Better Rider Project

12/03/2026

I always feel incredibly grateful to be welcomed into the beautiful worlds people create through their work and passion. Thank you for having Sven and I in the studio this morning Jess From Performance Pilates — it was such a joy to see your riders explore their movement with Sven's springs and sensor feedback system.

What I love most about these sessions is how quickly riders realise things about their body that are almost impossible to feel when they’re on a moving horse.

It was also wonderful to see just how clearly your pilates work translated straight into the saddle for everyone. Dedicated practices creates skill!

Judging by the smiles (and the comments!), I think Sven may need to plan another visit soon…

11/03/2026

If you’re riding while thinking about your to-do list… your horse is basically having a conversation with someone who’s scrolling their phone. Awkward.

Riding is communication through the body.
And it only works when you’re fully here — breathing, feeling the rhythm, noticing every stride.

A quiet breath in.
A long breath out.
Suddenly you’re back in the present moment where your horse already lives.

The best thing about horses?
They drag us back into the present whether we like it or not.

So when you get in the saddle… leave the chaos at the mounting block.

Breathe.
Be here.
Ride every stride.

10/03/2026

There’s usually an anatomical reason for riding traditions like bridging the reins.

It’s not just something riders do because they were told to, it helps connect the hands to the upper back muscles between the shoulder blades, giving the arms a stable base.

When the back does the stabilising, the hands can stay soft and quiet.

In this exercise I use a mini band around the hands to help riders feel that connection: strength through the back, softness through the reins.

When you understand the human body, what we do in the saddle makes sense!

10/03/2026

⬆️ Here’s proof that good photographers are basically magicians.

Huge thanks to for snapping some professional photos of me.

Mark normally photographs horses and riders flying over jumps or galloping across paddock, not people like me who’ve just climbed out of the saddle, roughly brushed their hair, and are waiting to be told how to sit.

I mostly just followed instructions:
“Stand there.”
“Turn slightly.”
“Don’t look so worried”

Somehow Mark turned that into photos that actually look professional.

He insists portrait photography is outside his comfort zone, but I think we can all agree he’s hiding his talents.

So grateful for Mark’s help to build the Better Rider Project, and look good doing it! 🙌

23/01/2026

That’s horses.

They don’t care about your plans, your schedule, or the perfect weather for a great lesson this morning.

Instead, they teach you something most sports never will: patience, perspective, and the ability to redirect effort without resentment.

Billy didn’t need a better rider today — he needed care, time, and some clever duct-tape handicrafts. So that’s what our day became.

The lesson wasn’t lost. It was just different to what I expected, but flexibility and perspective is the key when things don't turn out the way you planed!

06/12/2025

Riding isn’t just staying in the saddle — it’s thinking with your body on a moving animal.

And that’s a really complex skill to learn.

We’re asking the nervous system to coordinate fine-motor movement and timing in body parts that don’t move that way in everyday life… while balancing on half a tonne of horse with its own ideas.

So yes—of course riders feel stuck.

And then we get the learning loop of doom:

➡ riders try harder
➡ coaches repeat cues
➡ everyone gets frustrated

Eventually people start believing:
“I just can’t do this.”
Or worse… “I must not be trying hard enough.”

Here’s the truth 👇
Most riders don’t lack discipline or effort—they’re missing sensory information.

Once riders actually feel what their seatbones are doing, where to pay attention, and get a safe, slow, repeatable experience on a simulator… the body suddenly understands what the brain has been trying to figure out for years.

And then all at once:

✨ the movement makes sense
✨ the pelvis, spine + hips coordinate
✨ riding feels balanced and effective

Not because you magically improved—
but because your brain finally got the data it needed.

That’s what simulator training does:
It turns theory into sensation.
Cues into embodied skill.
“Try harder” into “Oh—THAT feeling!”

If you’ve been stuck, it’s not you.
You just haven’t felt it yet.

https://www.betterriderproject.com/horse-simulator

01/12/2025

What standards of fitness do you hold yourself to?

I posted about rider fitness yesterday, and of course, I had to prove to myself that I was hitting the milestones that I set for myself (phew, I did!)

I like to use the 12-minute distance test which roughly calculates VO2Max when you measure the distance you run or walk in 12 minutes.

I can do 2kms in 12 minutes - on this test, that's slightly above average for my age group.

Here's the twist - I can do this at a relatively low level of exertion. I am not puffing, I could mostly have a conversation and I can still think while I do it.

If I was really pushing it, I suspect I'd be pretty good for my age, but I am most interested in keeping that cognitive and sensory capacity by not being puffed out. I'm saving that for my horse!

Testing yourself is not shame-inducing or judgement-forming, it's just the way we see and track progress, so you're always getting better for the good of your horse.

Try it yourself

The Cooper test, a 12-minute run test, is used by coaches, trainers, and athletes to assess their current fitness and monitor their training progress.

30/11/2025

It's Monday, time for a hot-take on rider fitness training to become "better" in the saddle.

I hate to be the one to tell you that you don't need a rider-specific strength or fitness exercise program, especially if you're just getting started with off-horse training. I know there's plenty of programs you can buy online that promise you'll improve in the saddle, but you'll ride better with any fitness improvements!

Us sedentary "modern" humans need to build more cardiovascular fitness, practice more movement patterns and upgrade our physical capacity overall if we're going to be good dance partners with our horses.

🔥Just decide to start now:

✅ If you're not doing any exercise, start walking faster and get a bit breathless. If you've got yard chores, do them faster so they make you sweat a bit. Move that wheelbarrow with purpose!

🔼 If that's already easy, run. Put on some decent shoes and run 10 steps at a time to start with, walking in between. Jumping and cantering is at least as physically demanding as jogging, so if you're not jogging, perhaps you actually have no business with the jumping?

⏫️ Need more? Go to a park and walk laps up some stairs. Again, get a bit breathless, it's meant to be hard. If you get more breathless in sitting trot, you need to work harder off the horse. Riding should be easier than your other training, so that you've got the ability to feel and communicate with your horse, not wheeze and cough through your lesson.

💪 Want to build strength? Stand up and sit down from your chair x10 times, and do it fast. You just practiced half a circle of rising trot. Did you feel your heart rate increase? Good. Do it again.

⚖️ Need more balance - stand on one leg! You'll notice that one side is better than the other, this is a normal part of human asymmetry, and it is something to train to improve. But it's free and easy to practice this movement pattern and see what you learn.

I can give you all sorts of movement training and skill development drills and practices, on the simulator and on your horse, and exercises off-horse.

They're all better if you've done some fitness basics and developed some more awareness of your body.

I'd prefer that you come to see me as a physio because you've been working on fitness, and found a weakness that might give you some pain, it's a great motivator!

I adore gym training and feeling strong, but that is not a blanket need for everyone. Basic fitness and strength is a basic need- for the good of your horse, as much as for you.

Send a message to learn more

29/11/2025

EVERYDAY LESSONS IN BECOMING BETTER

I was talking with one of my riders this morning about 1% improvements, or "marginal gains" that are the hallmark of becoming "better" over time.

It was lucky I was thinking about them, asI had to practice them today (like it or not).

"Better" might seem like a boring word, like "nice", but better is an achievable standard you can hold yourself to every single day, because there's so many ways to do it.

After I finished in the clinic this morning, I went out for my jumping lesson. It had been a rainy morning, but the sun was shining. Another perfect day to get bucked off, only this time, with a water view, looking out over the sand from a puddle.

How could I still be "better" when I just fell off?

I wasn't hurt, I got back on and finished the lesson.

What were my "better" actions?

1. No negative self-talk: I got back in the saddle, wet and muddy, but this is my choice of what I do with my Saturdays. I might not love this current reality of gritty wet clothes, but if this is what I choose to do, this is still living the dream. I reminded myself of that after I got back in the saddle.

2. Don't blame the horse: this one is hard, given his active participation in the bucks after the tiny cross rail that he jumped weirdly, that unseated me, and that probably gave him reasonable cause to dump me off the side.

Of course, he did the bucking. I promptly sailed over his shoulder into the mud.

BUT thinking about the process and the way that this happened, I can see the blinding obvious rider error in trusting him for even a second, over this tiny fence. He's a good jumper, and a lovely horse, we have nice times together hanging out, mostly me giving him food.

None of that makes him any more dependable and trustworthy jumping over sticks, but it's so stupidly easy for our human brain to delude ourself into a "relationship" that overrides the need to sit up, put my legs on and ride defensively into absolutely everything.

If we humans are genuinely the smarter side of the horse and rider partnership, then becoming a better rider is taking responsibility for the outcomes.

3. It's no big deal: A few friends saw it happen, and given the mud-splattered clothes, it wasn't a secret that we'd parted ways. But for the people that asked "how was your ride", the answer was the same as always - "great" - because any time spent in the saddle is amazing. Becoming better is just practice and repetition, and statistically, this is part of the process.

4. Plan for next time: I don't just "accept" falling off as an inevitable part of every Saturday. I had a bit of a cry on the way home, and I did want to curl up in a ball when I got home, but that isn't any proactive way to become better. I went to the gym, ate a boring, high protein dinner with vegetables (and some chocolate), and watched videos on the "Ready for Trouble" seat with Lucinda Green XC Academy Team. Those videos gave me a plan for my ride tomorrow, with my "cuddling" legs, my "tube" strong and "3/4 of the horse in front of me" - if you want to be safe and strong, I definitely recommend buying this video course.

5. Remember what is working: on the other hand, dressage is going great. According to casual observers (and our awesome coach), we're actually quite fancy in our sand dancing, and he's producing some lovely work quite consistently now. The sum total of what we're doing is good - there's just some hiccups along the way, as there is with anything worth doing.

"Better" is a lifelong process of becoming, my perspective is that the view is much the same from your butt on the sand or from the blue ribbon place on the scoreboard, it's all about the small choices everyday that will get you there.

(video NOT of fall, but last week's proof that we can actually jump successfully, if I sit up and keep my leg on!)

26/11/2025

If you’ve ever hopped off your horse thinking, “Riding is so hard… my body just doesn’t do what I tell it to,” you’re not alone, and there’s many good reasons for it.

Riding isn’t just challenging because horses have their own movement quirks, and are always responding to the world around them. It’s challenging also because the human body comes with “factory settings” that were never designed for skilled riding. And when you understand those built-in quirks, it makes your progress in the saddle even more impressive.

🧠 Your brain doesn’t prioritise your pelvis - except on a horse.
In everyday life, your brain isn't really aware of movement feedback from your pelvis and hips, that's a "dumb" area of the body for gathering information about the world. Then you get in the saddle and suddenly that area is meant to feel, communicate, and finely coordinate with a moving animal. That means you’re literally building brand-new brain pathways as you learn to “feel” with your seat.

💪 Your first safety strategy is to stiffen and hold your breath.
When things feel uncertain, humans instinctively create rigidity. Breath-holding increases pressure in the chest to stabilise the body; great for lifting a couch, terrible for riding. It raises your centre of gravity, tips you forward, and actually makes you less stable.

🦶 Your feet aren’t doing their normal job.
On the ground, your feet collect information with every step. The earth meets your foot, and your brain responds. In the saddle, it’s the opposite: your legs reach down for the stirrups, trying to stabilise against a horse moving underneath you. That’s a completely foreign task for your nervous system.

⚖️ Humans are naturally asymmetrical.
Daily life wires us to favour one side - one hip, one hand, one direction. It’s efficient, but it means we arrive in the saddle with uneven strength, coordination and movement patterns. And yes, that absolutely shows up as wonky circles, uneven transitions, and a horse that feels “different” on each rein.

💡 So if riding feels hard, that’s because it is.
You’re asking your body to do something it was never pre-programmed for, and you’re teaching it a new language of balance, coordination and feel.

That’s what makes great riding so extraordinary… and why training your body matters just as much as training your horse.

22/10/2025

How wonderful to see the value of horses to people’s wellbeing and social health being recognised in billion-dollar terms!

British Equestrian recently commissioned a landmark study to quantify the worth of horses and equestrianism to humans; not through medals or markets, but through the connections we form with them, and the communities they help us build.

So, if anyone ever DARES to question the time, money, or energy you devote to your horses and your sport, you now have evidence to mount your defence!

At the launch of the research, Olympian Becky Moody spoke beautifully about how horses created a space of safety and connection for her — in difficult moments in sport, and in life. It’s no surprise that we remember the special ones we bond with as our “heart horses.”

Of course, this study doesn’t erase the welfare concerns that exist within horse sports but it offers a vital perspective on the mutual value of the horse–human relationship. It reminds us how much poorer we’d be, socially and emotionally, if horses were no longer part of our lives in the ways they are today.

In healthcare, these findings echo ideas from social prescribing — recognising the tangible benefits of time in nature, creative engagement, meaningful relationships, and purposeful activity for both body and brain.

Importantly, this research didn’t measure equine-assisted therapies or structured treatment programs. Instead, it highlighted the everyday value of simply spending time with horses and learning body awareness, collaborating, caring, and often volunteering — all of which make up the fabric of a thriving, connected community.

So, excuse me while I go visit my "wellbeing coach" armed with a pocket full of carrots and a deep sense of gratitude for the privilege of sharing my life with these extraordinary four-legged teachers.

If we can keep aligning the incentives of human joy, equine welfare, and sustainable sport, we’ll be giving both species the future they deserve.

- Lissanthea

On Friday 3 October, British Equestrian proudly unveiled groundbreaking new research that, for the first time, puts a clear monetary value on the impact of equestrian activity in the UK.