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.

06/06/2026

If you flop around like a dead fish every time you try to sit the trot or absorb your horse’s bigger gaits, you’re not alone. Often, the missing link is what’s happening through your lower back and pelvis.

Think of everything from your hips to your low back as belonging to your horse’s back. This part of your body’s job is to absorb and adapt to the motion coming up from the horse.
Everything from your ribcage up is following the horse’s head and neck. Two separate systems, not always in sync.

So, to ride well, ESPECIALLY in gaits like sitting trot, collected canter, or extended gaits, you need the ability to disassociate those two areas.

Meaning: your lower back needs to move independently from your upper back, without one spilling into the other.

This requires a high degree of mobility in the low back and pelvis so you can follow the horse’s motion fluidly.

But mobility alone isn’t enough.! You also need strength in that same area to actually CONTROL and ABSORB those forces, so you’re not just getting tossed around.

If you lack mobility, you’ll hit your range limit and compensate elsewhere (bouncing butt and flailing trunk). If you lack strength, the force coming up from the horse will overpower you, and you’ll lose stability.

And your horse will always adjust their movement to avoid discomfort, so riders slamming down or collapsing through the seat will lead to choppy gaits, bracing, and even asymmetrical movement.

So if you’re struggling to sit the trot, or keep getting pitched in bigger gaits, it’s worth checking in on your trunk mobility and control. The ability to stay soft and look like you're doing "nothing" only comes from being mobile, strong, and adaptable where it counts.

Want rider-specific strength tips like this in your inbox? Every Monday I send out a TRAINING TIPS email to my list! Join through the link in my bio!

06/05/2026

Lemme tell you a story...

When I did my first horse trials upgrading from Training to Preliminary (arguably one of the bigger upgrades in the eventing spectrum), I was halfway around that cross country course before I came to the STARK and scary realization that I did not have the cardio fitness to be out there.

Halfway around, I was completely gassed. I could not catch my breath, my body was on overdrive, and I had a very alarming "oh s**t" moment in my head.

Thankfully, I was on a beautifully honest and genuine mare who dutifully carried me around with only one runout (steering fault on my part), while I was flopping around like a sack of potatoes on her back.

I was NOT physically prepared for that test of my cardio system.

✅I had the riding skill to make that upgrade.
✅ I had the experience to make that upgrade.
✅ I had the schooling and the horse to make that upgrade.
❌ I did NOT have the fitness to make that upgrade.

But I don't realize I didn't have the fitness for that upgrade until I was already IN IT.

And how many times have you seen it?

Riders who get bouncy and harsh and balance off their horse's face as they get fatigued around a course or a test?

Riders making poor choices because they can't think when they're completely out of breath?

Riders inappropriately matched with their mounts because they're not strong enough to handle them? Or even because they don't have the mobility to accommodate their movement? Or their width?

I'm not saying there's a universal test that would apply equally to all levels and disciplines, but for those of us that do this work, it's not that difficult to pick apart the demands of a sport at a certain level and come up with mobility, strength and endurance tests to match the demands.

And when there is so much on the line, from both a safety perspective as well as a horse welfare side, is this something we could implement and normalize across the industry, even unofficially, to help riders stay safe, build confidence and perform better?

Just my thoughts, but I'd love to hear yours! Let's have a (respectful!) chat in the comments with your 2¢!

06/04/2026

Sure Jaye, you could do that. OR... ⬇️
..you could actually BUILD your body out of the saddle, developing the strength, power, and endurance that directly improves your performance in it.
..you could get CONSISTENT with your training, exposing your tissues to more than they’ll ever face in the tack, building resilience and lowering your risk of injury.
..you could STOP relying on your horse as your gym, and instead show up as the strong, capable partner they deserve, without having to “get fit” at their expense.
..you could BALANCE your body by training both sides evenly, improving control and symmetry in ways riding alone never will.
..you could feel EMPOWERED by what your body can do, building such a surplus of strength and capacity that riding becomes the easiest part of your week, freeing you up to focus on the skill, not just the survival.

Or, Jaye, you could stay crooked, tired, and one bad move away from another injury.

Because your body only adapts to what you ask of it.

And riding, alone, will never make you fit enough to ride well.

Totally up to you🤷‍♀️

(Also... so you trained 200 horses a year? I'm sure that was super high quality training.)

06/04/2026

Comment TRIAL or head straight to the link in my bio if you'd like to help a girl out✌️

I've got some exciting news🤗. I've been quieter on here the last few weeks because, to be honest, I've been neck deep in building something new out for TEP Training (and this is literally a one woman show, so sometimes social media takes a back seat, lol).

Buuutttt... drumroll please🥁, it's ALMOST done, I think it works and I'm so excited to share it with you all!

You've asked for it... it's taken me a while to have the bandwidth to commit to building it,... but a FREE TRIAL version of the TEP Training app is just about ready to roll!

This will be a 7 day glimpse into a curated version of the TEP Training app, offering the first week of several different programs, a sample library of on-demand rehab, travel and mobility workouts, select videos and articles from the education hub, and a dedicated Trial Crew Forum to ask questions, submit videos for feedback, and support our community!

It's been a BEAST to build (since it involved me rebuilding almost all the existing stuff too, lol), but I'm so excited to finally bring it to you!

HOWEVER, before I make this available to all y'all, I need a few of you to help me break it😂.

Listen, I've been through it backwards and frontwards, tried all the different steps myself, and I *think* it's ready to go, but invariably someone will always come along with a detail I missed. A typo, a glitch, an email or instruction that doesn't make sense.

So I need some help! If you'd like to be one of the first to give this trial a try, with the caveat that it will be messy and I fully expect you to find things that aren't working as they should, come along as a beta tester!

Comment TRIAL or check the link in my bio to submit your email and name, and depending on how many people are interested, I'll pick out a handful of you to comb through this thing for me:)

As always, than you for being in this with me🧡

LinkDM *023*

Happy June friends❤️
06/01/2026

Happy June friends❤️

05/31/2026

Comment WARM UP for your free guide!
______

But also, WHY are we like this? 🥸

Listen, there is absolutely nothing wrong with devoting time and energy to getting your horse thoroughly prepped. We've been brought up this way by the industry, and a lot of it comes down to safety and horsemanship, so it makes total sense. Grooming, equipment care, feeling over their backs and legs, warming blankets, stretching routines, the basics like sweeping up and picking p**p.

I GET that after all of that, it's hard to imagine spending a few extra minutes warming up yourself before swinging your leg into the tack.

But what if a 5 minute routine to prep your OWN body was the difference between a "meh" ride and an "it's finally clicked!" ride?

Take it from TEP Training member Olivia: "...A few minutes of stretching in my horse's stall before I got on. The results?? WOW. My toes stayed facing forward through all the gaits, my lower leg felt way more solid, I was ACTUALLY using my lower leg to cue my horse, and inside leg to outside rein just started working. Who knew?!"

Every👏 other👏 sport👏 normalizes warming up before participation, but somehow we overlook our own obligation in equestrian sport? And when you stack everything we already do to get the horse ready on top of the overwhelming amount of advice floating around about warm-ups, it feels so much easier to just skip it altogether.

So I decided to make it simple for y'all❤️. I built the FREE Rider Warm-Up Guide to break down the non-negotiables from the nice-to-haves so you can prep your body exactly how you need to without wasting your precious barn time.

Comment WARM UP for your own copy! 🧡

LinkDM *022*

05/29/2026

Actually, I'd love it if just eating and riding could be my life😂. Coffee, horses, gym and eating... sounds like a pretty great party ✌️

How do YOU fit it all in? It's no secret that we ask A LOT of our schedules. I'm often on here beating the drum on the f...
05/21/2026

How do YOU fit it all in? It's no secret that we ask A LOT of our schedules.

I'm often on here beating the drum on the fact that as equestrians, we have an obligation to show up as fit, capable partners for our horses. In order to do that, that requires some form of off horse training to develop our physical capacity, because as I have said many times in the past, riding and barn chores are not enough to build the fitness required to be an effective rider (and you can check out many of my other posts for the physiological reasons why).

But KNOWING it is our responsibility to show up as fit, capable partners for our horses, and finding the time and strategies to actually DO IT are two separate things.

So I asked current members of TEP training how they do it.

What tips or strategies or hacks or non-negotiables do they have to make it all work. And the answers did not disappoint.

1. REMEMBER THE 'WHY': tie your actions to something bigger than yourself, whether that is your responsibility to the horse, health, longevity, your family, whatever it is. Keep that front of mind.

2. REMOVE FRICTION: block your calendar, make your lunch the night before, set out your gym clothes, invest in home equipment. The less friction you have, the easier it's going to be.

3. DON'T RELY ON WILLPOWER: Willpower is not a real thing. It is fleeting and irregular. Don't rely on it, instead, outsource your accountability to friends, family, calendar blocks, whatever works.

4. PLAN FOR THE WORST DAY, NOT THE BEST: Our schedules rarely go to plan. Knowing exactly how to modify, what to drop, and having a plan A/B/C/D in your pocket is crucial for maintaining consistency. It's not about getting it perfect every day, it's about doing what you can and continuing to show up.

What would YOU add to this list?

What are your "non-negotiable" for fitting it all in? Drop it in the comments and let's share our best tips!

05/19/2026

Comment SYMMETRY and I’ll send you the sign up for my new FREE Rider Symmetry Screen!

We all have that one little performance or position thing we struggle with. That thing our coach says RIDE after RIDE that we never seem to be able to figure out! The hand we like to lean on, the leg that creeps forward, the side that collapses in. But why does it happen?

There’s a lot of layers to it, and even the same problem might stem from different things person to person. But USUALLY it’s some combination of strength, mobility, or body control deficits, or an imbalance side to side, that’s driving it (barring other stuff like saddle fit). And if we can uncover WHAT those things are out of the saddle, we can address them to start fixing ourselves IN the saddle.

And that’s what the TEP Symmetry Screen is designed to help us uncover. It’s is a series of quick mobility and strength checks that dig into the real reasons behind things like:

🔸Why your lower leg won’t stay still...
🔸 Why you’re always hanging on one rein...
🔸 Why your ankles give out...
🔸 or why you always shift to one side in the saddle...

The goal here ISN’T to aim for perfection, but to recognize where we may be falling short, so we can make a PLAN to better ourselves, for our own performance and the welfare of our partnership with the horse.

This screen helps you breakdown and analyze your mobility and strength joint by joint, limb by limb, and movement by movement, so you can stop guessing and actually take action on some of these issues.

Ready to get started? Comment SYMMETRY or check the link in my bio to sign up! As a bonus, share this with a friend to do the screen together (and commiserate with your results, lol)

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Guelph
Guelph, ON
N1C0A1

Website

https://www.theequestrianphysio.ca/tep-training-app-landing-page

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