ABSTRACT
Despite Olympic success in the equestrian discipline of eventing, Australia has struggled to qualify to send a team in the discipline of dressage. Performance pathways give direction to athletes whilst providing the opportunity to be recognised and facilitate acquisition of the skills integral to success. Literature on performance pathways in all sports is generally limited in its reductionist approach. Further there has been no research in the area of dressage or performance pathways in dressage. This study aimed to apply a systems approach to identify the current dressage performance pathways. A model of Australian Dressage Performance Pathways was developed using the Systems Theoretic Accident Model and Processes (STAMP) approach. It was validated by subject-matter experts, who indicated a high level of agreement with a draft STAMP model and recommended minor amendments which were incorporated into a final model. The STAMP model showed that there were many constraints within the system with little feedback loops coming from the bottom up. The model highlights the need for new feedback mechanisms within dressage to promote performance pathways. For example, improvements in communication between riders and the associations such as Equestrian Queensland and Equestrian Australia. This model could be taken as a general model of dressage and other Olympic equestrian disciplines such as show jumping. Further, given the similarity in the structure of dressage to other sports, the model could be easily adapted for other sports also.
