Jennifer Malott
Kotylo
began riding at an early age and continues to share her horse-wisdom and expertise.
An international level dressage rider, Jennifer knows the power of
horsemanship. She incorporates Pilates, Equilates, and Balimo to support horse
and rider health and wellness.
Jennifer
writes, “My goal now is to use my knowledge to help others fulfill their
physical dreams, whether they are running a marathon, easing the debilitating
effects of neurological disease or returning to bio-correctness after an injury
or repetitive misuse.”
Subscribe to Jennifer’s Riding Reflections Newsletter, view her clinic and workshop offerings, peruse her beautifully illustrated children’s
book My
Best Friend Betsy, as well as her new DVD Improve
Your Riding Through Movement With Jennifer Kotylo: The Pelvis.
Welcome Jennifer!
When was
your first encounter with a horse?
I
really can't remember my first encounter with a horse. My Mom would tell
you that I said "horsey" before I said Mama or Dada, which is sort of
strange because there is no one horsey in my family. I've been horse
crazy my whole life, it’s just a part of my DNA.
Do you
have a favorite horse anecdote to share?
Rafferty
was the first horse that I owned as an adult. I leased him at first, thus
falling in love with him, so despite being over-at-the-knee (a fairly severe
conformation fault) I bought him. What started to happen was that his
knees would buckle - first just in the cross ties and then when I started
riding him. It was becoming dangerous. I had many vets look at him
and took him to a couple of vet schools, but the answer was always the same,
"It's a conformational thing. You can't do anything about it.
You will probably have to put him down." Desperate times call for
desperate measures. I come from a family that is very Western in its
thinking. Everything needs to be backed by science. Chiropractic,
acupuncture and all other alternative treatments were akin to voodoo. But
I was desperate and there was a young vet in the area who had just started
doing acupuncture. I asked her if she thought that this
"voodoo" might be able to save my horse. She said in theory it
should help but she wasn't sure. And we wouldn't know if it would work
for 8 or so treatments. Well I threw caution to the wind, and my Western
tendencies out the door and went for it. It was the best decision I have
ever made on two counts. The first was that Rafferty's legs straightened
and he became my first Grand Prix horse (as well as the muse for my first
children's book.) The second was that it opened up a whole new way of looking
at the world to me - one that led me down the path to what I do now.
Tell us
about your riding career…
The
good news about my early riding career was that my family just happened to live
near Lake Erie College outside of Cleveland, Ohio. During the summer, the
faculty gave lessons on the school horses. I'll never forget my first
school horse, Q'es que C'est, a black and white pinto mare. After that I
started riding at a Welsh Pony Breeding farm, where the owner was heavily
involved with Pony Club. Not only did I learn to ride, but I learned
about horsemanship, something that many people never do. The bad news about my
riding was that I was a clumsy, uncoordinated, unbalanced kid with absolutely
no natural ability. My Mom actually had a couple of instructors tell her
not to waste her money on me.
When
I went to college I stopped riding and didn't pick it up until my early
thirties. By that time, my poor body was a crooked, stiff mess and I
would have told you that I didn't have a left seat bone (my pelvis was that out
of whack). It was about this time that Rafferty came into my life and I
started to get help with my own body - acupuncture, chiropractic and
Pilates. All of that stuff literally changed my life.
At
about the same time, I was asked to ride with a Swedish clinician named, Mette
Rosencranz, who too, changed my life. I had developed a lot of really bad
habits and she took me aside and very tactfully told me that if I wanted to
ride well, that I basically had to learn to ride all over again. It was a
tough pill to swallow, but that's exactly what I did; completely re-learned
everything. There is nothing natural about my riding. I have had to
learn everything - figure it out mentally and then apply it to my body.
We would
love to hear about your horses. Describe your stables and your horses…
Well
you have heard about my Buddha horse, Rafferty. My current horse is now
17 years old. I'm not sure exactly how that happened! I got him
when he was 5 years old. He's a German Hanovarian and bright chestnut
with a personality to match. He is a kind, loving horse, but quite the
fire-cracker. When he was young, I wondered if I would ever be able to
ride him. He has taught me to let go of my fears, to be playful, to have
self-confidence.
My
first horse I had when I was a teenager; he, too, was a chestnut - of
unknown origin - although he came to me with a bit that was stamped US
Cavalry! He lived in our backyard and loved to jump out of his paddock to
eat the raspberries off my Mother's bushes. His gift to me was teaching
me about love and loss. I had to make the decision to have him put down
because of cancer. A tough decision at 17.
What is
the key to becoming an accomplished rider?
Being
open-minded to learning.
You are
certified in several modalities. What is the difference between Pilates and
Balimo, and how do you incorporate them into your program?
Pilates
is a form of body awareness and re-education exercise. Its goal is a
balanced body in terms of strength and flexibility front to back, side to side,
laterally and in terms of rotation. Joseph Pilates said that, "The
health of your spine determines the youth of your body," so there is
a lot of emphasis on the spine, which translates to the core! Some of the
basis ideas that Pilates explores is flow, precision, torso stability,
centering, range of motion, opposition, the use of the powerhouse, all things
that we need to be good riders.
Balimo,
which is a modality established by Echart Meyners, a German PhD. in movement,
helps to re-establish the range of motion and freedom of motion inherent in the
body. It helps to overcome blockages, not only physical ones but mental
and emotional ones too, all of which are necessary to develop a sensitive
seat. Echart believes that the body has an innate ability to return to
child-like movements and to heal itself. His easy-to-do exercises help re-establish
good brain/body communication.
I
use these and a whole host of other methods and modalities to help each rider
individually. Sometimes I just need to verbally explain a concept in
terms that someone can understand. It can be as simple as that. I
can't tell you how many people do not understand the concept of turning.
In what
area do you find most riders experience difficulties? What problems do you see
most?
When
I begin to assess a rider’s seat, I always look at their pelvis first. The
pelvis is where the rubber meets the road (or rather the buns meet the saddle)
in riding. If your pelvis is not in the right position and able to
move in all three dimensions, your riding will suffer – period. If you hold one
shoulder higher than the other – the probable culprit is your pelvis. If
you have one leg that always creeps up or is turned in a funny way, it’s
probably your pelvis. If your lower back hurts – you guessed it –
your pelvis. If you can’t sit the trot – pelvis. If you
can canter in one direction and not the other – pelvis. And on and
on and on. What is happening with a rider’s pelvis cascade’s through their
whole body.
Your first
DVD in your riding series has just been released. What will we find on this
DVD?
My
DVD series, Improve Your Riding Through
Movement is designed to give the time-crunched equestrian quick and easy
tools to help them improve their ability to be one with the horse. Each
disk has four segments - a basic introduction to my philosophies - an
introduction to a specific topic (the Pelvis, the Upper Body or the Core) and
two exercise segments - "No Excuses Exercises" and "With Thought
Exercises." You need no special equipment to do these movements and
can do them while you are watching the news on TV. They are designed to
make a significant impact without too much effort or time. I mean most
people barely have time to go and out ride their horse. When someone
suggests adding another hour to their day to go to the gym, it’s
overwhelming. These DVDs are a segue into more time consuming and
strenuous workouts.
What is
the premise for ‘My Best Friend Betsy’?
My
Best Friend Betsy is a story of a girl and
her horse. A graceful, noble horse with a Buddha nature who inspired the
girl to find her own way in the world, who lit her up from inside and always
gave her more than he had. It is really a book about me and my horse
Rafferty disguised as a children's book.
Do you
have advice for novice riders?
Yes,
I do a presentation called, Riding into
Middle Age, which is about starting to ride again when you reach a
"certain age." But the advice is really good for anyone taking
up the sport; the first to get a quick physical. Riding is a sport and
you don't want to be doing it if you have some sort of underlying physical
issue. While you are there, you should get a tetanus shot - barns
are inherently dirty - even the most fastidiously cleans one. The second
is to make sure that you are in some sort of shape. You should be able to
vigorously walk a mile (or other similar cardio), you should be able to balance
on one foot, have some sort of coordination. The third is to find a
reputable instructor, that likes to work with people of your age and that can
saliently answer your questions. Make sure the barn that they work out of
is tidy with happy horses and safe tack. The fourth is to read a good
book about basic riding. Have a clue about what you are going to
do. And the fifth is to have fun!
Do you
have advice for those seeking to purchase their first horse?
Lease
one first and make sure that you have the time, the where with all and the
money to take care of your horse as he should be taken care of.
What does
horsemanship mean to you?
Always
thinking of the horse's best interest before your own.
Connect with
Jennifer…
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