A Constraints-Led Approach to Develop Skilled Horses and Riders | Episode 48
By Tim Worden & Nicole Lakin of the IGNITE
How can we design practice to develop the horse-rider partnership? How do the environment, the horse/rider, and tasks interact to determine the ways in which an exercise will be performed? To answer these questions and more, we chat with UK Coach Developer and PhD candidate Marianne Davies.
Episode 48 is a nice continuation of the discussion we had on our last episode with Dr. Eva Marunova. Here, we discuss how the task, athlete, and environment impact how a skill is learned by athletes. Importantly for equestrian sports, the horse-rider dyad adds another level of complexity and has a major impact on how skills are acquired and refined. Marianne discusses how a constraints-led approach can be used to inform training design for horses and riders, and gives examples of how to ‘challenge’ developing athletes. We also discuss the myth of ‘correct’ technique and when not to overcoach athletes.
Marianne has her own podcast – ‘The River Tiger Podcast’ that we encourage you to check out as well to hear more from Marianne on topics like this!
About the Expert
Marianne’s coaching experience includes more than 35 years of working in sports, academic and corporate environments. As well as coaching, she also works as a coach developer, coach educator, assessor, IQA, and national trainer. Marianne is a Senior Coach Developer at UK Coaching. This role includes shaping learning and development opportunities for the coach development & education workforces, working across a variety of roles primarily through program design, content, and resources. Before working at UK Coaching, Marianne spent eight years in the role of Coaching and Workforce Manager for a National Governing Body (Canoe Wales), and before that was responsible for participation development, community, and inclusion.
In her spare time, Marianne has always been a keen equestrian and still has two horses. She also spent over 10 years as a fully active member of the Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Organisation (OVMRO), Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team (LLMRT) and Search & Rescue Dogs Association) (SARDA. Marianne has always combined practical coaching work with academia and a passion for research. As well as many academic publications, Marianne regularly writes articles aimed at making academic research accessible to participants, coaches, and coach educators in a range of adventure sports. Marianne is currently doing a part-time PhD in Skill Acquisition – Applying a nonlinear pedagogy to equestrian sports based at Sheffield Hallam University under the supervision of Joe Stone and Keith Davids.
If you enjoyed this podcast episode, be sure to check out our in-depth video content in the Sport Horse Series Video Library!
Episode Links
Hosts: Nicole Lakin and Dr. Tim Worden of the IGNITE
Podcast Website: Sport Horse Podcast
Presenting Sponsor: IGNITE
Guest: Marianne Davies
