Horses Are Not Machines: An Equestrian Sports Pedagogy Needs to Reflect the Relational and Coadaptive Nature of Skill Acquisition in Show Jumping Dyads

Much is changing in our understanding of animals in relation to acknowledging their nonhumancentric intelligence and sentience. Alongside emerging attitudes toward animal welfare, these changes have led to criticism of traditional coaching pedagogies in equestrianism. Elucidating an ecological process of learning in horse–human dyads may be valuable for guiding the development of a contemporary equestrian pedagogy. This study used thematic analysis to identify influential constraints on 11 elite show jumpers in the United Kingdom. Thematic analysis revealed common themes of: (a) becoming attuned to horses (organismic constraints), (b) becoming skillful through active problem-solving (task constraints), (c) pervasive sociocultural and historical narratives influencing affordance salience (environmental constraints), and (d) participants’ perceptions of current trends in coaching. Results suggest that sociocultural and historical narratives, rather than a lack of care or attentiveness, may shape affordance perception, perpetuating many practices currently embedded in British equestrian sports. Participant insights suggest that the development of a pedagogical framework for equestrian activities should foreground the relational and problem-solving nature of the horse–rider dyadic system. These perceptions imply that skill development is a process of ongoing coadaptation between horse and rider with riders both learning from and teaching horses.