Lexington, Ky. - The ability to teach does not always go hand in hand with athletic achievement. The athletes with the most impressive competitive record aren’t necessarily the ones who are the most adept at teaching others to achieve success. In many sports, including equestrian, there are well-supported pathways to competitive achievements as an athlete, but the systems for teaching teachers are less well established.

Cam Kiosoglous, Ph.D., is an Assistant Clinical Professor and Program Director at the Drexel University Sport Coaching Leadership Program and President of the United States Center for Coaching Excellence. He is also a longtime National Team and Olympic coach for US Rowing. Kiosoglous spoke to attendees at the 2025 US Equestrian Annual Meeting about supporting coach development.

“For anybody that I’ve met in the equestrian world, [horses are] part of their identity. It’s more than just a sport—there’s a relationship there,” said Kiosoglous. “I think that’s one of the things that has really drawn me to this conversation about coaching. What I loved that we just heard [in the General Session] is that expanding the coach development system is in the [US Equestrian] strategic plan, so there’s a top-down component to what you guys are already talking about.”

Building a System

“I hear a lot of language around, are they instructors? Are they trainers? Are they coaches?” said Kiosoglous. “Where do those roles overlap and where are they distinguished [from one another]? And what is our role in harnessing potential?”

Kiosoglous referred to a presentation given by U.S. Para Dressage Chef d’Equipe Michel Assouline earlier in the day during the General Session in which he discussed the journey of building a strong team environment over many years in the lead up to the team’s gold medal Paralympic Games last summer in Paris.

“Michel’s presentation about the Paralympic experience centered around the team and the people that supported the riders and the horses who achieved success in Paris,” he said. “It didn’t happen overnight. It took a long time, and there were a lot of mistakes along the way. If I’ve heard a consistent theme across all sports, it’s about getting the right people involved at the right time in the right way.

“You can have long-term athlete development, but if there’s not long-term coach development and long-term sport development, how are we getting new people into the sport and developing over time?”

In discussing the importance of a system for developing coaches at all levels, Kiosoglous listed some questions that those developing the system need to consider:

• How are we using evidence-based practices?
• How are we systematically thinking about coaching and coaches’ continuous learning?
• How do we create an environment of safety?
• What are the results of our system?

Gold-medal athletes and winning coaches are admired, but Kiosglous pointed out that they wouldn’t be where they are without the entry- and mid-level trainers and instructors who keep the sport going. Developing coaches at that level is an essential part of success.

“Who is the person that got us all into the sport that we love and cherish?” he said. “They were the person who got us in, or maybe kept us in when we said, ‘It’s too expensive. I don’t have enough time. It’s disrupting my life because I love this thing so much.’”

Effective Education

Providing the resources and information for educating coaches is a start, but Kiosoglous argues that it isn’t enough on its own. He quoted the adage, “You can lead a person to education, but you can’t make them learn.”

“It’s not just about giving them more information. It’s as much about understanding when to use those tools,” he said. “When do I pull out the hammer? Because not everything is a nail.”

Kiosoglous illustrated a scenario where an instructor tells a student to put their heels down but then provides no feedback to let them know if they’ve done it correctly or not. Without that last step, the instruction is incomplete. Seasoned equestrians understand that type of cue-response-feedback communication when they’re working with horses, but the same ingredients are necessary when teaching humans.

“There’s a command; what about a response?” he said. “The rider does it with a horse. There’s a back-and-forth. From a coaching perspective, it’s no different. ‘Do this. Good job. Keep doing it.’ Or ‘a little bit more.’ It’s that back-and-forth that tells you how to use those tools at the appropriate time.”

A key part of effective coaching is knowing that communication requires mutual understanding between the instructor and their student. The instructor may give an instruction in a way that their rider interprets differently from how they intended it.

“We’ve got to change our approach so that they walk out having learned something. That’s not on the student,” he said. “How do we deliver it differently? So often we explain it; what about a demonstration instead of an explanation? And then we must check for understanding.”

Kiosoglous implored attendees to be proactive in developing coaching systems that work toward the best interests of horses and riding students.

“Some of you may think systems are a top-down thing,” he said. “I work with enough national governing bodies to know that when the members speak, national governing bodies move fast. So, if you don’t feel like you’re part of the conversation, I want to challenge you on that one. I think everybody has some part to play.”

Knowing what kind of system for coach education currently exists—even if it’s non-existent—is the first step in building a new or better one, Kiosoglous says.

“Second step is, what’s the most urgent need? I heard time and again, it’s the welfare of the horse,” he said. “Where does that start? I’ve heard a bunch of answers to that one. There are policies, statements, and rules, but contextually, for you in your role, what’s the most urgent need? What standards don’t exist that you could consider adopting?”

The third step is bringing people into the coaching structure, and that has to go beyond posting a job listing for riding instructors and waiting for candidates to appear.

“When was the last time you said to someone, ‘Hey, have you ever thought about being a trainer? Have you ever thought about coaching?’” said Kiosoglous. “We need to be purposefully identifying people and intentional about the pipeline. Where are [new coaches] coming from? If I wanted to enter your discipline and become a coach, what would you say? We talk about athlete pathways. What about pathways for all the other roles?”

Equestrian sports are not alone. In his work across sports, Kiosoglous said that most are in need of more qualified coaches to meet demand and help positively grow the sport. The Olympics tend to increase interest in sports, especially in the host nation, so American sports organizations need to be thinking ahead to the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

“A home Olympics changes everything—for the better and for the worse,” he said. “There are a lot of cool things about it, but how do we navigate it? Are you ready for those fans to knock on the door in August of 2028 and say, ‘I want to try what you do’?”