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Refined Riding

Make real riding progress. Move better. Feel more. Ease pain. Rider-focused movement & exercises that blend into your real life.

Overcome habits holding your riding back & help your horse
🎥 Online courses 💻 Movement classes 🏇 Rider & horse assessments Empowering you to become the expert of your body and gain a greater understanding of the horse's.

08/11/2025

The hidden causes you didn’t know you were silently building!

💺 Long hours sitting are quietly reshaping your body — and your riding.
As you can see here, it creates many postural changes (and I’ve only shown from the foot to the pelvis!).

Our bodies adapt to what we do — and what we don’t do.

Next time you’re sitting in your chair, notice your favourite position:

🪑Cross one leg over?

🪑Slump into the backrest?

🪑Twist one way?

Each of these habits changes how you move in and out of the saddle.

Are you worried about what this is doing to your riding, posture and the stiffness and aches that keep showing up?

You might think there’s nothing you can do — that it’s just part of your job.
But there is something you can do.

🧠 My course “Screen Time to Saddle Time” — packed with tips and exercises to undo and prevent the negative effects of the office lifestyle on your body and riding!

✨ Designed for busy riders, it can easily fit into even the busiest of lives.

Want to know more?
Comment SCREEN below ⬇️

03/11/2025

You probably never considered the way your knee tracks — and how this can bring pain, stiffness, and extra wear and tear when you move.

And when you ride, you might experience:

🐎 Gripping knees
🐎 Seat drawing one way
🐎 Affects the way you use your lower leg
🐎 Stiffness, aches, and difficulty with certain movements

You may be surprised to hear that age is often not a factor in their decline — it’s how they’re being used.
Restoring their alignment takes the pressure off them and how they work with the rest of your body — putting you in the driver’s seat to care for them and their longevity.

And you can add simple corrections into your day that take little or no extra time, restoring your knee tracking naturally.

🎥 This reel is an excerpt from my online course Screen Time to Saddle Time, packed with easily actionable, bite-sized exercises and strategies just like this one — to push back against that desk-chair slump and office posture, and its effects on your riding, body, and horse.

⬇ Write SCREEN below for course information.

31/10/2025

The root cause of so many habits is here 👇

🏇 That foot that turns out
🏇 Your body draws you one way
🏇 You twist in the saddle
🏇 You sit crooked but it feels straight!
🏇 Your leg draws up — and many more

Those riding corrections that feel so disconnected, like your body is in outer space.
This is often from lack of use, lack of proprioception — while the root cause hides in an area you were unaware of.

This can happen in larger corrections, more subtle corrections, and many in between!

Going through movements can be a complete surprise and a great insight — like the case with this lovely client.

And you could be building your hip strength doing this exercise anywhere!

🛒 Shopping line
💧 Waiting for a water bucket
☕ Waiting for the kettle

And when it gets ingrained, you could be doing this with every step you take — building and keeping that hip strength with every step!

This is just one of the exercises in my Screen Time to Saddle Time course.
As we know how weak, tight, and achey office workers’ hips get — and how that shows up in the saddle.
💻🐴
Comment SCREEN below for the course information ⬇️

29/10/2025

I know what it feels like not to be able to do the things you love.

Or maybe you’re a rider who just can’t move forward with your riding; the same habits keep popping up. Postural problems pull, push, or draw your body in certain ways.

I was significantly injured for 10 years. I couldn’t walk more than 30 minutes a day, and I was in constant pain. There were so many things I couldn’t do — riding being one of them.

I tried everything — every form of therapy and movement approach, and nothing helped. In desperation, I even had two surgeries. Both were unsuccessful; the second made things worse.

But I never gave up. I knew there had to be something out there that could help me get my life back.

Then, at a veterinary convention, I heard about Restorative Exercise.

What makes this approach different is that it meets your body exactly where it’s at — right now. It’s not about a set of exercises you tick off during the day. It’s about teaching your body how to move in ways that restore balance, awareness, and strength and much more.

This work nurtured my many injuries back to restore my body. I now do things I never thought I’d do again. It empowered me to help myself — and it superpowered my sense of feel.

It taught me so much about how I move through my day — my habits, blind spots, weaknesses, and the areas doing too much work.

I got my life back. And I trained to become a therapist so I could help others do the same.

That’s why the message I received this morning meant so much.Because I know exactly what it’s like to struggle physically — and the emotional toll that comes with it.

To hear that my posts are helping someone makes me so happy.It honestly made my week ❤️

23/10/2025

This is a rider’s words during a movement session.

I love it when I’m working with a lovely rider and they spontaneously tell me what they’ve realised.

When a rider gets in tune with their body and we begin working with their:
✨ Weaknesses
✨ Blind spots — reconnecting with those areas again
✨ Calming down areas that are overworked
✨ Filling in the gaps and connecting the dots

Seeing their expressions as they first concentrate, then search, then connect — it almost always follows with surprise and then delight!

And the great thing is… the “homework” is done as you move through your day!

🪣 Waiting at the tap for a water bucket
🐴 Going to fetch your horse from the field
🧽 Lifting your saddle onto your horse
🍳 Cooking your tea

The opportunities are endless — no special equipment needed. You’re simply moving through your day in ways that benefit your body and your riding — taking little or no extra time.

👉 Follow me for more movement tips that will transform your body and riding.

21/10/2025

💡 One tip I give many riders is to allow the neck to be relaxed, and keep checking it stays that way.

After 25 years as a therapist, I know so many injuries and progressive wear-and-tear injuries are preventable.

When the neck is tense and restricted, it changes how the entire body moves.

Biomechanically, if the neck tightens, the back has to tense to compensate.
Then the hind limbs and stifle joints have to move slightly sideways to get around that restriction above.

🦵 Imagine your knee having to shift sideways with every step — over time, pain builds, and if movement isn't corrected, extra wear and tear will occur.

The altered movement spans the entire body, leading to back and neck pain.

When you look at the picture of the horse darting back and then ridden in this way, it isn’t just the physical way this affects the horse’s body — it's psychological.

A prey animal held in a flight position is experiencing tension and stress.

When a trainer forces a horse into a round frame that they aren’t physically or conformationally ready for, it causes real physical and emotional strain.

✨ Want to learn how to prevent injuries in your own and your horse’s body?
Follow me for more movement insights.

Drawing credit: Sandy Rabinowitz / Dressage Today

17/10/2025

You don’t have to feel stuck in your body.
Change is possible, even with a busy life.⁠

🪑 Stiff hips
🏇 A collapsing core
💻 Tension that shows up in your back, neck, hands…

Your body is highly changeable.
You’re not broken — you’ve adapted.

The way you sit, move, stand and hold yourself all day shows up in the saddle.⁠
Your body changes based on what you do most — whether that’s hours at your screen or repetitive manual work. ⁠

That leads to some areas becoming weak while others overwork.
And that imbalance often causes the aches and pains you feel — as specific areas take on too much pressure from your postural shifts.⁠

With the right movements, you can restore your body, your alignment, and ease aches and pains — both in daily life and in the saddle.
No need to put time aside, no gym equipment needed — it works with your life.⁠

Want to ease back pain, free up stiff hips, and improve balance by giving your body what it truly needs?⁠

🎯 That’s exactly what I do in:
▪️ Screen Time to Saddle Time the online course for riders who spend hours at their computer and feel it in their body.⁠

Want to know more?
Comment “SCREEN” below.

14/10/2025

Niggling ache that comes on when you ride or stand?

Is it worse on one side?

You may not realise what thrusting your ribs upwards does to the rest of your body! Many riders do this throughout their day.

Your ribs cover a large area, and when you elevate them, your whole body has to rearrange, which puts a lot of pressure on your lower back. And often this isn’t done in a linear way either — there’s usually a slight twist to one side.

So what can you do?

🏇 Allow your ribs to relax down
🏇 Breathe and let them drop
🏇 Don’t force them down

🧍‍♀️ When you’re standing, try slightly bringing your pelvis straight back so your ribs relax directly over your pelvis.

Practice this throughout your day.

When you do this, it may uncover rounded shoulders and you may feel a bit slouched — that’s because you’ve been lifting your ribs up to hide your true posture underneath.

Another thing to mention is I’ve seen many riders whose saddles didn’t fit them properly, which pushes them to thrust their ribs when they ride.

This habit can also happen when you spend hours working on a computer.

👉 This clip is from my online course Screen Time to Saddle Time, which restores the effects of this type of work on your body and riding — and teaches you how to keep them away.

Comment SCREEN below for the course information 👇

10/10/2025

🧍 The way you move through your day is shaping the way you ride.

Did you know you could be helping your body, riding, and horse throughout your day?

You could be working on your riding, taking little or no extra time as you move through your day.

🚀 At the same time, you could be SUPERPOWERING your sense of feel and body awareness — a rider’s superpower!!

You have taught your body how to get through your day.
And you may think your riding habits are down to luck! Just the set you received when you get in the saddle.

However, your daily habits shape your riding and position, the way you use your body, and how connected you are to parts of your body when you ride.

I rebuilt myself through movement after considerable injury through my daily movement.

And this is how I coach riders to really get to the root cause of their riding problems whilst helping their body. By giving their body the specific movements they need.

Meeting your body where it’s at makes it more ready for the saddle.
And more in tune and in control of your body whilst you’re going about your day.

Okay, go look in a mirror — stand your normal way, don’t try to correct anything.
Do you notice any of these habits?

👇 Tell me below.

08/10/2025

Ever wondered why you have certain riding habits or struggles?

🎲 Think they are just down to chance?

🚧 Can’t seem to get past certain ones?

😳 What if you’re silently creating them all day long?

Injuries and postural changes often build quietly over time —
until the aches, stiffness, and difficulties performing certain movements show up.

Your body changes from how you overuse, misuse, or don’t use it.

💡 The good news is
Your body is very adaptable.

You can start restoring it through your daily movements
taking little or no extra time
while supercharging your feel and body awareness.

🪑🐎 If you’re an online equestrian spending hours at a desk and want to undo the effects of “office posture” on your body and riding, and keep them away.

My online course “Screen Time to Saddle Time” will do just that!

⬇️ Comment SCREEN below for details!

01/10/2025

👐 Are your shoulders affecting your hands more than you realise?

👉 Shoulder tipping forward?
👉 One side lifting higher?
👉 Or maybe one arm has a mind of its own?

Your shoulder development and mobility have a big impact on the way you use your hands and therefore your rein contact, coordination, and balance.

One muscle involved in the movement of your shoulder blade spans all the way down to your pelvis.

Everything is connected, so stiff, inflexible shoulders also affect your seat.

🤔Think about it… how much variety of movement do your shoulders get daily? Or do they rarely go beyond keyboard height?

This exercise is super easy to fit into your day, and it also helps with your coordination and body awareness!

✅ Grab a couple of minutes here and there.

⚠️ Take it slow and gentle. Don’t force it.

⚠️ If overhead feels too hard at first, no problem, just do the movement with the arm in the lower position and gradually build up to overhead.

This is just one exercise from my work that fits into your life, improves your riding, and helps your body!

Tell me what you noticed after doing this exercise ⬇️

27/09/2025

Ever wondered why your contact feels inconsistent?

The horse should be able to follow the bit, not be forced into it. This drawing shows that beautifully.

Were you aware → your entire body is involved in how you use your hands?

Consider that:
• Hip tension
• A stiff ankle
• A shoulder that lifts

Every habit in your body filters through the reins (like the red arrow in the drawing).

👋What makes a great rider isn’t just their position it’s their sense of feel. And your sense of body awareness plays a huge role in this.

And you could be improving this through your daily movement taking no extra time.

🏇 Each horse body needs developing at its own pace. To develop their whole body. For a gradual, balanced connection.

⚠️ Rushed training = injuries + shorter careers.

🐎 A horse’s way of going should reflect its body and mind’s readiness, not a trainer’s timeline.

Beware of trainers lacking in knowledge, forcing the horse into a round frame. That they aren’t ready for physically or capable of functionally, they’re being held like a gadget.

My online course Screen Time to Saddle Time. For equestrians who spend hours at a computer. Helps you naturally increase your sense of feel, improve posture, and bring better habits into the saddle.

👉 Investing in yourself and your awareness — the benefits ripple down to your horse.

Comment “Screen” below and I’ll send you the course details. ⬇️

Drawing by Sandy Rabinowitz/dressage today

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