Two Athletes. One Future. A Conversation with Kristen Closson

Kristen Closson has spent her whole career seeing the horse from every angle the sport offers: in the saddle as a Grand Prix rider by her early twenties, in the coaching arena across nearly 10 countries and 30 years, and in the judge's box as an EA A Level Grand Prix judge. She's also a coach educator and judge educator.

This year she put that experience and passion to work co-creating Two Athletes. One Future. Equestrian NSW’s equine well-being, performance and longevity series. It's already got many riders rethinking things they've done for years and asking themselves “what can we do better.’ We sat down with Kristen to talk about why she started the series, what's stuck with her since the first session, and what any of us, at any level, on any horse, can actually do starting today.

Why did you start Two Athletes. One Future.?

I really have to credit Dr Mike Tomlinson with helping start this series. Over the past year he included me in the development of several presentations, and some of the information felt well ahead of conversations I was hearing in Australian equestrian culture. It was changing how I worked with my horses, how I rode, and even how I judged. I felt that if I was fortunate enough to be exposed to these ideas, I wanted our broader community to have the same opportunity. And so the series was born, slowly, and in the windiest possible way, through hundreds of conversations with Sue Cunningham, the co-creator of the series.

What idea from Dr Tomlinson’s session has stayed with you?

The line that has stayed with me most was actually about social licence: “Social license is lost when the public believes the system rewards what it claims to condemn.” That really hit home. I see riders every day who genuinely love their horses and want to do the right thing, yet sometimes use an aid simply to make the horse do something because they have asked, when they have asked. It can be completely incongruent with their own ethos, but so embedded in how many of us have been taught that we don’t even notice it. To me, becoming aware of that disconnect is an incredibly important opportunity for change.

What does “recover the horse, not just the muscles” look like day to day?

For me, it means changing how we think about recovery altogether. Recovery isn’t simply repairing the tissues we loaded today so we can load them again tomorrow. It is helping the whole horse return to a state where they can comfortably cope, adapt and learn. That includes the muscles and cardiovascular system, but also the nervous system, emotional state, movement, social connection and something we can easily overlook, adequate rest and sleep. That has changed the way I look at everything from training to travel and competition. Have travel, a new environment, weather or competition disrupted their ability to settle and restore? The question becomes less, “Is my horse physically ready to work again?” and more, “Has my horse actually recovered from what I asked of them?” Because if physical and emotional stress continues to accumulate faster than the horse can recover from them, eventually something has to give. For me, longevity starts in that space between the work: how well we help the horse recover determines how successfully they can adapt to what we ask next.

What is one practical change any rider could make this month?

Spend a little more time noticing your horse before deciding what that day’s training should look like. How do they walk out of the stable or paddock? How does their body feel during grooming and the first ten minutes? Are they mentally available, energetic, stiff, tired or unusually reactive? We often arrive with a plan, but good training sometimes means being willing to change it. A really simple habit is to ask, “What horse do I have today?” and then let the answer influence what you do next.

What would you like to see shift in dressage culture over the next twelve months?

I would love to see us become a little less captivated by more, more movement, more power, more expression, more difficulty, and more interested in the quality of how the horse gets there. Dressage is ultimately about developing the horse, and I’d love to see greater value placed on balance, confidence, ease and the horse’s ability to understand and comfortably perform what we ask. When something becomes difficult, perhaps the question isn’t immediately how to produce more, but what might be missing that would make it easier for the horse? I believe that would be a meaningful cultural shift: not lowering our ambitions, but becoming more thoughtful about the path we take to reach them.

What question would you like every rider asking themselves in the saddle?

“How can I do better?” And within that, perhaps: “How can I better partner my horse in this moment?” For me, that brings the responsibility back to the rider without taking the horse out of the conversation. Instead of asking, “How do I make the horse do this?”, I can ask what I might change in my balance, position, aids or explanation to make the answer clearer and easier for my horse to find. Sometimes doing better means asking differently, changing our timing or changing our milestones. Sometimes it means breaking something into smaller pieces, changing the exercise, or recognising where the horse is before we continue. It keeps us curious rather than critical and reminds us that training is a conversation between two athletes. We may not be able to control every part of that conversation, but we can always take responsibility for how well we partner the horse from our side of it.

What can riders expect from Dr Stephen Peters in October?

Dr Peters takes us into another fascinating part of the conversation: the equine brain and nervous system. We’ll explore how horses learn, how stress influences their ability to process information, and what ideas such as predictability, emotional regulation and reinforcement might mean for the way we work with our horses. I think it will encourage riders to look at very familiar moments in completely new ways. If Mike’s session encouraged us to consider how the horse’s body is coping, Stephen’s invites us to ask what the horse’s brain and nervous system are experiencing while we train. The session will be held online on 29 October as part of the Two Athletes. One Future. Equine Well-being, Performance, and Longevity Series.