind leg or scuff the front of his hooves?
· Does your horse have back problems or need osteopathic or physiotherapy?
· Does your horse have rear hind suspensory problems?
· Does your horse have navicular, stifle, hock or fetlock problems that just," came on"?
· Does your horse go faster on one rein than the other?
· Does you horse fall in on one rein and out on the other?
· Does he lean on one side of the bit or both?
· Does he object when you try to mount?
· When you look down his back from behind, are his shoulder symmetrical, or is one bigger than the other?
All the above symptoms point to the fact that your horse is in biomechanical melt down. That means their inborn crookedness has not been treated which will rob you of money and riding time.
Inborn crookedness, one sidedness, and how to treat it, once and for all!
Yes I know it is hard to believe in the twenty first century that we are still treating symptoms like the above, with therapy or riding instruction, in isolation from the rider. What we should be doing is tackling the root cause; the spinal twist developed through one-sidedness in both horse and rider together!
First and foremost we must remember that horses were not designed to be sat on. How to stop biomechanical melt down using ridden therapy is only available from me. You will learn how to lift your horse's back and protect it from the weight and one-sidedness of the rider. You will also learn how to correct your own biomechanical meltdown. Its not rocket science. Correction through movement gets to the core of your own and your horse's crookedness quickly and easily. It then shows you how to counterbalance and harmonise your working partnership. It usually takes 6 sessions depending upon the severity of the partnership.

Hertha

Thank you both.