The Equestrian Physio

The Equestrian Physio It's time you showed up for them too...

🗓️TEP Training opens doors in Sept.👇

🏋️‍♀️ Rider-specific strength, rehab & performance systems that actually work.
🎓 MScPT | 300+ coached | 200K+ riders strong.
🧡 Your horse shows up every day for you.

06/23/2026

Some days it feels like “hip flexor tightness” is an absolute epidemic among equestrians. But it’s not exactly what most of us think…

Feeling muscle tightness, especially in your hip flexors or hamstrings, is more about perception and protection than actual physical stiffness. It can be caused by prolonged positions, lack of movement, or stress, and often doesn’t reflect true muscle tension or shortness. The sensation of tightness can be a protective mechanism your nervous system uses to help prevent you from going into ranges where you may injury yourself. So, if you lack intrinsic strength in a certain muscle group, especially strength in outer hip ranges (where we spend most of our time when in the saddle), your body may generate these feelings of tightness as a form of protection.

So we need to rethink how we manage tightness! Endless stretching isn’t actually going to help much, as it’s not a “length” problem. Instead, we need to address the underlying contributors, and that means helping our nervous system to TRUST our muscles can handle the load we’re asking of them. That looks a lot more like strengthening, especially in the outer ranges.

Isolated hip flexor exercises, like the ones demo’d here, and general strengthening are both necessary for overcoming feelings of tightness. Do yourself a favour, and skip the stretching for a couple weeks, and load it instead.

Looking for more? The TEP Training App helps you build control, not just chase flexibility through tailored, end range movements built into each program. Exactly what you need for control in the saddle. Check out the my bio for the waitlist to join!

06/22/2026

Riding takes strength, coordination, and a surprising amount of physical resilience. Most riders figure this out the hard way.

But sure, the horse does all the work 🤷‍♀️
06/20/2026

But sure, the horse does all the work 🤷‍♀️

06/19/2026

The Gorilla Row is an underrated but super effective rowing variation—especially for equestrians.

It’s performed in a hip hinge position, meaning your hips are pushed back like in a deadlift, your spine is long, and your torso is parallel (or close) to the ground. From there, you alternate pulling two kettlebells or dumbbells from the floor in a controlled, steady rhythm—one arm rows while the other stabilizes.

What makes it valuable for riders isn’t just that it works your back and arms (which it does). It’s that it challenges your core stability in a dynamic way. You have to resist rotation and side-bending through the trunk while maintaining a strong, stable hip hinge. That’s anti-rotation, anti-flexion, and bracing all at once—exactly the kind of control we need in the saddle when the horse moves underneath us.

Because you’re rowing one side at a time from the floor, it also builds awareness and strength side-to-side, helping identify (and address) any asymmetries. For riders who often have a “stronger side,” this can be key to balancing out strength and control.

The Gorilla Row also reinforces postural awareness under fatigue. Holding a hinge position without collapsing is a great way to build endurance in the posterior chain (think glutes, hams, and back)—critical for keeping your position strong, especially during long rides or tough jump sets.

Bottom line? If you want a pulling movement that builds upper body strength and challenges the kind of trunk control that actually transfers to riding, Gorilla Rows are a solid bet.

Want more like this? Hit the link in my bio and jump on the email list for rider-specific strength tips.

06/16/2026

Building new habits isn’t for the faint of heart. There are plenty of reasons why starting off-horse training feels hard, but a MASSIVE part of it is simply the challenge of adding something new and uncomfortable to an already full life.

Think about it—your schedule is packed as it is. Adding something NEW means either letting something else give or building solid strategies to stay on track.

It takes time for habits to feel effortless(ish) and self-sustaining. Until then, we NEED accountability checks to keep moving forward.

If you need a little help, here are a few things I recommend to my clients:

🔸 ACCOUNTABILI-BUDDY – Get a friend from the barn, work, or gym to do the program with you.

🔸 BLOCK THE DAMN CALENDAR – If it’s not scheduled, it won’t happen. Book your next six workouts and see how it goes.

🔸 VISUALIZE – Don’t just hope the workout happens. Picture when, where, and how you’ll do it. Running through the details in your head makes follow-through easier.

🔸 HABIT STACKING – Pair workouts with something routine. Bring gear to the barn and train there, or tack it onto breakfast—whatever works.

Most importantly, give yourself grace. Building habits takes TIME. It’s okay if it feels hard. It’s okay if there are false starts. Just keep showing up. You’ll get there. ❤️

06/14/2026

And number three is the real biggie...

This is for the lovely gentleman who came up to me between squat sets to tell me my knees were caving, the guy who slid into my DMs to tell me the arch in my back while I bench is going to overdevelop my lower pecs (or *pactorals if you use his spelling), and that my torso lean was stressing my low back and I should be lifting lighter.

And this is for ALL the other bros out there who have sent ANY kind of unsolicited advice to any gym goer putting themselves out there on the internet to share something they're proud of.

I can't believe this still has to be said in 2026, but don't give out unsolicited advice, no matter how well intentioned (especially to people who know more than you✌️).

06/12/2026

You’re allowed to have barriers.

You’re ALLOWED to worry and struggle with the fact that you don’t have access to a gym within 10 miles of your house, or you can’t afford the membership.

You’re ALLOWED to struggle with the fact that with 6 horses to ride today, 3 kids to get to school and a mother in law to take care of that personal time is a precious commodity.

You’re allowed to sit down at the end of the day and have a GENUINE internal struggle that you KNOW you would benefit from working out, but summoning the “willpower” is like slogging through molasses in January.

Limitations and barriers are real. Ignoring them with bu****it like “we all have the same 24 hours” is not the way.

But at the same time, to quote from a recent podcast, “The prize for fighting for your limitations is you get to keep them”.

Limitations are allowed. The struggle is allowed. What’s NOT allowed is shutting your brain off to the possibility of “what if?”. When dealing with barriers, getting CURIOUS is the real superpower.

“What if I just did one set?”
“What if I just bought some bands and did exercises around the barn?”
“What if I cut my ride by 10 min to fit in a few exercises for myself?”

Instead of saying, “I can’t because…”, get CREATIVE and start brainstorming all the crazy and fantastic ways you COULD! And you might surprise yourself with how much possibility there actually was.

I knew I wasn’t going to have all the equipment I needed for this workout. The weekend at the cottage meant I was squeezing this one in. But instead of seeing the lack of med ball or squat rack as a barrier, I got curious and started thinking, “What could I sub in for med ball?“, “What can I do chin ups off around here?“. And while it may not have been perfect, it was 1000 times better than doing nothing.

Curiosity and creativity are superpowers. If you’re struggling with barriers, just taking a moment to switch on your curiosity can make all the difference in the world

06/11/2026

You don’t need hundreds or steps or a weighted vest to build better bone density, but you DO need the right kind of load.

Contrary to popular belief, walking, running, and even riding, while great for general activity, are relatively inefficient for stimulating bone growth.🤷‍♀️ That’s because bone adapts best to short bursts of HIGH strain, high strain rate, and mechanical novelty (not long, repetitive motion).

Studies show that bones become desensitized to loading after ~50–100 reps (Rubin & Lanyon, 1984; Robling & Turner, 2002), meaning that the first minute of walking does more for your skeleton than the next thirty. So if you’ve only got ~60 reps that “count,” MAKE them count.

Research consistently shows that high-impact loading (like jumping) and high-intensity resistance training (like lifting ≥80% 1RM) are far more osteogenic (bone developing) than low-impact endurance work (Turner, 1998; Robling et al., 2001).

It’s not just the gravity or impact either. Muscle forces PULLING on the bone during heavy lifting also generate the localized strain needed to build bone.

The LIFTMOR trial (Watson et al., 2015) backs this up, and was also instrumental in showing that not ONLY is lifting heavy with osteoporosis safe (when done progressively), it's incredibly beneficial too. Postmenopausal women with low bone mass safely improved spine and hip bone density using progressive, supervised high-load strength and impact training.

So no, more steps or longer hacks aren’t the answer🤷‍♀️. If we want to prevent bone loss or rebuild for those with osteopenia/porosis, we NEED to be impacting, loading and pulling on our bones. Playing it safe with "low impact" exercise just doesn't cut it.

Now that doesn't mean running, or any other form of fitness is BAD for bones! These forms of fitness have so many other benefits!
But don't fall for the weighted vest/more steps=bone density narrative. We need both cardio, impact, AND decent loading for overall health❤️

06/10/2026

It’s not just ribbons. Not just rankings. Not even just rehab.

We train for those quiet wins...the first pain-free canter after weeks of careful loading. The moment your horse leans into the bridle again with trust. The strength in your own legs when you hold your position through a powerful transition. The shared exhale when everything finally clicks.❤️

But we also train for US.

We train to take up SPACE.
To be POWERFUL in bodies that are told to shrink.
To REFUSE to step back or play small, when everything in this world is telling us to back down.
To REWRITE what strength looks like in this sport.

We train for resilience...for capacity... for the kind of confidence that doesn’t depend on the scoreboard...for the sheer AUDACITY to believe we belong in every arena we step into, on and off the horse.

Sometimes progress looks like personal bests. Other times, it looks like showing up with shaky hands and doing the hard thing anyway🤷‍♀️.

So if the world is telling you today's achievements were small, or meaningless... they're not. Todays accomplishment, no matter HOW small, was another step toward becoming unshakeable.

Keep going❤️. We’re not just training for performance, here. We’re training for PRESENCE. For POWER, and the right to take up space.

If this kind of training speaks to you, you’ll feel right at home inside the TEP Training App.💪
This is where we train with intention, rebuild with care, and build the kind of resilience that lasts.
More info (and your first step forward) is waiting for you at the link in my bio!

06/09/2026

If you’ve ever struggled to stay balanced in quick transitions, felt unsteady landing from a jump, or lost control when your horse spooked, balance likely isn't the only thing you need to work on...

POWER is about how fast you can produce force–simply force x velocity. Strength is important, but in riding, reactivity, control, and quick adaptations matter just as much. And training power movements can be a key piece to your overall routine.

Plyometrics are one type of power movement to train your muscles and tendons to absorb and release energy fast, just like when you land a jump, adjust to your horse’s movement, or handle a sudden acceleration. Depth jumps, single-leg hops, and hurdle jumps help improve stability, elasticity, and impact absorption, keeping you in sync with your horse.

Ballistic training builds explosive strength by maximizing speed through a full range of motion. Kettlebell swings, medicine ball slams, and jump squats train you to produce force quickly; but really, ANY regular strength movement, done at a lower weight but with speed and intention, can become a ballistic exercise.

Reactive strength helps you adjust instantly to unpredictable movements, like a spook or a trip. Quick, elastic movements like pogo jumps, depth landings, and hurdle hops train your body to react fast, so you stay stable through sudden shifts and quick turns.

And power isn’t just for riding, either...it’s PROTECTIVE as we age. We lose fast-twitch muscle fibers faster than slow-twitch ones, which can make falls and injuries more likely as you can’t react to things as fast. Without power, it’s harder to sit that spook, recover from a misstep, or even get your foot out fast enough to avoid a fall after tripping. But we can help keep these fibers active. IF we TRAIN them.

If you’re not training power, you’re leaving a gap in your strength. Want ideas? Drop a comment and I’d be happy to chat!

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