Peggy Cummings

From Galloping Along the Beach to Her Own Training Center

Even as a little girl, her life revolved around horses. What sounds like a dream for most riders was a normal day for the young Peggy Cummings: galloping along the beach or riding through the coconut groves was perfectly normal for the little girl growing up in San Salvador. Free, at ease and full of joy- this was her first experience of riding. An elementary foundation that continues to shape her work and her Connected Riding concept.

When Peggy was 14, she and her family moved to Maine, USA. For her riding, this meant less beach and more traditional riding. Her training was influenced by a former cavalry officer and she had her first experience as a trainer. She experienced all kinds of personalities from horses and riders.

Peggy Cummings went on to run her own riding center, always open to new ideas and hungry for knowledge, she invited various trainers and experts to her farm. This is how she got to know TTouch founder and wehorse trainer, Linda Tellington-Jones, as well as a dressage rider, Sally Swift, well known for her “Centred Riding” concept. Both of these women influenced Peggy's journey, with both of these methods visible in her own Connected Riding method.

The Connected Riding Systems

The Connected Riding Systems involves lots of mental imagery and an in-depth analysis of mistakes, offering every rider the chance to develop a correct and balanced seat. Peggy realizes, with all her years of training and observing, that talent and desire are often not enough. This is where Peggy Cummings can help with her innovative ideas and methods: she has a certain talent for helping riders become one with their horse, to make riding easier and for riders to feel the joy and ease she felt as a young girl.

The Connected Groundwork concept concentrates purely on the horse. She understands how to help horses release tension and blockages, all from the ground. Soft movements and deliberate touches improve the connection with the horse and prepare them effectively for the ridden work.

Peggy holds clinics and demonstrations in Europe and the USA. She aims to “help riders gain an awareness of biomechanical and mental techniques that allows them to move in harmony with their horse”. The passionate trainer describes this as “It's an all-consuming job that's taken the passion of a little girl and turned it into a mission for the grown woman”.