Identify Weaknesses & Improve Performance with Rider Physiotherapist – Andy Thomas
Wednesday 18th November 2009

Leading rider physiotherapist, Andy Thomas gave an evening talk to equine enthusiasts at Nottingham Trent University's Brackenhurst campus.

During the course of the lecture, Andy looked firstly at the prevention, treatment and management of injuries. He then moved on to look at enhancing the rider’s performance and technical ability on a horse by addressing specific rider weaknesses and imbalances.

Andy is a specialist in the field of musculoskeletal provision in the equestrian world. He is physiotherapist to the Equestrian Team GBR and travelled as part of a vital back up team for the Beijing Olympics in Hong Kong last year.

His role with the British Equestrian Federation is as Human Sports Science and Medicine Lead Practitioner for the World Class Squads – he coordinates all aspects relating rider performance and works with riders across all disciplines and has done much work on identifying rider problems contributing to common rider errors.

“Riders typically suffer with back pain but they also subject themselves to a lot of trauma due to falls or being kicked or stood on!” said Andy. “I look after all equestrian disciplines and each one has its own specific injuries. If a rider has injuries, it affects the way they ride which can then affect or influence injuries of the horse.”

Having worked in many different sports at Elite level, Andy commented that working with riders is very different “One of my hardest tasks is to convince riders that they do not need to cope with pain. They don’t generally complain until one limb stops working or is pointing in the wrong direction”.

Andy was physiotherapist to Equestrian Riders at the last World Equestrian Games across Eventing, Endurance, Show Jumping, Carriage Driving, Reining, Vaulting and Dressage.

Event Director, Jill Hoyland commented: “As a leader in his field, we were delighted to work with Andy and the audience greatly benefited from his expertise”

 Return to Hoyland Event main site