The River Tiger Podcast from Dynamics Coaching
The River Tiger Podcast from Dynamics Coaching
Marianne Davies
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.
Confidence, Control, and Connection: NLP Meets Ecological Dynamics in Riding. A conversation with Dr Tracey Cole
Guest: Tracy Cole, NLP Master Trainer and equestrian mindset coach In this episode of the River Tiger podcast, Marianne Davies talks with Tracy Cole, an NLP master trainer who works with riders ranging from very nervous amateurs to elite competitors. Together they explore how neuro‑linguistic programming (NLP) is used to support riders’ confidence, mindset, and performance – and how that sits alongside an ecological approach to coaching, attention, and the horse–rider relationship. In this ...
Jun 25
56 min
Horse Welfare 12 with Dr Karen Luke: Systems Thinking, Wicked Problems, and Rethinking Equestrian Practice.
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 q...
May 28
51 min
Response-Able: Ecological Psychology, Wayfinding, and Multi-Species Life. A catch-up with Carl Woods.
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 ...
May 26
1 hr 24 min
How we learn to move in the real world: A conversation with Harry Heft.
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 const...
May 2
57 min
Coaching Falling with Style: Affordances, safety, and skill adaptation with Danny Hatcher
In this episode of the River Tiger Podcast, host Marianne Davies speaks with Danny Hatcher, whose work sits at the intersection of sports coaching, ecological psychology, Deaf awareness, and technology/AI. Danny introduces his background in strength and conditioning and sports coaching and explains how a seemingly simple example about a table having “affordances” drew him into ecological psychology. He shares his lived experience of being half deaf and half blind, his journey into British Sig...
Mar 12
1 hr 14 min
Beyond Optimality: Embracing emergent adaptation. A conversation with Madhur Mangalam.
This podcast was recorded in response the publication of 'The myth of Optimality in Human Movement Science' by Madhur Mangalam. I recorded this episode some time ago but it has been a tough year and I have not published any podcasts. I lost my beloved River Tiger this year - it's still very raw but I do want to discuss that in another episode. My motivation is stronger for continuing to explore skill adaptation in equestrian and adventure sports so despite the need to prioritise my PhD thesis...
Dec 31, 2025
59 min
Exploring 'the affordance hypothesis' with Ed Baggs. What are affordances and are they different for non-human animals?
Ed Baggs, assistant professor at the University of Southern Denmark, joins me for a conversation about his research on affordances. I invited Ed to join me after reading his latest (preprint) paper ‘The Affordance Hypothesis. In this paper Ed and his co-author Vicente Raja delve into affordance research, using examples like an African fish eagle hunting bee-eaters to illustrate direct perception. Ed discusses his journey from traditional cognitive science to exploring affordances in lan...
Jan 25, 2025
55 min
A contemporary perspective on strength, conditioning and rehabilitation with Yuji Suzuki.
Yuji Suzuki, a strength and conditioning coach and chiropractor based in Portland, Oregon, discusses his transition to an ecological approach in his work with youth and remote clients. He explains how the COVID-19 pandemic led him to explore online resources, which introduced him to the ecological principles of human movement learning. Yuji emphasises the importance of allowing clients to explore their own movements rather than imposing rigid biomechanical models. He also highlights the...
Jan 16, 2025
54 min
Circumnavigating Anglesey: Celebrating friendship, adventure, and play.
This is a special edition of the podcast. I'm not only passionate about coaching and learning in adventure and equestrian sports, they are an integral part of my life. In this episode I am joined by the three amazing women with whom I shared a wonderful adventure this summer. Sue Couling, Jenna Sanders and Louise Royle join me to capture our summer adventure stand up paddle boarding around the beautiful Isle of Anglesey in North Wales. The most amazing and special thing about ad...
Dec 24, 2024
53 min
Why the concept of affordances is so important to our understanding of becoming skilful. A conversation with Dr Andrew Wilson
This is a conversation that I have been looking forward to for a long time. We covered a lot of ground especially defining affordances and linking affordances not only to individual movement, but to multi organism and multi species interactions. On the way we connected affordance perception, calibration, flow, and many other importance concepts. Andrew Wilson, an ecological psychologist at Leeds Beckett University, discusses the concept of affordances, emphasising their central role in skil...
Dec 13, 2024
1 hr 4 min
Load more