Sally Swift – Founder of Centered Riding
Honored at American Horse Publications Conference

- Sally Swift with CHA CEO Christy Landwehr

...continued

Horses were introduced to Swift’s life at a very early age. From the time she was two or three she would sit on the back of the garbage man’s horse. Then, once she became a little older, her mother – also an avid horse enthusiast -- rented a horse for a month in the summer. Every summer they would rent the same horse, Helen Kingbolt. The Swifts kept the horse up on a hill at their neighbor’s barn where they rented a standing stall. Down the road there was a side road with no traffic, called Martin’s Lane, where they would take Helen to ride.

At age 7, Swift was diagnosed with scoliosis, a lateral curvature of the spine. From that time and through her early 20s she worked with a therapist named Mabel Ellsworth Todd, author of The Thinking Body. It was through her work with Todd that Swift began an understanding of body awareness and imagery that became the Centered Riding(R) method and her life ambition.

After graduating from Milton Academy, Swift taught traditional riding for twelve years before changing careers. It wasn’t until she retired from the American Holstein Association, at age 62, that teaching and riding came back into play. She planned to teach a few close friends. However, as she developed her Centered Riding techniques, the demand for Centered Riding clinics and instructor clinics blossomed. Before long, she was traveling all over the world teaching many people. Now those teachers are educating new teachers across the United States, Canada, Australia and Europe.

In 1985, Swift’s groundbreaking book Centered Riding was released. Since then the book has been translated into fourteen different languages. A second book, Centered Riding 2: Further Exploration was published in 2002 and has been published in nine foreign countries. Together, the two books have sold over three-quarters of a million copies.

“I am blessed with the feeling that my life and dreams have come full circle,” said Sally Swift. “Centered Riding is not about lofty ideals or selling books. For me, Centered represents all that is good in today’s world, and the people I have come to know through this “centered” journey have become my friends and family. I realize today that Centered Riding was my vision of what we can be when we tear down the human armor and give a little of ourselves to one another and our four-legged friends.”

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