Coach Development

“Your coach can only give you what they know”

Sharon Hunt Equestrian

This was from a Facebook post and it got me thinking. If I was writing a coach development programme with the safeguarding of horses at its core, what modules would I include?

The physiological demands of horse sports

This would cover the fitness, strength and suppleness requirements of the various different disciplines as well as general training principles, fatigue and thermoregulation. At the end of the module coaches would be able to provide a bespoke training programme to their clients which would prepare their horse to meet the physiological demands of their sport.

The biomechanical demands of horse sports

This would cover what we are asking of the horse’s body in the various disciplines from a biomechanics perspective including what limits performance in horses. By the end of the module coaches would be able to use the Ridden Horse Performance Checklist (also known as the Ridden Horse Pain Ethogram) to provide feedback to their clients about where their horse might be experiencing discomfort in their ridden work, the possible causes and be able to recommend taking further action to resolve this.

The behavioural demands of horse sports

This module would cover the ethology and wellbeing of horses with a specific focus on the balance of positive and negative experiences. At the end of the module coaches would be able to use the 5 domains model of animal welfare assessment to suggest opportunities to tweak / change how their clients manage / train their horse(s) in order to maximise the horse's positive experiences.

Collaboration and development of a third language

Horses don’t use verbal language and humans can’t speak ‘horse’ so this module explores Brandt’s proposal that collaboration requires the creation of a system of communication that both parties can understand – in essence a third language. This  module would touch on learning theory and the wider understanding of how horses learn using their senses but would predominantly focus on engineering the training / learning environment using ecological dynamics. At the end of the module coaches will be able to design tailored coaching and learning sessions that provide opportunities to develop and practice this third language based on the individual horse / rider combination and the demands of their sport.

The rub – ethical equitation and human goal achievement

This module looks at how we decide what is ethical and uses a cost / benefit analysis approach to explore if the costs for the horse outweigh the benefits for humans. It also looks at how we as human athletes define success and the impact our goals can have on the experience of the horse. Using studies such as Cameron-Whytock & Bridden, 2014 which looked at risk factors for horse falls in one day events and found that those competitors in a top 3 position before cross country were significantly more likely to have a horse fall than a competitor in any other position. By the end of the module coaches will be able to identify potential risk factors during competition of chasing a goal and initiate discussions with their clients about what measures can be put in place to safeguard their horses both before and during competition.