Breathwork for Riders
This is for you if you want to transform your riding performance through science-backed breathwork and nervous system regulation. Whether you're overcoming performance anxiety, rebuilding confidence after a fall, or seeking deeper connection with your horse, our clinics and workshops help riders access their full potential through somatic awareness and regulation techniques.
Trusted by leading equestrian professionals including GW Equine.
An Adaptive Code practice for horse–human connection
From Freeze to Flow: Your Path to Confident Riding
The Challenge You're Facing:
You know what you're capable of. You've put in the hours, work with skilled coaches, and your horse has the talent. But when it matters most—in competition, after a fall, or in high-pressure moments—your body betrays you. You freeze. Your breath holds. Your timing disappears. And no amount of "just relax" or "think positive" or skill seems to help.
This isn't a confidence problem. This isn't an experience of skill problem. It's a nervous system solution you already have.
What You'll Be Able to Do:
Within a single clinic or workshop, you'll learn to:
Recognize your nervous system state before it hijacks your riding
Use breath to shift from freeze/fight/flight into flow
Access your skills consistently, even under pressure
Communicate clearly with your horse through regulated presence
Trust your body's signals instead of overriding them
What You'll Have:
A practical toolkit of regulation techniques you can use:
Before you mount (pre-ride protocols)
During transitions and challenging moments
After difficult rides or falls
In competition environments
The Timeline:
1
After one session: Immediate tools you can apply the same day
2
Within 2-4 weeks: Noticeable shifts in how you show up in the saddle
3
Over 3 months: Lasting changes in your riding confidence, horse partnership, and competitive performance
This isn't about pushing through. It's about coming home to yourself—so you can truly partner with your horse.
The Adaptive Code: A Competitive Edge
For competitive riders, the Adaptive Code offers a transformative path to partnership, beginning with a mastery of self. Just as you skillfully guide your horse with the reins, imagine holding the reins of your own nervous system. This practice empowers you to become more flexible and attuned to your body's subtle signals.
By consciously navigating these internal reins, you gain the ability to flex out of reactive fight-or-flight responses, cultivating a profound way to self-organise and orient back within yourself, resourced and present. This internal attunement directly translates to your connection with your equine partner: when you know how to listen to yourself, you can listen more acutely to your horse and integrate training with fresh empathy and precision.
Experience a deeper, more empathetic connection, unlocking their athletic potential while nurturing their sensitive spirit. This is more than training; it's about building an unbreakable bond, forged first within yourself, then extended to your equine partner.
The Promise
Accelerate Excellence Rather Than Circle It
Through applied breath and nervous-system tools, in a single clinic, you walk away with the tools to reduce repetitive training loops, shorten response time, and create visible changes in softness, clarity, and connection. This is not about trying harder. It is about accessing a learning state to confidently apply your skill.
Excellence is not forced — it emerges when the nervous system is regulated enough to perceive accurately and respond precisely. This is a core principle explored deeply in my forthcoming book on The Adaptive Code.
What You Gain
- Reduced training loops
- Faster response time
- Visible softness and clarity
- Authentic connection
The Feeling Frame
Many riders are instinctively taught to correct, repeat, and push through difficulties, applying new learning by making immediate adjustments. However, for true, lasting learning to occur and for new skills to be imprinted successfully, our nervous system must be in an open and receptive state. When we feel flustered, hold our breath, or become tense—a state of dysregulation—our bodies shut down. In this state, repeating an exercise, riding longer, or simply "trying harder" often leads to frustrating loops rather than genuine progress. Effective learning requires trust and foundational regulation before skillful application. This is true for the rider and the horse.
For equestrians struggling with riding anxiety, performance blocks, or the aftermath of falls, understanding this neurobiological framework is transformative. When we learn to regulate our nervous system before and during riding, we create the conditions for genuine skill development and confident partnership with our horses.
The Problem
Effort + Dysregulation = Repetitive Loops
The Solution
Breath and Connection First. Adaptation Follows.
Why Breathwork Works for Horse Riders
Breath is the only doorway into the autonomic nervous system we can consciously access. This is especially vital when partnering with horses, who are innately flight animals constantly scanning their environment for safety and seeking clear, calm leadership. When a rider's nervous system is dysregulated, the horse instinctively picks up on that tension and uncertainty, often triggering their natural flight response, and they even test you. By consciously practicing breath, riders learn to regulate their own nervous system, thereby becoming the calm, clear leader the horse instinctively seeks. This cultivates a foundational sense of trust and safety, allowing the horse to relax and respond with precision, transforming the entire riding experience by:
Reduces Bracing
Unnecessary muscular tension dissolves, creating natural softness through the seat and hands.
Sharpens Perception
Enhanced awareness allows you to read subtle signals from your horse with precision.
Improves Timing
Aids become clearer, responses quicken, and partnership strengthens naturally.
Stabilizes Reactivity
Emotional regulation enables calm, consistent responses even in challenging moments.
The Ripple Effect: How Regulation Compounds
Without Regulation
Effort → Tension → Correction → Repetition → Fatigue → Plateau
With Regulation
Breath → Clarity → Precision → Response → Reinforcement → Progression
The difference is not volume of work. It is quality of perception. When perception improves, timing improves. Better timing reduces correction. Reduced correction builds trust. Trust accelerates progress. Learning compresses.
Beyond Group Clinics: Personalized Breathwork for Riders
When the nervous system stabilizes, intelligence sharpens. When intelligence sharpens, performance refines. When performance refines, excellence becomes visible.
The Breathwork Rider Clinic is part of The Adaptive Code — a comprehensive framework for understanding how regulation, perception, and adaptability create excellence across human systems. The same principles explored in my upcoming book apply directly to riding.
Not because you forced it, but because you allowed it. Presence is not the opposite of excellence; it is its foundation.
Deeper Transformation: Personalized 1:1 Sessions
For challenges that run deeper—such as lingering fear from previous falls or traumatic riding experiences—Sarah offers personalized 1:1 sessions. These confidential sessions are designed to work at a subconscious level, gently unraveling limiting beliefs and processing past experiences using advanced breathwork, Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), and somatic techniques. This compassionate, individualized approach targets the root causes, not just the symptoms, fostering lasting transformation and helping riders regain confidence and joy.
This personalized support is available for those seeking more than the group clinic environment, offering a dedicated space for profound, individualized healing and growth.
Measurable Changes After a Single Clinic
Observable Results from Breathwork Training for Competitive Riders
These are not vague confidence improvements. These are observable, behavioural shifts that you — and your instructor — can measure and see. You'll feel a profound sense of self-assurance and trust in your abilities.
What Riders Notice
- Fewer repeated corrections for the same response
- Shorter transition lag time between aid and horse response
- Clearer upward and downward transitions with less physical effort
- Visibly quieter seat and softer hands
- Faster settling after tension or spooks
- Ability to reset regulation in under 60 seconds
- Increased confidence in decision-making in the moment
- Greater trust in their own instincts and feel
- A stronger sense of self-assurance and presence in the saddle
What Stops Happening
- Holding breath during difficult movements
- Overriding through tension
- Repeating exercises hoping they "eventually land"
- Leaving the arena dysregulated and frustrated
- Second-guessing yourself or your choices
- Doubting your abilities as a rider
- Needing constant external validation from others
"That looked different — what changed?" This is what others notice after you've attended.
What We Work On in the Clinic
Each Breathwork Rider Clinic delivers practical, science-informed, trauma-aware strategies immediately applicable in real riding environments.
1
Pre-Ride Protocols
Regulation techniques to establish calm presence before mounting
2
Breath for Transitions
Applied breathing patterns that improve timing and responsiveness
3
Reset Strategies
Mounted and unmounted techniques for rapid nervous system recovery
4
Co-Regulation Principles
Understanding how your state influences your horse's behaviour
5
Reducing Bracing
Breath-based methods to dissolve unconscious tension patterns
6
Improving Response Time
Enhancing communication clarity without increasing pressure
Breathwork Clinics & Workshops for Equestrians
Breathwork for Riders is offered in two formats to meet you where you are:
Half-Day Workshops
A focused 3-4 hour introduction to breathwork and nervous system regulation for riders. Perfect for those new to this work or seeking practical tools they can apply immediately.
- Pre-ride regulation protocols
- Breath techniques for transitions and timing
- Mounted and unmounted reset strategies
- Ideal for individuals or small groups at your stables.
Full-Day Clinics
An immersive experience combining theory, practice, and integration. Includes all workshop content plus deeper exploration of co-regulation principles, personalized coaching, and extended practice time.
- Science-informed, trauma-aware approach
- Hands-on practice with your horse (if applicable)
- Small group setting for personalized attention
- Includes take-home resources and follow-up support.
Interested in hosting or attending?
Contact Sarah to discuss upcoming dates, locations, or bringing a workshop to your barn or riding community.
Available for barn visits, riding clubs, and equestrian facilities across Australia. Virtual sessions are also available for international riders.
This Philosophy in Story Form
The principles of regulation, presence, and somatic trust that transform riding also live in the pages of a story—one written for every heart seeking to move from disconnection to connection.
Whether you're a rider rebuilding confidence after a fall, a parent supporting a sensitive child, or an educator looking for neuro-affirming resources, this book offers a gentle, embodied path forward.
Coming Soon
Brave, One Breath at a Time
From Disconnection to Connection: A Journey for Every Heart
May wants to be brave. But when a fall off her horse leaves her feeling shaken and disconnected, she begins to learn that true courage isn't about "pushing through"—it's about listening within.
Brave, One Breath at a Time is more than an illustrated story; it is a somatic resource written by a certified Breathwork Facilitator and Master NLP Coach. Set among the stables of the UK, this story offers a different way of understanding bravery: as something that grows when we slow down, feel our feet on the ground, and take one breath at a time.
Released during the 2026 Year of the Horse—offering a somatic anchor for those navigating a fast-paced world.
Who is this book for?
- Sensory & Neurodivergent Children: For the "outsiders" and the deeply sensitive who need to know their feelings are a superpower, not a problem to be fixed.
- Competitive Equestrians: For riders of all levels looking to move past "performance freeze" and rebuild a partnership with their horse based on somatic trust.
- The Overwhelmed Parent: For those seeking a gentle, neuro-affirming way to help their child navigate big emotions without the "pushing" or "masking."
- Somatic Seekers: For anyone—adult or child—transitioning from a state of disconnection to a place of grounded, embodied presence.
- Equestrian Coaches & Educators: A professional resource to help students understand the "inner game" of riding and regulation.
Why This Book Is a Vital Tool
For Sensory Children
An "Own Voices" story that validates the AuDHD experience and teaches "bottom-up" regulation to connect with true feelings.
For Riders of All Ages
A resource for overcoming nerves or "freeze" and rebuilding the bridge of trust between horse and rider after a setback.
For Adults & Parents
A gentle introduction to somatic experiencing and NLP-based grounding techniques to move from overwhelm to connection.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need riding experience to attend a clinic?
Yes, these clinics are designed for active riders—from ambitious amateurs to competitive equestrians. You should be currently riding or working with horses.
Can breathwork really improve my riding performance?
Absolutely. Breathwork directly regulates your nervous system, which controls your perception, timing, and response patterns. When you're regulated, you can access your skills more consistently and communicate more clearly with your horse.
What if I've tried everything and still struggle with riding anxiety?
Many riders come to us after trying traditional sports psychology or "just pushing through." Our approach works at the nervous system level—addressing the root cause rather than managing symptoms. For deep-seated fear from falls or trauma, we also offer personalized 1:1 sessions.
How is this different from sports psychology for riders?
Sports psychology often focuses on mindset and mental strategies. We work somatically—through the body and nervous system AND with the mind—to create lasting physiological changes that support both mental clarity and physical performance.
Will this work if my horse is the anxious one?
Yes! Horses are incredibly sensitive to their rider's nervous system state. When you learn to regulate yourself, you become a source of co-regulation for your horse. Many riders report their "anxious" horses settle significantly when they themselves are regulated.
Do you offer virtual sessions?
Yes, virtual 1:1 sessions are available for riders worldwide. Clinics and workshops are primarily in-person but can be arranged virtually for groups.
Sarah Giddings
Sarah Giddings is a breathwork facilitator, yoga teacher, Master Coach, and Level 2 Purpose Guide with The Purpose Guides Institute. With over thirteen years' experience in embodied transformation, her work draws from conscious connected breathwork, functional breath practices, nervous system regulation, NLP, and purpose-led identity work.
Having worked at the intersection of performance, emotional intelligence, and embodied meaning, Sarah supports individuals to listen more intelligently to their systems, rather than overriding them. Her facilitation style is grounded, precise, and relational, creating safe, contained, and deeply human experiences.
Learn more about The Purpose Guides Institute at thepurposeguides.org
"My facilitation style is grounded, precise, and relational — creating experiences that feel safe, contained, and deeply human where you are wholly invited to arrive in complete sovereignty"