The River Tiger Podcast from Dynamics Coaching
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.
The River Tiger Podcast from Dynamics Coaching
Part 2. Biotensegrity and the horse-human partnership: a conversation with authors Dr Susan Lowell de Solorzano and Maren Diehl.
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In part 2 of this episode I am joined again by my two more fabulous guests from part 1 to explore a topic that has fascinated me since I came across it in my research into haptic perception. Biotensegrity.
To give you an overview of biotensegrity check out this short Youtube video
https://youtu.be/MfBuDci3GlM
The paper that is referenced in the podcast is my PhD concept paper https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/17479541221107379
This was such a wonderful conversation and went on for two hours so I have decided to split this episode into two parts. I would like to thank both my guests for joining me in this conversation from different parts of the world.
In part 2 we delve further into understanding the practical implications of tensegrity (including the humble pop-up tent) and biotensegrity are before going on a journey around many topics including;
- Biotensegrity, expansion, contraction and our understanding of functional movement.
- Shear forces.
- How training can actually prevent horses using their bodies in a tensegrity way.
- When to start a horse under saddle.
- Behavioural and emotional regulation.
- Weak ankles, lameness and movement compensations.
About my guests.
Susan Lowell de Solorzano has an MA in Human Development and Education with a focus on kinesthetic learning and is a certified level III T-ai Chi instructor.
Resources & Links
Book 'Everything Moves: How Biotensegrity Informs Human Movement'
My instructions for making a collapsible tensegrity using common household materials: https://youtu.be/RuEjQ228sy0
I can best be reached through: BiotensegrityArchive.org or my twitter account: @1Biotensegrity
Colloquy on Biotensegrity and Equine Health
BiotensegriTea Party w Veterinary Pathologist Dr. Elizabeth Uhl
The North Face Tent Design innovations, Bruce Hamilton & Buckminster Fuller
Maren Diehl is sort of a field researcher in biotensegrity since 2015, probably the first one in equitation and for sure the first one without any ties to riding styles and training systems.
After many years as a rider, trainer and instructor with more questions than answers, Maren Diehl found biotensegrity to be a good explanatory model for living beings in motion, and things started to make sense. In her online courses she teaches what biotensegrity is all about, what it is good for and how it differs from what we know as biomechanics.
For her biotensegrity gives a new insight into perceived problems and solutions in the world of horses and equitation and provides a theoretical foundation on which to build, a new way of looking at things - a paradigm shift.
Homepage
https://www.die-pferde-sind-nicht-das-problem.de/
YouTube channel
https://youtube.com/channel/UCL7K6Wlbi33X3kSR74414eA
Book "Beyond Biomechanics - Biotensegrity"
English (choose your country bottom right)
https://shop.tredition.com/booktitle/Beyond_Biomechanics_-_Biotensegrity/W-85_1495