Understanding Your Rider Biomechanics

pegasusphysiotherapy
May 18
4 min read

🎯 What Your Coach Means and Why You Can’t Feel It...Yet

“Ooooh, That’s What My Instructor Meant!”

This is something I hear all the time in Rider Physio sessions. It’s not that the rider’s instructor hasn’t been saying the right things - they usually have. But when you’re managing the horse as well, it’s hard to help a rider feel the change you're asking for.

🧠 Why Riders Struggle to Understand Their Position – Even with a Great Coach

Recently, a rider flew over from the U.S. for a session. She’s a show jumper, and we were both a little nervous - not about the simulator, but about whether the coaching terms and methods would differ across the pond.

But once we started breaking down her posture, balance, and movement on the simulator, she had that breakthrough moment:

“Ohhh! That’s what my instructor’s been telling me - I just didn’t know what I was actually doing wrong.”

That’s the kind of “ah-ha” moment Rider Physio is designed to create.

🔍 Rider Biomechanics: Knowing What to Do Isn’t the Same as Understanding How

Many riders have heard things like:– “Don’t lean forward”– “Stop collapsing to the right”– “Engage your core”

But they’re often left guessing:

❓ What exactly am I doing wrong?

❓ How do I fix it?

❓ What should it feel like when it’s right?

That’s where rider biomechanics and Rider Physio make a real difference. It’s not about repeating instructions - it’s about learning how your body moves, identifying imbalances, and finding corrections that make sense to you.

🧩 What Rider Physio Sessions Actually Do

By removing the complexity of a moving horse, we can focus 100% on the rider. Sessions target:

✔️ Posture and alignment

✔️ Pelvic control and symmetry

✔️ Strength, stability, and movement patterns

We use:

🎥 Video analysis to show exactly what’s happening

👕 External cues to help you feel the right corrections

🧘‍♀️ Internal cues to understand what each body part should be doing

🧥 Tools like the SymmFit top, which visually show spine and shoulder alignment

This helps riders bridge the gap between what they’re told and what they feel.

assessing rider biomechanics — Looking at position and alignment from the side

🎯 Why External Cues Work Better Than Internal Ones in Coaching

Science shows that focusing on the effect of a movement — not the body part itself — leads to faster learning and better performance.

Instead of:

🚫 “Straighten your back”

Try one of these external focus cues:

✅ Task-based: “Sit tall so your reins stay softly connected”

✅ Environmental: “Stretch the top of your helmet toward the sky”

✅ Equipment-based: “Stack the buttons on your jacket like building blocks”

✅ Tactile: “Feel your seat bones drop evenly into the saddle while your head floats upward”

These cues work because the brain responds better to external goals and spatial references than trying to consciously control individual body parts.

🧪 Research consistently shows that external focus leads to:

💪 Better movement quality

⚡ Faster learning and retention

🧘‍♀️ Less overthinking and tension

🏇 More instinctive, fluid control in the saddle

SymmFit Training Top showing a riders asymmtry — A common asymmetry seen in the saddle of dropping a shoulder rather than rotating. Easier for this rider to see with the lines on the SymmFit Training Top

🎥 And in Physio?

In Rider Physio sessions, we often begin with internal cues because they help you understand how your body is actually moving. Before posture or symmetry can improve through external cues, you first need the right muscles, joints, and movement patterns working properly. Once we’ve identified the underlying issues, we can work on them both off the horse and on the simulator, so you’re physically able to respond to the external cues your coach gives.

For many riders, poor alignment isn’t just a habit - it’s the result of weakness, restriction, or lack of awareness in a specific area. Internal cues give you the building blocks: how to find neutral spine, isolate your pelvis, or feel even pressure through your seat bones. Once that foundation is in place, we can layer on external cues and task-based strategies to help you transfer that control into real riding situations.

I love sending riders clips from their sessions because they start developing the skills to analyse their own riding. And we know the research backs it up: video feedback helps with…

📈 Skill development and technique

🧠 Body awareness and alignment

🗓️ Long-term motor learning

🛡️ Injury prevention through early correction

That moment when a rider sees their pelvis tipping or their shoulder dropping? That’s the lightbulb flickering on. And when we find the right cue to fix it - it shines bright.

💬 Feeling Embarrassed to Say “I Don’t Get It”? You’re Not Alone.

So many adult riders are nervous to admit they don’t understand what their coach means.

But here’s the truth: your coach’s cue might be perfectly accurate - but if your body doesn’t understand or can't do it, you can’t respond effectively.

That’s not your fault. It’s just a communication gap. And bridging that gap is exactly what Rider Physio is for.

🧭 So What’s the Takeaway?

If you’ve been told the same thing over and over and still can’t feel the change – it’s not because you’re not trying. In fact, many riders are trying so hard that it leads to frustration and anxiety - and that’s the last thing we want in the saddle. Riding is about feel, timing, and flow - not forcing something your body doesn’t yet know how to do. That’s why we slow it down, break it into parts, and build the awareness and control you need to make those changes feel natural.

You just haven’t been given the right kind of feedback - yet.

At Pegasus Physio, we:

🔎 Analyse

🎥 Show

🧠 Explain

👣 Guide

...until your body understands what your coach means