And get this: Sally Swift didn’t write Centered Riding, a must-have for any and all equestrians, no matter the discipline, until she was 65. That’s right. She worked at the Holstein Association (cows, not horses) until her retirement and then penned that fabulous tome that I’ve come to rely on for inspiration, ideas, and now, hope.

Yes, if you’re a middle aged person who feels like her best work is maybe behind her, like I do, remember Sally Swift. Not only did she write that first book at 65, she wrote the second one just a few years ago, well into her 90s. And it’s just as good.

I thought about Sally Swift a lot when I was out riding my youngster, Belle, on Sunday. As a little horse with just about two months of riding on her, I am always keenly aware of how “centered” I am on her. If I’m unbalanced, she will be, too. Since she’s super sensitive, anything I do with my body is directly reflected in her movement. So I remember Swift’s four building blocks—breathing, building blocks, centering and soft eyes—when I’m riding Belle, or any horse for that matter. It really works. I can still clearly see Swift’s drawings of the rider’s body divided into different blocks, stacked on top of each other.  I can easily envision the soft eyes she advocates. I take lots of deep breaths to remind her, and me, that whatever is really scary in that corner of the arena isn’t scary at all. Breathing like that, sometimes I can feel Belle match my rhythm.  It’s pretty cool, and it works.

Swift’s concepts came about because she had a severe scoliosis of the spine. Back then, they did some physical therapy and it was through those sessions that Swift learned the importance of physical and emotional connectedness—which she later applied to horseback riding and articulated in her wonderful book.

Finally, there’s this lesson: It’s never too late to embark on a new and exciting project. For Swift, it was Centered Riding. For the rest of us, who knows?