The Balanced Riding Centre

📣 📣An Update From Me – and a Special Opportunity 📣📣

🫶🏻After a lot of reflection, I’ve made the decision to close the rider biomechanics and equestrian fitness side of my business.

🐴Since moving from the wonderfully engaged equestrian community in Auckland to a much smaller rural town, I’ve seen a real shift. With fewer riders locally, and the intensity of regular travel to Auckland and Whangārei clinics taking a toll—especially alongside my Pilates teaching and running our Airbnb. After I made the decision to stop those travel clinics, it became even clearer that there just isn’t enough local interest to sustain this part of my work. It’s hard to keep passion and energy flowing when the demand isn’t quite there.

💯I’ve also noticed a stronger local demand for my work as a movement educator and Pilates teacher outside the equestrian space, and that’s where I’ll continue to be focusing my time and energy for the foreseeable future.

💫 For Coaches & Rider-Focused Professionals:
As part of this transition, I’ll also be selling my Joker Simulator, which I brought over from Europe. It’s an extraordinary tool that has allowed riders to focus solely on themselves—free from the variables of the horse—in order to identify and integrate the missing pieces that truly elevate their balance, coordination, and use of weight and movement aids.

❤️The Joker is ideal for a coach or practitioner who works deeply with riders and is passionate about improving the rider’s influence and harmony with the horse. Lessons in how to get the most out of it can be negotiated as part of the purchase. If you are interested in Joker please message me in the first instance.

💬 I’m still undecided whether to close this page or leave it up as a free resource. There’s a lot of helpful video content here, and I’d love to know if it’s still serving you on your riding journey.

🙏To the wonderful riders I’ve worked with—thank you. It’s been a real privilege to support your growth in and out of the saddle!!

Happy horsing!
Love Lisa

THE CANTER SEAT

👀I had a couple of people message me in response to a canter video circulating teaching riders to move the pelvis in an anterior/posterior tilt only in order to correctly “follow” the horse in canter. This is only part of the picture and here is why…

💯The canter motion is far more than a simple anterior-posterior pelvic tilt because of the three-dimensional, spiraling nature of both the horse’s gait mechanics and the rider’s biomechanics in order to synchronise.

❓Why Canter Involves More Than Just Anterior-Posterior Pelvic Tilt

1. The Horse’s Canter Is Asymmetrical and Three-Dimensional
• Canter is a three-beat gait with a moment of suspension, where the horse’s spine and pelvis move not only forwards and backwards, but also with a lateral shift and rotation.
• The leading leg causes the horse’s withers to rise and pelvis to swing diagonally, creating a twisting motion through the spine and a helical movement through the sacrum.

2. The Rider’s Pelvis Must Mirror the Horse’s Multi-Planar Motion
• To absorb and follow the horse’s motion harmoniously, the rider’s pelvis must move in a backward-upward circle, not just rock back and forth.
• This circularity incorporates:
• Anterior/posterior tilt (sagittal plane)
• Lateral shift and hip hike/drop (frontal plane)
• Rotation at the lumbopelvic junction and thoracolumbar spine (transverse plane)

3. Sacral Nutation & Counternutation
• As the rider’s pelvis tilts anteriorly (sit bones back), the sacrum nutates — tips forward between the ilia — which corresponds with spinal flexion and the forward phase of the canter stride.
• As the pelvis comes under and up (posterior tilt), the sacrum counternutates, aligning with extension and lift through the rider’s spine.
• This movement is small but critical for dynamic balance and fluid connection to the horse.

4. Pelvic Floor and Deep Core Activation
• The anterior pelvic floor lengthens as the pelvis tips forward, and gathers upward as the pelvis moves under.
• The obturator internus, levator ani, and multifidus engage dynamically — not statically — in response to this motion.
• A purely forward-back tilt misses this dynamic fascial and muscular responsiveness.

5. Spinal Flexion-Extension Coupling
• The spine does not stay rigid — thoracolumbar flexion and extension couple with the pelvis.
• When the rider’s pelvis moves in a backward-upward circle, the lumbar spine flexes, then extends subtly in rhythm with the horse’s gait — allowing the seat to stay connected and softly mobile.

😍Want to feel it? Book a simulator lesson with me and Lance

🤓Want to read more-

Relevant Anatomical References
1. Myers, T. (2014). Anatomy Trains – especially discussion of the Deep Front Line and spine-pelvis relationships.
2. Calais-Germain, B. (2007). Anatomy of Movement – excellent for understanding sacroiliac motion and pelvic rhythm.
3. Sullivan, S. J., & Dickinson, A. L. (2001). The biomechanics of horseback riding in Clinical Biomechanics — discusses rider-horse movement synchronization.
4. Franklin Method® resources — particularly regarding embodied movement, pelvic floor dynamics, and spine-pelvis interaction in motion.
5. Equestrian Biomechanics Research – Hilary Clayton’s work on rider-horse dynamics (e.g., “Kinematics of the rider’s pelvis and spine in sitting trot and canter”).

Lisa x

To help get the weight over the inside seatbone while staying aligned in the ribs try this imagery.

NB for optimal movement you need your pelvis to ge neutral zone and ribs stacked directly over your pelvis.

“Accordion Expansion” – Visualize your ribs as an accordion, moving laterally from your midline and three-dimensionally.

It’s highly likely your experience in one direction will feel stuck compared to the other side. Try side bending and rotating the ribs several times then try again.

Lisa x

Lovely feedback to end the week!

“What was really helpful was getting my asymmetry clearly identified and then getting a way to change that. I went and had Osteo appointments to work on it and also have your exercises to maintain and strengthen straightness. My horse is going a hundred times better since getting all that done and changing from western to an English saddle. You have been an important contributor to my moving forward out of stuck. Thanks so much. FYI Everyone I have spoken to that has been to you thinks your service is wonderfully helpful.”

Jane Valentine

Many a times what a rider believes is a structural restriction/core weakness is actually a strategic restriction that resolves once correct biomechanical strategies have been restored. It’s great how Lance the simulator helps riders feel the changes to their balance and movement control upon finding a position closer to their central axis that instantly impacts how they can move.

Of course the “new” way needs repetition to become the new norm.

Static photos of course only show a part of the picture. How they could control their body in trot or canter confirmed the balance improvement with a tweak to their strategy.

Lisa & Lance

To help a rider who collapses their waist -shortening the distance between ribs and pelvis when riding turns and circles.

try this imagery:

“Spiral Expanding Ribs” – Imagine your ribs are like a spiral staircase, smoothly opening and rotating with each breath and movement.

Lisa x

Imagery cue to improve posture and resist collapsing your centre of support. Feel taller without bracing and stiffening. Take your weight off your horses forehand and give then more freedom to move freely forwards.

Sternum (Manubrium & Xiphoid Process) → Fountain of Light
• Palpate: Center of the chest.

Imagery: “Your sternum is a fountain gently opening upward, keeping your ribs expansive and free.”

Lisa

Imagery to elongate the spine without stiffness

💀Occipital Protuberance

→ Crown Lift Imagery
• Palpate: The bony bump at the back of the skull.
• Imagery: “Imagine a golden thread lifting from the crown of your head, elongating your spine effortlessly.”
• Cue: Feel space between the top vertebrae (C1) and the skull.

Add a feeling of the seatbones melting or sinking downwards to give the opposition in the body which gives more tone to the core without grip/brace. If you can’t geel your seatbones sit on your hands on a firm chair and rock your pelvis gently.

Try it next time you ride to see what it gives you.

Lisa x

Mental imagery skills have the potential to make big changes to how we can move and ride!

Instead of thinking relax your hips here's one to try out to help you reduce stiffness and tension!

Your thoughts can be the difference between an ok ride and a great ride!

Give it a try.

Lisa x

Sharing the link to what will surely be an informative session looking at bone health & heart health links. Brought to you by one of the educators I’ve trained with recently.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Eu4pKSdSS/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Saddle Fit & Rider Movement: Interview with Jochen Schleese In this exclusive Train Your Seat livestream, we sit down with Jochen Schleese, founder of Schleese Saddles, to explore the critical connection between saddle fit and rider biomechanics. With decades of expertise, Jochen specializes in designing saddles tailored specifically for female riders—acknowledging the key anatomical differences that impact comfort, balance, and performance in the saddle. We discuss why traditional saddles, often designed with a male rider in mind, can create discomfort and imbalance for women, and how an appropriate saddle fit can dramatically improve both rider movement and the horse’s well-being. Whether you're an equestrian looking to ride in greater harmony with your horse or a trainer seeking to deepen your knowledge of biomechanics, this conversation is packed with invaluable insights. Watch now to learn why saddle fit is more than just comfort—it’s a game-changer for rider performance and equine welfare! @schleese