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The River Tiger Podcast from Dynamics Coaching

The River Tiger Podcast from Dynamics Coaching

By: Marianne Davies
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The River Tiger Podcast from Dynamics Coaching is a space for curious, evidence-informed conversations that sit at the intersection of learning, movement, skill acquisition, ethics, and philosophy — with a particular love for adventure, lifestyle, and equestrian sports.


Hosted by Marianne Davies, the show explores what it means to become skilful in environments that are complex, fluid, and never fully controllable — where risk can be managed, but not eliminated.


Each episode brings research and real-world practice into dialogue through spontaneous, thoughtful discussions with practitioners and researchers. Expect deep dives into ecological and systems perspectives, coaching practice, decision-making under pressure, and the socio-cultural realities that shape how we train, compete, and care — for ourselves, for others, and (in equestrian contexts) for the horse as a partner in the learning environment.




© 2026 The River Tiger Podcast from Dynamics Coaching
Episodes
  • Horse Welfare 12 with Dr Karen Luke: Systems Thinking, Wicked Problems, and Rethinking Equestrian Practice.

    Horse Welfare 12 with Dr Karen Luke: Systems Thinking, Wicked Problems, and Rethinking Equestrian Practice.
    May 28 2026

    In this episode of the River Tiger Podcast, I am joined by returning guest Dr. Karen Luke to explore her new paper and framework referred to as “Horse Welfare 12”, based on Donella Meadows’ 12 leverage points for intervening in complex systems.

    Drawing on systems thinking and decades of hands-on experience with horses, Karen unpacks why the equestrian world is a “wicked problem” – full of genuinely conflicting stakeholder needs (riders, organisers, horses, wider horse industries) – and why quick fixes like tightening a noseband rarely address what’s really going on underneath.

    Instead, she invites us to stop, reflect, and be curious: about our practices, our language, and the deep paradigms we’ve inherited about what horses are “for”.

    In this episode, we discuss:

    - What makes the horse industry a “wicked problem”
    - Conflicting values and goals between riders, governing bodies, spectators, and horses
    - Nosebands in dressage as an example of solutions that help one stakeholder but may harm another

    The Horse Welfare 12 / Meadows 12 framework

    - Donella Meadows’ 12 leverage points and why they matter for equestrian sport
    - Grouping the 12 into four “bands”: parameters, feedback, design, and intent
    - Why the deepest level – paradigm, values, beliefs – quietly drives everything else

    From parameters to paradigms: practical examples
    - Parameter level: tightening a noseband, adding a slow-feeder – easy to change, limited systemic impact
    - Feedback level: using rein-tension devices to give riders real-time information, not just acting on the horse
    - Design level: changing rules and scoring (e.g., including rein tension in dressage scores)
    - Intent/paradigm level: shifting from seeing the horse as “athletic equipment” to a sentient being and partner

    Rider safety, welfare, and the problem with “band-aid” solutions
    - How better welfare and positive affective state in horses relates to rider safety
    - Why gadgets and stronger controls may mask the problem rather than solve its cause
    - The “British novice / British nervous” pattern: when control culture undermines both confidence and connection

    Language as a deep leverage point
    - How words like naughty, disobedient, resistant, submissive, and even calling a horse it reveal our paradigm
    - Using language intentionally to support seeing horses (and other beings) as subjects, not objects
    - Parallels with other domains where there is a power differential (e.g., children, women, First Nations people)

    Curiosity instead of guilt and defensiveness
    - Moving from “I feel terrible about what I used to do” to “What might I be missing now?”
    - Why guilt can shut down learning, and how curiosity creates space for change
    - Simple, everyday questions riders and coaches can ask:
    - What is this behaviour telling me?
    - What assumptions am I making?
    - Do my practices actually line up with my values about horses?

    What we can all do next
    - Tuning into behaviour as information, not just something to control
    - Noticing and gently shifting our language
    - Creating spaces for dialogue across paradigms*– chunking up to shared values first, then back down to solutions
    - A preview of Karen’s next project* on systems dynamics modelling for horse welfare: putting Horse Welfare 12 into practice in a more formal, quantitative way



    About my guest Karen Luke

    Karen is an equine scientist working at the intersection of horse welfare, human behaviour change, and systems thinking. Her research asks a question that's increasingly urgent for the horse industry: after more than forty years of welfare science, why has translation into practice been so slow — and what would it take to change that?


    Resources

    - Karen’s paper / author copy of “Horse Welfare 12”– available via her website (https://changingrein.com.au/).
    - Changing Rain (podcast) – Karen’s podcast exploring change, horses, and welfare (check your favourite podcast platform).


    This episode is for you if:

    - You’re uneasy about some traditional equestrian practices but not sure what to do instead.
    - You’re interested in systems thinking, complexity, and Meadows’ leverage points, and want to see them applied to horse welfare.
    - You coach, ride, or care for horses and want to align your values, language, and everyday practices more closely with their welfare.
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    52 mins
  • Response-Able: Ecological Psychology, Wayfinding, and Multi-Species Life. A catch-up with Carl Woods.

    Response-Able: Ecological Psychology, Wayfinding, and Multi-Species Life. A catch-up with Carl Woods.
    May 26 2026
    Show Notes In this rich, wandering catch-up with with Dr. Carl Woods we explore how an ecological approach to psychology, sport, and everyday life might help us live more responsibly in a time of ecological collapse.Drawing on two of Carl’s recent papers – a commentary on wayfinding (in conversation with Harry Heft and Gibsonian ecological psychology) and “Responsibility in a Time of Ecological Collapse” – we unpack what it means to pay attention, to be “response-able,” and to re‑situate humans within, not above, the more‑than‑human world.In This EpisodeThe backstory to Carl’s recent papers - How a provocative earlier paper on doing sport science differently led to a conversational review process with John van der Kamp. - The emergence of a special issue on ecological psychology’s response to the climate crisis. - Why Carl and colleagues moved from talking about morality to proposing an ethic of responsibility.From cognitive maps to wayfinding as skilled movement - Harry Heft’s challenge to the idea that humans and animals navigate via internal cognitive maps. - Why exploratory movement and picking up environmental structure are central to finding one’s way. - Seafarers, albatrosses, currents, and how different species perceive and navigate their worlds. - The downstream implications: how your theoretical lens changes what and how you study in both lab and field.What is an ethic of responsibility? - Moving beyond box‑ticking, principled ethics and university forms. - Responsibility as rooted in our **interwovenness with the world** and our ongoing relations. - Five practices Carl and colleagues foreground: - **Attentiveness** - **Politeness and curiosity** - **Rendering each other capable** - **Openness to encounter** - **Ongoingness and mutual flourishing**Education of attention & “attention snacking" - Marianne’s idea of small attentional shifts as “attention snacks” that can nudge long‑term behavioural change. - Why ecological approaches focus not on “changing what’s in the head” but on what people become attuned to. - How this differs from traditional “behaviour change” models that rely on prescriptions, rules, and optimisation.Stories that make it concrete - Pigeon Watch (Donna Haraway): Chicago schoolchildren move from seeing pigeons as “rats with wings” to recognizsng them as social beings with life ways, and begin to act differently in their neighbourhoods. - Barbara Smuts and the baboons: what it means to observe animals from their perspective, with politeness and curiosity, rather than forcing their behaviour into our theories. - Dancing at UQ: how a glazed façade and manicured forecourt at the University of Queensland became a spontaneous public dance space, illustrating how design can unintentionally hold open pluralistic affordances. - Marianne’s sea kayaking and rock‑hopping: timing, swell, sound, and the full sensory education of attention needed to move through dynamic seascapes. - Whiteouts and a search-and-rescue dog: how Marianne and her dog Skye co‑navigated in zero visibility, and what this reveals about multi-species wayfinding. - Companion animals (dogs, horses) and over‑control: shifting from obedience and dominance to *shared responsiveness, trust, and agency.Tight and loose logics in design and coaching - How to design environments and practice tasks that have: - A tight task goal, but - Enough loose affordances and “wiggle room” to invite creativity, exploration, and spontaneous solutions. - Applying this to: - Urban and campus design - Physical activity promotion - Sports coaching (beyond “right/wrong technique” and deficit detection).Climate, local weather, and caring for the tree at the end of the street - Reframing “global climate change” as "local weather change" to reconnect people with what they can directly perceive. - Why attending to local events (floods, changing seasons, declines in sparrows) may be more powerful than distant abstractions. - Marianne’s house sparrows and the garden center’s nesting wren: small acts of making space for more-than-human life. - The question Carl poses: How do we help people care about the tree at the end of their street?Trust, ongoingness, and flourishing together - Trust as an attunement to the other, and a willingness to be vulnerable in the expectation of shared ongoingness. - Symbiotic examples: mantis shrimp and goby fish, sled dogs and Inuit travellers, rescue dogs and handlers, horses and riders, teammates in sport. - How trust, attention, and responsibility intertwine so that all parties can flourish.Themes You’ll Hear Throughout- Ecological psychology (Gibson, Heft) as a way of seeing - perception, movement, and environment - as inseparable.- Critiques of human exceptionalism and “humans versus nature” thinking.- The power of small, ...
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    1 hr and 25 mins
  • How we learn to move in the real world: A conversation with Harry Heft.

    How we learn to move in the real world: A conversation with Harry Heft.
    May 2 2026

    In this episode of the River Tiger Podcast Marianne is joined by Professor Harry Heft, one of the leading voices in ecological psychology and a scholar deeply influenced by James and Eleanor Gibson. Harry shares how growing up amid the social change of the late 1960s, and his frustration with psychology’s neglect of real living environments, led him into a lifetime of work on environment–behaviour relations.

    The conversation explores the core ecological idea that perception is not about constructing an inner picture of the world, but about detecting richly structured information in the environment. Harry explains how James and Eleanor Gibson reframed perceptual learning as a process of differentiation and attunement rather than “enriching” impoverished sensory inputs. Using concrete examples, from wine tasting to children learning to move safely, and from driving to riding horses, he shows how organisms become more finely tuned to the affordances of their surroundings.

    Marianne connects these ideas to equestrian and adventure sports (riding, paddling, surfing, paragliding, mountain biking), where we move through the world as person–animal or person–equipment systems, rather than isolated individuals. Together, they discuss how riders, horses, and other animals co-adapt, how agency and control shape learning, and why allowing animals (and humans) to actively explore is crucial for genuine skill development.

    The episode broadens out into questions of place, culture, and development. Harry reflects on:

    - How noise, housing, and urban environments affect children’s perceptual learning.

    - Why early experiences in rich, structured, but not over-controlled environments are so powerful and hard to “overwrite.”

    - The importance of situated and joint perception, we learn to see the world through interactions with others, human and non-human.

    - The social and ethical implications of social media, homeschooling, loss of free play, and reduced face-to-face interaction for children.

    Finally, Harry talks about his current interests in meaning, culture, and social affordances, how objects and places are never neutral but imbued with significance through shared practices and histories. Throughout, the conversation keeps circling back to a central theme: how we and the animals around us learn to move, act, and live meaningfully in our environments, within both possibilities and constraints.

    If you’re curious about how environments shape perception, learning, and culture, and what this means for coaching, education, animal welfare, and everyday life, this episode offers a rich, thoughtful, and accessible introduction.


    My guest

    Harry Heft

    Link to Harry’s ResearchGate profile https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Harry-Heft

    Denison University profile https://denison.edu/people/harry-heft
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    58 mins
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