Why Riders Hurt: Common Injuries & Rehab Principles for Adult Riders

Katie Wood, PT

Registered Physiotherapist, S&C Coach and founder of The Equestrian Physio

About the Presenter

Katie Wood is a Registered Physiotherapist, MSc Equine Science graduate, and lifelong equestrian who competed in eventing as a member of the OHTA between 2012 and 2018. Through The Equestrian Physio, she works with riders to build strength, recover from injury, and train for the real demands of the sport.

FOLLOW ALONG

For rider training tips, rehab insights, and practical ways to support your body outside the saddle, follow along on Instagram.

Follow @theequestrianphysio on Instagram!

I am SO excited to share this!! I’ve partnered with @oneventing to create a free three-part webinar series for adult amateur riders.

We invest so much in our horses. This series is about investing in the other half of the partnership: YOU!

📍Session 1: Build the Stronger Rider: Strength Training for Adult Eventers — April 8
📍Session 2: Why Riders Hurt: Common Injuries and Smarter Rehab — April 29
📍Session 3: Ride All Season: Recovery & Load Management — May 13

All sessions are Wednesdays at 7:30 PM EDT, online via Google Meet

Each session is 45 min of teaching plus a live Q&A. OEA members get priority access to the Q&A and their pre-submitted questions are prioritized. Everyone is welcome to attend, including non-OEA members!

The content is geared toward adult eventers but the principles apply to riders across disciplines. If you ride and you have a body, there’s something here for you.❤️

Can’t make it live? Register anyway and the replay comes to you.

This series is generously sponsored by the OEA Adult Amateur Rider Fund, which means every session is completely free for you. I grew up competing as an OEA youth member, so getting to give back to this community in a way that actually helps riders feel better and ride longer is incredibly meaningful to me.

Comment STRONGER and I’ll send you the link, or head to the link in my bio 🐴

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Riders need a unique blend of physical qualities. Strength, power, stability, motor control, and more. All of which can be developed through intentional training off the horse. These directly influence your ability to ride well, and more importantly, to ride RESPONSIBLY.

Building general strength translates to countless benefits in the saddle. The ability to produce force, hold positions more securely, and stay organized under pressure means more accurate aids and better ability to stay in-phase with your horse.

Because riding well isn't just about points or seconds. It's about MINIMIZING the IMPACT we have on the horse. And that takes serious strength and control.

If you don't have the strength to stay centred over a big oxer after a long spot, or balanced through a tight rollback around a barrel, your horse is the one compensating. THEY rebalance for you. Every time your balance falters or your timing is off, it's the horse absorbing the consequences, physically and on the clock.

Strength is also foundational to what we loosely call "balance." A stable trunk, upper body, and lower body help maintain an upright posture and give you the capacity to absorb forces coming from the horse. When you're strong and stable, you can stay with the horse more easily, respond to the unexpected, and communicate clearly, especially when shit hits the fan.

And then there's motor control: the ability to move with precision. Through strength and mobility work, you build awareness of how YOUR body moves and refine neuromuscular control so every aid is intentional, not accidental.

We pour so much into our horses' training, their fitness, their soundness. Strength training is how we hold ourselves to that same standard. The more you can do independently, the less they have to do for you.

TEP Training App opens its doors for Spring enrolment April 13th. Comment "SPRING" and I'll DM you the link, or check the link in my bio!

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Little Katie had no idea what she was getting herself into...

But seriously, anyone in Canada know a magically good VA?😂

#physiolife #trend #solopreneur

What would you add to the list? Or what have you seen seen/ done for your own microfeminist protest?💪

Drop em in the comments and let’s celebrate #internationalwomensday2026 🎉

I hear this one a lot. And I get it. Riding IS physical, it’s demanding, time consuming, and it absolutely builds riding-specific conditioning that no amount of gym work can replicate.

But there’s a difference between OCCUPATIONAL adaptation and athletic preparation. Your body becomes efficient at a repeated task. That’s not the same as being physically prepared in a way that supports longevity, injury resilience, and raising your performance ceiling.

The SAID principle (Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands) tells us your body adapts to the specific demands placed on it. Riding adapts you to riding. Structured training builds the broader physical qualities that riding simply can’t, general strength, tissue resilience, power, recovery capacity.

And I already know the follow-up: “But I don’t have time.” Valid, but keep in mind, it doesn’t have to be a lot! Two 20-30 minute sessions a week moves the needle significantly. And one 15 min session still counts! It’s a lot less about the time it takes, and more about structuring things intentionally. If you’re riding that volume, your body is absorbing serious load, and the case for structured strength work to keep you resilient and performing well actually gets stronger, not weaker.

This isn’t about replacing riding with the gym. It’s about understanding they serve different purposes, and you need BOTH to be the athlete your horse deserves.

If you’re not sure where to start, how to structure your training, or how to fit it into an already packed week, that’s exactly what the TEP Training System is built for. No guessing what to do, how to schedule it, or whether it’s going to work. It’s all laid out for you, with answers and support along the way.

Comment TRAIN or check out my bio for a link to join the April waitlist. 🐴❤️

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Functional fitness💪. Honestly, this term gets thrown around EVERYWHERE, especially on social media! But are we all talking about the same thing? Or are we just latching onto the flashy “term of the day”?

Is it the expression of “fitness”, as in, the ability to perform the activities of daily life without limitation?

Or is it a style of training? And if so, what does that look like? Sport-specificity, training your body for the exact demands riding places on it? Or training your body to meet the physical demands, whether that “looks” like your sport or not?

And then take it one step further: what does functional training actually LOOK like to you? Is it some special category of exercise, those videos of people standing on wobble boards waving resistance bands around? Or is it just base strength and mobility, intelligently applied to the life you actually want to live?

Drop your thoughts below 👇

Understanding the Patterns Behind Rider Pain

Many riders deal with the same recurring issues. Hips that never quite loosen up. Low backs that flare up after a long ride. Knees that start talking during show season.

In this session we’ll walk through the patterns commonly seen in adult riders and eventers. Rather than focusing on individual diagnoses, the goal is to understand the broader principles that guide injury recovery and long-term management.

You’ll learn how riding loads the body, why certain areas tend to become overloaded, and how rehab approaches differ depending on the tissues involved.

For many riders, simply understanding these patterns makes it much easier to make smart decisions about training, recovery, and when to modify workload.

Why Riders Hurt: Common Injuries & Rehab Principles for Adult Riders

Live webinar designed for adult eventers looking to better understand pain, injury patterns, and smarter approaches to recovery.

Register Today

About the Presenter

Understanding the Patterns Behind Rider Pain