Activate Your Seat

Activate Your Seat is a physiotherapy designed and led online exercise programme for horse riders.
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04/11/2026

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - your pelvis needs to MOVE when you are in the saddle.⁣
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True “neutral pelvis” is a snapshot in time - it refers to when two bony points on your pelvis line up on the horizontal plane. So when you can draw a straight line on the horizontal between your posterior superior iliac spine (PSIS) and your anterior superior iliac spine (ASIS). And it doesn’t take into account the normal variations in pelvis and hip anatomy of individuals…⁣ ⁣
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When we are walking, our pelvis moves through all three planes of movement: forward and back, side to side, and rotation. During riding when the horse moves under us, our pelvis needs to move through all three planes of movement as well. The type and speed of the horse’s gait, as well as the individual anatomy of our pelvis, will influence the exact pelvic biomechanics during riding.⁣
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You don’t want your pelvis to be tipped into anterior or posterior tilt, but neither do you want it to be fixed in a neutral position. All of these positions mean you can’t move your pelvis and hips fully, you can’t access your diaphragm effectively, and you can’t rotate your thoracic spine easily. And that means you can’t move with your horse and you will limit his movement. ⁣
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So yes, ideally you want to start in a “neutral pelvis” position - but you need to be able to move through range, and have control of that range. You need to be able to access anterior and posterior tilt, and control when you need them. Yesterday I posted a test you can use to assess your pelvis movement, control, and symmetry. ⁣
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In order to allow that pelvis movement you need suppleness, control, and endurance through your psoas and gluteals. This allows you to move with your horse and absorb his movement.⁣
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That’s why I designed the Activate Your Seat exercise programme against the resistance of the bungi. All the exercises target psoas and gluteals through range in all three planes of movement, improving symmetry, strength, suppleness, and balance in the saddle.⁣
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💙 Breathe better, move better, ride better⁣
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Maeve⁣

03/11/2026

Do you warm up before you ride?⁣
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As riders we are generally very good at warming up our horses, but less good at warming up ourselves.⁣
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But what if the resistance on one rein is due to the rider’s tight hip or the rider not being able to turn their body one way? Or the reluctance to do lateral work one way is due to the rider not being able to give an effective leg aid on one side?⁣
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Doing a quick warm up through the three planes of movement is really beneficial for encouraging good range of movement in our hips, pelvis and spine and encouraging the right muscles to activate and fire up, ready for the job ahead.⁣
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I highly recommend using the bungi before you ride to target and activate the correct muscles and improve your performance in the saddle.⁣
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Activating the correct muscles BEFORE you ride can make a huge difference to how you perform in the saddle.⁣
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Using one or two sets of the Activate Your Seat level one exercises in the bungi as a warm up before you ride will help:⁣
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💫 Activate psoas, gluteus maximus, gluteus medius and the other key muscles of your seat.⁣
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💫 Mobilise your hips and pelvis through key movement ranges specific to riding.⁣
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💫 Enable muscular post-activation potentiation (PAP) allowing improved strength and power and optimising performance.⁣
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You can attach the bungi to your stable or tack room door and do your exercises before schooling, training or lessons, or you can take it to a competition and attach it to your lorry or trailer and activate before you compete.⁣
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Part of the November Activate Your Seat challenge is to do two sets of the level 1 exercises as a warm up before you ride, and then add 5-10 minutes of no stirrups work. ⁣
Are you joining in the challenge? ⁣
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If you haven’t already got a bungi, you can purchase yours, and access to the online exercise videos, from my website www.activateyourseat.com (link in my bio). ⁣
I post worldwide 🌎 ⁣
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💙 Breathe better, move better⁣, ride better⁣
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Maeve ⁣
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02/11/2026

A busy Monday with ⁣Team Oakden
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Having Hugh from Loch Leven Equine Vets there to do double assessments is so useful, especially at this time of year. We can assess the event horses together as they come back to work after their holidays. We can make any plans needed so they are at peak comfort and performance when the eventing season starts again next year. ⁣
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Off to write up all my notes and get ready for a back to back rider clinic at home tomorrow! ⁣
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Happy Monday all ⁣
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01/11/2026

October photo roll 📸

Leaves starting to fall

Coos

Running in the rain - who even am I?

Flapping spaniel ears

October skies

More hacking

Donegal

Donegal

Clinics in sunshine

Hiding from the storm

More coos

No stirrups isn’t just for November

Leaves changing more

Views from the top

Pentland hills

Capelaw summit

Halloween 🎃

01/11/2026

Activate Your Seat November Challenge ⁣🍂⁣
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Are you in?⁣
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➡️ Riding without stirrups (just start with 5-10 minutes at walk) can be a great way to improve your seat independence, balance, co-ordination, body awareness, and timing in the saddle.⁣
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➡️ The Activate Your Seat exercise programme done against the resistance of the bungi is a great way to improve the strength, suppleness, symmetry and endurance of the muscles of your seat.⁣
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Imagine if we combine the two???⁣
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This challenge is to do one or two sets of the level 1 exercises in the bungi before you ride and combine that with 5-10 minutes of no stirrups work. If you don’t have a bungi, I’ll share some simple warm up exercises that you can do later this week. ⁣
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Now, before any of the social media keyboard warriors begin, let me be very clear!! The AYS November challenge is to warm up before you ride (with or without the bungi) and then to try around 5-10 minutes of no stirrups work (if safe to do so) each time you ride.⁣
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No one is saying to ride with stirrups for 11 months of the year and then to take away your stirrups completely for the month of November - that would be ludicrous!!! And totally ineffective for your seat!! And may hurt your horse’s back if you’re bouncing about up there…⁣
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But doing 5-10 minutes of no stirrups work at walk at the start and end of your ride can really help the rider to follow the horses movement with their pelvis and feel how each side of their pelvis and hip follows the horse’s hind leg as he moves forward. That is all you need to do! If you want to! If you feel safe! And if you want to do more that is entirely up to you!⁣
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🍂 The reason for using November as the month to do this challenge is as a winter motivator. But I absolutely advocate doing a few short sessions of no stirrups work weekly all year round.⁣ And obviously I always advocate that all riders should warm up off the saddle before they get in the saddle.⁣
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So who’s in?⁣
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Tag me in your stories if you do this. I’d love to see your stories and share them on mine 🥰⁣
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💙 Breathe better, move better, ride better⁣
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31/10/2026

I think I need to limit Pronto’s social media time - he’s clearly been getting too many tips from Corach… 💨🤣⁣
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Possibly/ probably our last blast up Capelaw until the spring. Making the most of this glorious autumn weather. ⁣
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Hope you enjoy coming along for the ride 😎⁣
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31/10/2026

Make it make sense 🤯🤷🏼‍♀️⁣
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30/10/2026

⁣🌟 Client Focus Friday 🌟 ⁣
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“I am a personal trainer and riding is a passion of mine that I started later in life (49 years).⁣
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Activate Your Seat is amazing! ⁣
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I have spent years training people at the gym to help them overcome imbalances caused due to a life of sitting in a chair. ⁣
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I find the exercises given in this programme to be fantastic. It is targeted to me as a rider and can help me overcome any imbalances I have due through poor muscle recruitment due to too many years driving and sitting at a desk.⁣
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5 star review from me!!! Love having specific exercises and the bungi to help me improve what I need. 😊”⁣
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⁣Abigail Coburn, New Zealand⁣
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What a brilliant review!! Thank you Abigail. I am delighted you are finding the exercises in the bungi so useful for your riding. ⁣
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There are now over 250 five star reviews on my page. As a very small business, your reviews, shares, comments and recommendations really do mean the world to me so thank you so much 🥰⁣
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⁣🤩 To purchase your bungi and access to the online exercise videos head to my website www.activateyourseat.com (link in my bio). ⁣
I post bungis worldwide 🌎 ⁣
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Happy Friday!!⁣
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💙 Breathe better, move better, ride better⁣
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Maeve ⁣
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30/10/2026

No AI generated content here - a phone, a dirty arena mirror, and over 25 years experience of assessing and treating horse riders…⁣
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If you have turned out toes in the saddle and you want to change that - check your hip internal rotation, and check your pelvis position. One affects the other! The basis for your seat is your pelvis position and everything else flows from there.⁣
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Off the saddle work on pelvis and hip mobility and control of that mobility. That’s what we do in the Activate Your Seat exercise programme against the targeted resistance of the bungi - we work on pelvis mobility on a fixed hip and hip mobility on a fixed pelvis. And the resistance of the bungi improves the muscular control of these positions.⁣
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Turned out toes can also be due to saddle fit, your pelvis size, your horse’s width and ribcage shape, your hip anatomy, etc, etc. All of which I’ve talked about before. ⁣
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But first things to check are pelvis position and movement, and hip rotational ability. ⁣
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I don’t gate keep, I don’t hide information like this behind a pay wall, I don’t get you to comment a word so I can get you on my email list. I don’t use AI generated images. ⁣
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I want all equestrians to be able to access info like this for the sake of their body and their horses bodies. ⁣
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So I’d really appreciate it if you could like, comment, or share this video so more people see it.⁣
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Happy Friday!⁣
Maeve x

Address

Edinburgh

Website

http://www.activateyourseat.com/

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