I've had some opportunities this year to really think about the collegial support that I as a coach, am able to offer my fellow coaches, the support that I receive from my colleagues, and  that by working together, we are able to make a positive difference to horses and riders in our local community. Through these experiences I began thinking about the Communities of Practice that are available to me in my role as a coach.

"Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern, a set of problems, or a passion about a topic, and who deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by interacting on an ongoing basis," (Wenger, 1952).

As a coach, I look to other coaches for ideas, inspiration and guidance. I look to other coaches to strengthen my weaknesses and develop my method of training, to provide me with feedback that improves me as a coach and rider. In seeking all of these things, I hope myself to provide for them in return. I guess I am part of an informal Community of Practice that I feel provides well for my professional development. I consider myself very lucky on that count, not all communities of practice are so genuine in the commercial market place.

Market leaders in any field will acknowledge the importance of a strong knowledge base, it is simply to valuable an asset to be left to chance. I myself am largely a dressage rider, although I have an eventing background, I see jumping as a discipline that I would like to improve, so I align myself with a show jumping specialist to continue to grow and develop my knowledge in this area. I maintain connections with practitioners in natural horsemanship, Grand Prix dressage riders, saddle fitters, equine massage therapists, equine vets, western riders and camp drafters. Cultivating communities of practice in strategic areas is a practical way to manage knowledge as an asset. However, one might ask, why align yourself with camp drafters if that's not what you teach? Why massage therapists? why natural horsemanship? The answer to this is simple, there is always something to learn. Everyone has something to offer and we are all on a learning journey, that journey changes and evolves and in the market place, as a coach, I seek to continue my evolution. The areas that I seek to develop most are the areas of which I know least. Ive found that I have been able to use tools and methods across many disciplines that I may not had encountered if I had refused to entertain other peoples ideas and methods.

Of course its not all sugar and spice and everything nice. This is in the end, a commercial market place, so its unsurprising that the strategy used by some individuals in the market place involves the defamation or degradation of other peoples skills and training in the hope of gaining a commercial advantage. This sadly, can be incredibly damaging and is thankfully illegal in Australia, whether it be written or verbal in nature. Despite this fact, it goes on, and the equine industry is certainly not immune. It was recently put to me that my own training involved the "tying down of horses heads" and the inappropriate use of draw and side reins. A number of individuals had heard this from another coach and I myself had seen it written. It was an upsetting experience to hear that anyone in the equestrian community might say these things of me, my first question at that time was, "How do you tie a horses head down anyway? Can you even do that without causing a major catastrophe?". It was more upsetting to know that another coach was telling lies in order to damage my business, very upsetting in fact. Of course part of the reason that I pen this now is in response to that defamation, I want everyone to know that I don't "tie horses heads down", that yes I do use side reins when lunging in accordance with best practice as outlined by Equestrian Australia, adjusted to the length that is fitting to the level of training, strength and suppleness of the horse. I can't comment on the draw reins...I don't own any and have never used them or even had cause to investigate their use. That is something Ill have to discuss with my Community of Practice to find out more about ;)

The community that I draw around myself are made up of people that are ethical, supportive and experts in their field. Some of them are professional riders and coaches who are not qualified Equestrian Australia coaches.Some of these people compete at the highest level in the country, or on an international level, yet have experienced the kind of negativity that I myself described above. Some are simply people that through life have learnt their trade and have grown and expanded their knowledge to an expert level. Some of them are registered coaches with Equestrian Australia at the highest level and all of them have knowledge to give that I respect and drink in. I dont always agree with them, infact my willingness to engage in an active debate is a topic of much fun for them, but I always respect them and the evolving learning journey that they themselves are on. In the end, I believe that by expanding my knowledge assets through my Community of Practice, respecting other coaches and seeking their knowledge, not despite their differences but because of their differences, will see my coaching continue to provide best practice to all of my students.

So the people that will be inclined to make negative statements of other coaches and riders, what do they get from this practice? What sort of Community of Practice do they surround themselves with? Do they surround themselves with a Community of Practice at all? In the article the Thirty Most Common Reasons that People Might Criticize You in Psychology Today,  number one on the list is, "They are threatened by your competance". Further on in the list is "They want to make you look bad so as to advance their own position", and "They are trying to put their own spin on a situation to make themselves look good". Im not sure what kind of Community of Practice they would have, if at all. One that might allow them to feel confident and secure I imagine. One that was well aligned to their philosophy on education and horsemanship so as not to challenge their beliefs? Im not sure, I try not to be around people that judge others and speak negatively of colleages and I plan to keep it that way.

Moving forward, I will continue to seek other opinions and methods and, unless horse or rider welfare is at stake, I will respect any variation to my own methods and encourage those around me to do so also. I will continue to strive for best practice in my coaching and riding and hope that those that know of me, will respect the learning journey that I am on, secure in the knowledge that it is one of continual growth and development with an outstanding Community of Practice. Secondly, I would encourage you all to seek out a Community of Practice that empowers you, regardless of qualification, name or satus. That gives your strengths the power to soar, challenges your thoughts and ideas and lifts your level of knowledge so that you can contribute more to the learning journey of others. Finally, thankyou Community of Practice, you all know who you are. xxx

References  

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-mindful-self-express/201408/the-30-most-common-reasons-people-might-criticize-you 

Wenger, E. McDermott, R & Snyder, W. (1952) Cultivating communities of practice : a guide to managing knowledge, HarvardBusiness School Publishing, Boston. pp. 4.