Sarah Rodman (Sally) Swift, the founder of Centered Riding Inc., died on April 2 at the Brattleboro Memorial Hospital in Vermont. She was 95.
Ms. Swift grew up in Hingham, Mass., and developed scoliosis at 8 years old—a mild case that grew worse as she aged. Her first physical therapist was Mabel Elsworth Todd, author of The Thinking Body, who helped her into her 20s. Todd encouraged Swift in her riding, which she’d started as a small child.
Ms. Swift worked in the horse world as an instructor for 12 years before enrolling in college at age 30. She graduated Phi Kappa Phi in 1947 from Cornell University (N.Y.) with a bachelor of science in agriculture.
She retired from the Holstein Friesian Association in 1975 and returned to riding instruction. Her own physical difficulties and research into various alternative therapies informed her teaching style.
ADVERTISEMENT
Ms. Swift’s groundbreaking book, Centered Riding, was published in 1985. It described her revolutionary approach to developing a balanced seat and two-way communication with the horse. She later published Centered Riding II—Further Explorations in 2001. Together, the two books have sold more than 860,000 copies worldwide in 15 different languages.
“She had all these innovative ideas that nobody had ever heard of in those days,” said acclaimed eventer Denny Emerson. “She understood how your body works. Most people get tense and tight. They try to force the horse and force themselves. Sally could cut through that in a very quiet way. She was one of the real innovative thinkers in our sport. She looked at it from a totally fresh perspective and changed the way a lot of people ride. She was a class act in 100 ways. She was quiet and intelligent and compassionate. She was a real horse person. She never wanted to do anything through force, always working through to solutions. I think she softened up a lot of people like me who were rough and ready. Event riders in my day were pretty tough guys—there weren’t too many women, just a bunch of cowboys and cavalry guys. She was a shining light in that time.”
In 2006, Ms. Swift was inducted into The Roemer Foundation/U.S. Dressage Federation Hall of Fame. She earned the seventh Equine Industry Vision Award from Pfizer Animal Health and the American Horse Publications in 2008.
In lieu of flowers, donations in Sally’s memory can be made to Centered Riding, Inc. P.O. Box 157, Perkiomenville, PA, Windham County Humane Society, 916 W. River Road, Brattleboro, VT 05301, The Heifer International Foundation. 1015 Louisiana St., P.O. Box 727, Little Rock, AR 72203 or Amnesty International, 16th Floor, 5 Penn Plaza, New York, NY 1001.
