Can’t jump, won’t jump: Affordances of the horse-rider dyad underpin skill adaptation in showjumping using a constraints-led approach

Abstract

Equestrianism is part of a global industry influenced by a rich history of over 4000 years of culture and tradition. As the only interspecies Olympic event, equestrianism is facing negative public perceptions of competition performance and traditional coaching practices. In this position paper, we propose a constraints-led approach as a framework for contemporising equestrian coaching practice. Ecological dynamics is the theoretical framework that underpins a constraints-led approach methodology, providing guiding principles that inform a nonlinear pedagogy in sport and physical education. A constraints-led approach focuses on the individual (organism/s), task and environmental constraints acting over multiple nested timescales and what this means for how behaviour emerges. Using examples from the equestrian discipline of showjumping, we outline how a constraints-led approach can inform coaching behaviour and practice design to support skill acquisition through co-adaptations in the horse-rider dyad system. By focussing on the horse-rider dyad as a complex system, there is a move away from a human-centric perspective of compliance and control of the horse, toward system agency and intentionality in problem solving. Practice design principles of intention, representativeness, constraints manipulation and functional variability support the dyad to co-adapt and interact effectively through practice to achieve performance goals. Skilful performance is developed through attunement to perceptual information that invites opportunities for action (affordances). Understanding the development of affordance perception in the horse-rider dyad could guide the application of a constraints-led approach to equestrian coaching practice.

An ecological and embodied approach for training the racecar driver

“…Building upon this concept, the term representative learning design was more recently suggested ( 16 )—advocating the use, during training, of organism-environment interactions that represent those that the trainees will encounter in real life (e.g., in competition, in a race). It is then imperative for coaches to remember that training activities should aim to represent the demands of the race ( 17 ). Indeed, training in a high-fidelity simulator for a multitude of possible scenarios on the racetrack follows the concept of representative learning design.…”

“…Coaches responsible for racecar drivers' preparation should integrate these race-specific conditions into their training design. This does not dictate that training should universally mirror the entirety of a race ( 17 ). Indeed, a comprehensive replication of the entire race might not be practically feasible or needed.…”

On a Corresponsive Sport Science

“…Such expansive views shed new light on emergent forms of extractivism, and even bring into question purportedly 'sustainable' discourses focused on 'green development', 'green building' and the use of totalising technologies that attempt to 'greenwash' the crisis such technologies risk perpetuating [6,18]. For example, many industrial-scaled renewable energy projects still follow an (onto)logic grounded in anthropocentrism and capitalism, in which the earth is reconfigured, and its 'resources' exploited and commodified, for the betterment of humans 10 .…”

“…Like denoted on the garden's welcoming sign, the grammatical use of "all" includes human and nonhuman beings. For recent posthumanist theorising in the sport sciences, see[10].…”

An Ecological and Embodied Approach for Training the Racecar Driver

“…It is also imperative for coaches to remember that training activities should aim to represent the demands of the race. 29 Indeed, training in the simulator for a multitude of possible scenarios on the racetrack follows the concept of representative training conditions. However, when devising a training protocol, it is essential to consider the duration of the race and the possible onset of drivers' fatigue.…”