Better Rider Project
Lissanthea Taylor
- …
Better Rider Project
Lissanthea Taylor
- …
Simulator Training for Rider Balance and Body Control
Give yourself a chance to focus on yourself and practice the skills you need to master your position and effectiveness in the saddle.
Free Your Mind to Feel Your Body
Imagine your riding teacher says something like "soften your lower back, but keep your core engaged, lengthen your spine without tensing, and allow your seat to follow the horse while staying completely still” to try to help you get the most out of your body and your horse in a lesson.
No matter how skilled and well-meaning your instructor is, the predictable result gained from that kind of direction is confusion on the part of the rider. Confused riders become disorganised riders who don’t know how to move and use their bodies at all, and often, the horse ends up just as muddled too!
As a physiotherapist, I’ve always aimed to be scientific in the way I help people recover from pain and injury, and return to thoughtless and fearless movement. Many years ago, as a student, we learned the scientific principles that guide people to develop automatic skills and movements, using repetition and focussed practice. We had an assignment to teach our fellow students how to juggle, using these principles, and all those years ago I remember thinking “how do we do that with riding?”
Unlike tennis or golf athletes, riders can’t repeat movements hundreds of times on the horse to perfect their timing and movement patterns, so how do we get enough practice to truly know the skills of riding in our body?
Only Perfect Practice Becomes Permanent
The usual process of learning to ride is based on repetition and practice, grounded in traditions from the military.
New recruits at the Spanish Riding School are lunged daily on highly trained school horses to develop a “good seat” and learn how to move their body correctly in each of the gaits to set the foundation for timing and effective application of the aids.
These riders are supervised at all times with “eyes on the ground”, and get constant feedback to refine their physical skills. Once they progress to riding independently, their bodies have already developed “feel” for correct movement and balance.
I know this was nothing like how I learned to ride as an Aussie kid in the 80’s. I was lucky to learn by trial and error (and some vague instruction from the older kids that lived round the corner), belting around on wild ponies, falling off as often as I stayed on!
When I re-learned to ride as an adult, after a long break, it really became apparent to me that practice doesn’t make perfect, if you are not really sure of what movement you are actually trying to do.
The Search to Solve the Skills Gap
The questions I had at university about learning skills and missing body knowledge really haunted me as I started riding again. In the clinic I spent my days carefully helping people to connect to their bodies and feel the movements that they struggled with, before working on any strength exercises or pilates.
I went to the gym, and I was strong, but I couldn’t find the movements that my horse needed to give effective aids and stay balanced. This seemed even more important with the recent questions being raised about our social license to ride and welfare issues stemming from training conflict, especially if that comes from rider’s position, timing and body awareness.
Luckily for me, as a physiotherapist, I had all the tools to try to fix myself. I sat and kneeled on a ball, lay on rollers for balance training, used theraband to re-create some of the feel that I needed on my horse. I released my diaphragm and practiced my breathing, and still I saw photos of myself and my heels were definitely NOT down!
I could pass every assessment test I developed for riders, I could deadlift my own body weight and I still couldn’t find the feel that would make me a better rider.
The Skill-Building Solution
Finally, I found my heart horse, Sven, who’s helped me to test and develop my skills in the saddle.
He is the first “Joker” horse simulator in Australia, who has a spring-loaded platform for the saddle that helps you feel if you’re straight and effective as you make him move in the way that a horse would move you.
His nordic name is a nod to being “flat packed” like he’s from IKEA, so he’s transportable from our base in the Yarra Valley to wherever riders need us.
Sven gives riders a chance to feel their balance and how their body moves when there’s no horse there to compensate for asymmetries and imbalances.
He gives you a chance to experiment with your posture and movement to find the correct position of balance, and observe how you hold your breath or grip with different muscles to stay in the saddle.
Simulator Advantages
Riding a spring-based horse simulator has many advantages over other types of physical training for riders:
- You can get feedback and guidance to correct your position in the saddle as you move, and focus only on your body without worrying about the horse. Using small bands, balls and physical support helps you to learn the movement patterns that you may have never felt before, and unlock your horse’s best performance on the arena.
- You can feel how your body responds to challenges like bouncing, and how well your body copes with this important part of horse movement.
- You can feel what happens when you twist, look sideways or shift your weight. Learning how to control your body in this way is essential for transitions, lateral work and keeping the poles up on a twisty jumping course.
- You can see how still your hands are as you move in different gaits, and get feedback and practice to feel what your hips and pelvis need to do to develop a better contact.
- You can feel the difference in your balance and alignment after doing certain stretches and mobilisations, so that you can clearly see the benefit to doing exercises at home and in the gym.
- You can test out some of your higher level sensory skills like timing yourself against a metronome to see if you can keep optimal stride rhythm without your horse for help.
As a physiotherapist, I’ve found that tools like a simulator help you learn skills more efficiently by clearly understanding the movement needed and making it happen, rather than hoping you’ll be able to connect the dots as you ride more.
A simulator shows you where your weak links are, gives you accurate feedback when you make positive changes and set you up for success in lessons where you also have to think about aids and horse control.
Copyright 2025 "Better Rider Project"
The Better Rider Project rides on the traditional lands of the Wurundjeri People of the Kulin nation, and recognise their traditional custodianship of this land.