Rider performance

The Equine Therapy Centre offers monthly Rider Performance Clinics in conjunction with Russell Guire of Centaur Biomechanics. The Clinics consist of individual 90 minute appointments with osteopath, Liz Launder, who uses her skill in postural assessment in order to help riders find the key to improving their position and effectiveness on the horse. Instant visual feedback is provided by Russell Guire of Centaur Biomechanics using video software. Riders come to us to tackle aspects of their riding that have failed to improve despite regular instruction or address specific problems such as pain following cross country, inability to cope with a new, larger moving horse or a chronic asymmetry. As riders we usually know exactly what we should be doing but our body fails to deliver due to problems such as muscle asymmetry, pain, poor core stability or a combination.  The clinics offer a detailed assessment of your posture on and off the horse and give you practical advice as to exercise and therapy which you can use to make real changes in your riding.

For further details of what the appointment entails, please download a Rider Performance Clinic flyer here.

The clinics were used by the Junior Event Squad prior to their European championships in 2009 and we have watched many of our ‘pupils’ go from strength to strength since.

Clinic dates for 2011/2012 are as follows:

• 2011: November 22nd, December 15th

• 2012: January 26th, February 23rd, March 26th, April 30th

“I was impressed at just how revealing the video is. When you see it on the screen with an annotated computer image, things become very obvious! Liz was very helpful I telling me what I have to do to get it right. I was given a series of off-horse exercises to do as homework”

Nick Ransford, Warwickshire

“The assessment is a really fascinating process that improves riders awareness and understanding of their posture and the impact it has on the horse and ultimately on performance”

Lizzel Winter, Junior Event Team Trainer

“As the horn went for me at the Europeans, I sat up and thought ‘Posture’!”

Dani Evans, Individual Silver Medallist in the Junior European Eventing Championships, Waregem, Belgium