Rider Biomechanics
Improving the Horse Rider's Seat, Posture & Balance

Sports biomechanics studies how athletes move, lift, carry, push & pull.  They research and improve balance, timing  & movement and improve sports performance.

Equine biomechanics analyses the horse's movement, balance & footfall.  Rider biomechanics improves the horse rider's balance, seat, posture & movement and it affect on the horse.

For the beginner - it might help just staying on!  For the professional, it might mean fine tuning movement & improving balance, co-ordination and fluidity of movement during the highest level dressage movements, complicated turns & jumps for the eventer, and helping every horse riding sport improve performance.

Rider Biomechanics can improve the rider's legs, how we sit and how our balance affects the horse.  We can tell you why the horse performs better on one rein than the other, why the horse falls in, cuts corners and falls on the forehand, and by simple rider adjustments improve the horse's entire performance.

Biomechanics studies how we walk, how we sit, how we move, how we lift & the engineering forces that work in the body.

Sports Biomechanics

Sports Biomechanics specifically looks at sports and athletes.  We might be assessing how a runner's foot hits the ground, or studying a video analysis of a cricketer's bowling action, a golfer's swing or the lifting action of a weight lifter.

 For riders 

The seat and posture of the rider has been studied for many thousands of years, and written and recorded for nearly as long.  The science of biomechanics allows us to fine tune this study to a remarkable level looking at how the rider's position puts the horse out of balance, makes a horse crooked, or how the rider's position affects the straightness of the jumping line, or the balance in a piaffe.

With today's remarkable equipment, measurements can be taken to provide analysis & recommendations for even the most minute movement.

Teaching Biomechanics - making it simple

The art of good teaching is to find a way to take what is now a highly complicated science and give that knowledge in a way that anyone can understand.

We can make the most sophisticated tests be as simple as:

Do you carry your backpack over your left or right shoulder?  Is your left earring or right earring closer to the ground?

Making science simple is the role of the modern teacher of sports biomechanics.

Not just for humans...

Biomechanics does not only apply to humans, it is also the scientific study of any living mechanical thing, such as a greyhound, a race horse, or how a cheetah runs. 

Study in these areas is obviously highly important to the racing and greyhound industry, and there are world class specialists working specifically in this field alone.

Disabled, Elderly & Injured

A large area of study in the science of Biomechanics works hand in hand with engineers, working on developing artificial limbs, or working with neurologists to start to get hands & feet moving again.

Very different from the science of Sports Biomechanics, it can be one of the most rewarding fields, and is highly sought after by riders who have artificial limbs and want to ride in a Therapeutic Riding Program, or Riding for Disabled.

Studying Biomechanics as a Science

For many years biomechanics in its various forms has been offered as a subject within science degrees.

However it has now become such a broad and respected area of study within itself, and now a large employer of people around the world that the need for trained biomechanists has seen biomechanics degrees being offered at several universities around the world.

 Posture Coaching

From the airline company wanting their staff to have elegant posture, to the mining company ensuring safe lifting practices - posture coaches & specialists help business & industry around the world assessing occupational health and safety issues with posture & lifting.

Sitting at desks for long periods, carrying backpacks, hunched over laptops, even how airline staff pick up the coffee pot!  All are modern issues being addressed biomechanics specialists in this new rapidly-growing science.