Aikido vs horse riding

I started riding horses when I was six years old and that has very much influenced who I am. Not only did it shape my personality, but it has also helped developing my motor skills and balance. I was born with a less than average sense of balance and I did not walk before the age of one and a half. Besides that, I have a visual defect that prevents me from seeing our world in three dimensions, which makes my ability to evaluate distance somewhat impaired. Both these skills improved remarkably due to all my time spent in the saddle as a young child. My balance sharpened, and I learned to judge distances in my own peculiar way, good enough for the things that I wanted to do, but not until this day can I catch a ball flying towards me in the air. Luckily, I am not the least interested in ball sports.

About ten years ago I stepped into an aikido dojo for the first time. During my most intense aikido years, I was pretty much gone from riding horses, for practical reasons. I was living in the city, studying full time, with no time to go riding somewhere. Aikido, however, had in many ways the same beneficial effects on me like the horse riding. My balance improved, and my sense of depth was constantly challenged through every attack that came flying in the air, hand or weapon. Not until I was back in the saddle again, did I fully comprehend how the two practices go hand in hand, but also complement each other.

Previously, I could feel a bit "rusty" after not riding for a while, but now when I started riding again with the aikido in my system, it was like I had never been away. The aikido also turned out to bring more quietness to my riding, and a better posture. Now, as I regularly exercise both activities, they constitute a continuous positive spiral of influence on each other.

Both aikido and horse riding is a cooperation between two individuals, where you create something beautiful and/or demanding together. In aikido this includes two humans, while in horse riding a human and a horse is interacting. What constitutes the major difference is that during horse riding it is the responsibility of the human to make sure that the horse understands what we are doing. In aikido, the responsibility is equally divided between the two partners. What unifies the two art forms is the marvellous sensation of melting together as one, minimising the signals and cues to the point where there is nothing more than pure ki flowing through the two beings, allowing them to perform their dance effortlessly. Both riding and aikido can look very powerful, but correctly performed there are no hard encounters between the two bodies.

Just as it takes patience and love to teach a horse to understand cues and to perform the exercises you want him to do, the same goes for aikido. I am convinced that a warm and caring environment, characterised by trust and joy, will make the aikidokas grow more efficiently. That is probably a provocative idea for some, since we after all are talking about a martial art, with the fundamental element of serious combat. Nevertheless, I think that an early introduction of confidence and trust, is a great way to start. There is no way around the battles with your ego anyway during the different difficult steps on the path of the aiki. This journey through crisis - revelation - transformation also happens for a horse rider. There are no short cuts, only hours and hours of practice, humbleness and an open (and empty) mind. That is the only way you can truly tune in with your partner (human or equine). When you start reaching those splits of a second moments when you feel that not only your bodies, but also your minds, unite as one, then you know that you are on the right path. In a way, also riding is nothing more than AI KI DO - the path to harmony through the energy of life.