For those bodywork practitioners and riding instructors who work with both horses and their riders, and horse people who would like to experience or understand bodywork practiced on themselves and their horses while in the saddle, this study group may be for you.

Sometimes we are called to work on horses and their riders together. Riders have particular physical challenges that can be helped with these techniques. The work can be table work, or standing, or sitting on a mounting block or the horse. Often table work is a prerequisite to working together with the horse, particularly when the rider has a number of imbalances. It may be necessary to work with the horse individually first also.

The spine-to-spine relationship (human coccyx to equine thoracics) is unique. Experiencing the client in the saddle provides a way to work with the individual horse and rider as well as their connection to one another. How does one influence the other?

When working with horse and rider together, you can employ the strengths of each being to initiate change. The horse may have strengths in the pelvis and stuck points that the human does not, and vice versa. The way the rider moves in the saddle may impinge on the horse’s movement, and a stiffness in the horse’s spine may translate as resistance to the human.  The vision is to create more harmonious movement between the two beings.

In this three-hour study group we will address:

• Physical restrictions and how they translate
• Rider Check – Unmounted
• Horse Check – Unmounted
• Horse and rider techniques together and working harmoniously
• Self-care and self-recognition

Through observing some partial session videos of the work, participants will be invited to see how bodywork influences the way the horse/rider team move and communicate. Study Group includes handout, video list and charts.

This study group was originally a presentation for the Society of Ortho-Bionomy’s 2025 Virtual Conference, and has been expanded here to provide deeper instruction.