Kathy and I have been excited about recording this episode for months. We finally managed to get the time (although I was on a stand up paddle board trip so not at home or on my own computer), and Kathy did not disappoint.

Days before we were due to record, one of the worlds top dressage riders withdrew from the Olympics because of the sharing of a video of a coaching session. We do not focus on the incident or the details, but thought that it was important to share some possible ways forward for training without the need to use whips or force.

This episode is about finding ways forward, embracing contemporary science in the fields of movement and motivation, and leaning in to finding the joy of movement.

If you enjoy this episode, you may want to listen to episode 6.

Links:
Kathy's website and information about her pain science courses and free resources.

The spider robot that learnt to limp.
Self-determination theory. How do we create optimal learning environments?
Learning the ugly zone.

Staying fit, healthy and injury free is so important to all riders and horses, regardless of age or level of activity.

This conversation covers a wide range of topics around how we can improve both horse and human performance and longevity by improving movement ability, fitness, resilience (or anti-fragility), and rehab.

Katie Wood is a Reg. Physiotherapist, MSc in Equine Science, eventer, gaited horse trainer, and equestrian performance expert. Katie describes her role as "Empowering equestrian athletes of all levels and disciplines with evidence-informed rehab, strength & conditioning, care and education." Her multi disciplinary approach is refreshing and powerful.

Katie finishes this episode with some great ideas about what we can all do to improve our own, and our equines, performance and health.

My guest Katie Wood
"I work with horses, riders, athletes, and anyone with a body. I understand how important it is to have a rehab professional in your corner that understands the demands of your sport. Whether you’re struggling with an injury, pain, performance issue, or just looking for ways to empower your role in the rider-horse relationship, I’ve got solutions for you."

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/theequestrianphysio/

Website
https://www.theequestrianphysio.ca/

This is a great conversation for coaches and participants of all sports. 

Kit and equipment design has always fascinated me. Since my early days of learning to kayak in boats, wearing clothing and using paddles that were designed for men (not people shaped like me), I have been intrigued by how much our kit and equipment can impact skill development and motivation. 

Nowadays company's are designing equipment scaled for children, and designed for women. Many coaches understand how important scaled equipment is to support perception-action coupling and skill development. 

Corran Addison has always combined designing kit with using it. I wanted to find out more about his understanding of how his kit and equipment design was rooted in his unique perspectives on movement within his performance environments and of how design could support or thwart the development of skill by highlighting or dampening perception action coupling. We also talked about motivation, play and the importance of safe environments for developing confident, competent and happily active and adaptive youngsters.

About my guest:
Corran Addison runs the Soul Adrenaline Factory. "A boutique brand focused squarely on innovation: in design, execution and overall appearance is our company philosophy. We have capitalized on the illustrious design career of Corran Addison, who throughout his years as paddler, surfer, snowboarder, designer and manufacturer, has been known for his innovative work."

At Soul, everything we do is about making our products the very best. We cut no corners, and spare no expense.  Our designs are forward thinking and fill specific niches, our kayak outfitting is second to none, and we use the best plastic that money can buy. Our snowboard designs and construction materials are as unique as our kayaks, as are our paddle boards. Everything about our products says “you’re getting the very best” - all backed with a LIFETIME warranty. 

 

For more about Corran check out what SOUL is to him, and who it is for here:
https://www.soulwaterman.com/pages/about-us

SOUL Waterman Website
https://www.soulwaterman.com/

My guest this episode is Pete Edwards of Prowess Coaching. Firstly I need to say a huge thank you to Pete for taking some time out a few days before his wedding to talk to me.

As with most of my conversations, this is (I hope) of interest to all coaches of all sports.

I have always loved my conversations with Pete so I was delighted that he agreed to let me record one of them. In this conversation we explored many topics around coaching including the evolution of different sports, developing a personal philosophy, ethics in sports, sports with socially constructed rules, and designing practice.  The golden threads through the conversation were evidence informed practice and coach learning.

Here are some of the articles and films we recommended in the conversation.
Games climber play, by Lito Tejada-flores, Alpine Journal, 1968. https://www.alpinejournal.org.uk/Contents/Contents_1968_files/AJ%201968%2046-52%20Tejada-Flores%20Games.pdf

Rotpunkt, Alex Megos and the Advent, the Agony and the Art of the Redpoint | Patagonia UTube 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbWvFjUIt5k

Valley Uprising, Yosemite's Rock Climbing Revolution, 2014 (film).

Riding Giants, 2004 documentary about the evolution of big wave surfing.


Pete Edwards
Pete Edwards is a professional climbing coach, running his own business, Prowess Climbing Coaching. He runs private sessions with climbers of all ages and abilities, as well as nationally recognised coach-education courses. He recently completed the Mountain Training Performance Coach Training - the top level of coaching award for climbing coaches in the UK - as one of only 24 coaches to have currently been trained, and is currently working towards assessment. Pete also has a Master's degree in Elite Performance from the University of Central Lancashire and is building towards starting a PhD next year. 

Prowess Climbing Coaching

https://prowesscoaching.co.uk/

+44 7792 854 863

On Facebook

On LinkedIn

I love all of my podcast episodes, but every now and again I get to record and be part of a conversation that I could have a profound influence on both me and other equestrians. This is one of those conversations.

For the full length introduction and links to research papers, go to the Dynamics Coaching website page -  https://wp.me/paOEAX-sg

My guests on this episode are Bonny Mealand and Emily Kieson:
Bonny Mealand DEP MEPA

Bonny’s niche is trimming the hooves of wild horses, combining her extensive experience as an Equine Podiatrist , fascination with equine behaviour, and her skill as a trainer of the “untrainable”.



Web site - https://www.touchingwild.com/

Online Course - https://community-touchingwild.mn.co/

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/touching_wild

Facebook (Learning Wild) - https://m.facebook.com/learning.wild.global/

Facebook (Touching Wild) - https://m.facebook.com/TouchingWild/


Emily Kieson PhD, MS, PgDip


Emily Kieson serves as Executive Director at Equine International, a US-based nonprofit focused on research, education, and outreach in the fields of equine behavior, welfare, and equine-human interactions. 

Emily holds a PhD in Comparative Psychology, a MS in Psychology, and a graduate degree in Equine Science. She also holds multiple certifications in various models of equine-assisted activities and recently served as Chair of the Equine Welfare Committee with the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship (PATH).
 

I reached out to Sara Bref after reading a translation of one of her articles for the Swedish equestrian magazine Hippson. After a brief exchange of emails, I invited Sara to be a guest and Sara asked if she could bring Petra with her.

I know I always say that my guests are awesome (they are), but this was a very special and rich conversation that also left me feeling more hopeful and thoughtful about the future of equestrianism and equestrian sports. I hope that you enjoy listening to the conversation and please do follow my guests and their wonderful journalism (mot of it is in Swedish so google-translate might be a good companion and well worth the effort to translate).

Sara wrote an article about my concept paper 'Can’t jump, won’t jump: Affordances of the horse-rider dyad underpin skill adaptation in showjumping using a constraints-led approach. (Davies, M., Stone, J. A., Davids, K., Williams, J., & O’Sullivan, M. (2023). Can’t jump, won’t jump: Affordances of the horse-rider dyad underpin skill adaptation in showjumping using a constraints-led approach. International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching, 18(4), 1313-1319).
Research article -
https://doi.org/10.1177/17479541221107379
Hippson article -
https://www.hippson.se/artikelarkivet/forskning/forskare-belyser-var-syn-pa-hasten.htm?fbclid=IwAR2wse5e49Wj0TyqADTsRq_wH7QwzqHQBev9VPteV5yokoT4Dtc7JiliafM

My guests on this episode were:

Sara Bref
Sara has a degree in Animal Science and is also a journalist. Sara currently works at the Swedish Farmers Association, before that she worked with science communication at a Swedish university. Sara has also been writing popular science for horse magazines (mostly hippson.se) for 15 years.

Sara can be reached on her LinkedIn, though she only posts in Swedish: Sara Bref | LinkedIn

Petra Andersson
Petra has a PhD in practical philosophy and has a position as a researcher and teacher in practical philosophy at The University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Most of Petra's teaching is in environmental ethics and animal ethics. Most of her research is about horse welfare.

Petra is on Facebook and can be contacted through her university email at [email protected]

In this episode I caught up with my good friend Tyler Yearby from Emergence and US Ski and Snowboard to discuss his work in strength and conditioning, movement technique, biomechanics, and coaching.

I hope that you enjoy this episode. Please get in touch with your reflections and feedback. 

ReserachGate Proflie
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Tyler-Yearby

ContactingTyler
X - @TylerYearby
LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tyler-yearby-59b89b5a/

I came across Karen's research while reading up for the discussion section of one of my PhD study papers. In this conversation we explore systems thinking, how it applies to horses and equestrianism, welfare, training and lots more. I hope that you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.

My guest on this episode is PhD candidate, Karen Luke.

Karen Luke researches rider motivation and safety as well as horse welfare and welfare assessment at Central Queensland University. Her work includes developing a new approach to horse welfare based on systems thinking and a new ridden horse welfare assessment tool that she used to show a connection between horse welfare and rider safety. She has also investigated equestrians’ understanding of horse welfare and most recently, why equestrians make the choices they do when it comes to horse keeping and training. Karen lives in Melbourne, Australia and when not researching, enjoys riding and training her own horses.

Recommended books:
The Systems View of Life: A Unifying Vision. Fritjof Capra and Pier Luigi Luisi.

Ways of Being. James Bridle.

Karen's ReserachGate profile:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Karen-Luke-2

Twitter/ X
@K_L_Luke

Just Equestrian Solutions Website:
https://justequestriansolutions.com/index.html

The research on rats, motivation, welfare, and learning (lego cars and fruit loops):
https://urnow.richmond.edu/video/article/-/19727/rats-who-ride-see-the-latest-from-urs-motoring-rodents-.html?utm_source=www&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=video-story

In this episode we revisit the importance of considering where an athlete or learner is focusing their attention and why focus of attention is so important for skill acquisition, retention, and transfer.

My guests bring the topic to life with an overview of the research literature to date. We also discuss some of the challenges of research, application to practice and why this area is so important for coaches to be aware of. 

Findings in the 'focus of attention' literature for the benefits of an 'external focus'  has been one of the most replicated phenomena in sports science. But, is it that simple? More recent research is challenging the simple internal vs external focus dichotomy and looking at what perceptual information might be most important for the performer to be attuning to.

We also discuss the importance of researchers learning from practitioners.

My guests on this episode are Dr Vicky Gottwald and Dr Robin Owen.

Vicky Gottwald
X @GottwaldVicky

University profile
https://www.bangor.ac.uk/staff/spss/vicky-gottwald-016917/en

Robin Owen
X @RobinOwenPsych

University profile
https://www.hope.ac.uk/si/dr-robin-owen.html

Useful Links 
Gottwald et al, (2023). Every story has two sides: evaluating information processing and ecological dynamics perspectives of focus of attention in skill acquisition

 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fspor.2023.1176635/full

Harnessing the power of attention: Exploring 'focus of attention' theories, practice, and myths. In book: Myths of Sport Performance (Due in Spring 2024). Publisher: Sequoia.
Draft version: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/377416924_Harnessing_the_power_of_attention_Exploring_'focus_of_attention'_theories_practice_and_myths 

My guest Mark O'Sullivan is an associate professor at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences and an 'A' Licence Football Coach. Mark is also a co-author on my concept paper, 'Can't jump, won't jump.'

In this conversation we explore why Mark chose to go back into academia and follow a PhD researching coaching and skill acquisition from an ecological dynamics perspective.

The conversation follows our curiosity and wanders through a variety of topics starting with Mark's motivation to 'fall into a PhD' at Sheffield Hallam University in the UK with James Rumbold and Keith Davids alongside his full time job as Head of Development for 8–12 years olds at AIK FC in Stockholm.

The conversation centres on the challenges and opportunities of trying to move from a more linear to nonlinear pedagogy in sports coaching practice. Mark challenges many of our current coaching practices, myths, coach education, and the pervasiveness of socio-cultural influences.

For those of you who are paying attention, Mark is also one of my co-authors on the paper 'Can't jump, won't jump: Affordances of the horse-rider dyad underpin skill adaptation in showjumping using a constraints-led approach.' Davies at al, 2022.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/17479541221107379

Here are some of Mark's open access academic papers:
The Learning in Development Research Framework for sports organizations, O'sullivan et al, 2021. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13573322.2021.1966618

Not just to know more, but to also know better: How data analysis-synthesis can be woven into sport science practiced as an art of inquiry, O'sullivan et al, 2023.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13573322.2023.2261970

Researchgate (if you are not familiar with this site, it's a great place to search for academic researchers and often has copies of papers available as open access): https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mark-O-Sullivan-Phd

Twitter (X): @markstkhlm

Mark's Blog: https://footblogball.wordpress.com/