Her mother had initially found a woman named Mabel Ellsworth Todd, author of the book The Thinking Body.
[1] While working with Mabel Todd, Sally Swift began training with Peter Payne in 1980, a teacher who emphasized the Alexander Technique.
This technique re-educated her mind and body towards greater balance and integration through movement and posture, enhancing Mabel Todd’s teaching.
Sally and Peter worked with areas of the body rather than specific muscles, with a balanced approach catering to both sides of the brain.
At 62, Sally retired from the American Holstein Association and began teaching riding to a few friends, putting into practice all the information she had learned from trainers such as Mabel Todd and Peter Payne.
Sally Swift founded this establishment because if you turn to your center, the inner lower body, and allow it to become the core of motion, you will find harmony between yourself and your horse while riding.
[1] Following the success of her first book, Sally released a sequel, Centered Riding 2: Further Exploration, in 2002, with 100,000 copies sold, translated into nine languages.
At 93, she joined the United States Dressage Foundation’s Hall of Fame, exclusive to those who greatly impacted horse riding.
Through the days of her illness, she was surrounded by the Centered Riding family and long-time friends, Lucile Bump, Munson Hicks, and Francois Lemaire De Ruffieu.