Equine Biomechanics, Rider Balance & Hippotherapy in Motion

Exploring the horse as both patient and partner in physical therapy and hippotherapy

Whether you're a horse owner, equine therapist, rehab professional, or hippotherapy provider, understanding the foundational principles of equine movement is key to improving outcomes—for both horse and human.

In this educational and practical webinar, we dive into the world of equine biomechanics, rider balance, and therapeutic applications, with a unique focus on two perspectives:

  1. The Horse as Patient – exploring how physical therapy principles apply directly to horses recovering from injury, managing chronic conditions, or being supported for long-term soundness and performance.

  2. The Horse as Therapy Partner – examining how equine movement impacts the human client in hippotherapy and adaptive riding settings, and why the quality of that movement matters just as much as the horse's temperament.

🎓 Topics Covered:

  • Core principles of equine biomechanics and why movement quality matters

  • How rider balance and posture influence equine function (and vice versa)

  • What makes a horse suitable for hippotherapy, beyond just behavior

  • How therapists can assess and support horses used in human therapy sessions

  • Real-world examples tying movement concepts to functional therapy goals

  • Key differences in therapeutic applications when the horse is the patient vs. when the human is the patient

This webinar is perfect for:

  • Equine physical therapists and bodyworkers

  • Hippotherapy professionals and adaptive riding instructors

  • Horse owners wanting to understand how movement affects soundness

  • Riders and trainers interested in improving horse–rider balance

  • Anyone who works at the intersection of equine health and human therapy

📦 What's Included:

  • Full webinar replay

  • Practical examples, illustrations, and movement analysis

  • Lifetime access to the replay video

Whether you're supporting the horse, the human, or both, this webinar offers a grounded, biomechanical lens to help you see movement differently—and apply it meaningfully in therapy and training.


Get lifetime access and start deepening your understanding of equine and human movement today.


Course curriculum

    1. Watch the replay here

    2. Thank you!

About this course

  • $29.00
  • 2 lessons
  • 1 hour of video content

Meet Your Instructor:

Physical Therapist Barbara Parks

Dr. Barbara Parks, PT, DPT, CERP is a physical therapist for horse and rider based in the Nashville, TN area. Barbara received her doctorate in physical therapy from Belmont University and her Certified Equine Rehabilitation Practitioner credentials from UT-Knoxville. She is also a PATH Intl. certified therapeutic riding instructor and spent some time teaching adaptive riding lessons prior to becoming a physical therapist. Barbara has a passion for positive reinforcement training and using clicker training in rehabilitative exercise and has pursued continuing education in equine bodywork, barefoot hoofcare and composite shoeing, equine nutrition, and equine behavior and learning theory in order to provide a whole-horse approach to rehab and injury prevention. She lives on a small farm with her husband, 5 horses, 4 cats, and 3 dogs.

What People Are Saying:

5 star rating

Underrated for Horse Owners!

Kelsey Rast

Horse owners don't realize that horses weren't really designed to be ridden, so building a course around showing correct body movements and how your horse sh...

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Horse owners don't realize that horses weren't really designed to be ridden, so building a course around showing correct body movements and how your horse should be moving their body (because much like us, they typically aren't!) is genius, in my opinion. I really love this course and refer back to it quite a bit! I also love that I always have the opportunity to come back and look at my courses. I feel like I am always learning something new from Barb and a lot of that has to do with what a good teacher she is and how well she keeps me engaged. Highly recommend this course.

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