Tracking riders' sleep to help with safety and performance

Two studies have investigated how well eventers sleep, at home and staying away at competitions

- ELEANOR JONES

A GLOBAL “sleep intervention package” and quiet zones in lorry parks could help riders get enough quality sleep to improve safety – as could taking your pillow to events.

Two studies, carried out at Hartpury International Horse Trials last year and via a questionnaire sent to 230 FEI-registered event riders, resulted in similar recommendations to “improve the health and wellbeing of athletes and staff in equestrian sport”.

Hartpury senior lecturer Emma Davies, the co-lead on both, told H&H they were two distinct pieces of work but “the findings mirror each other”.

“Sleep is something that had never been studied in riders, despite our early mornings and extra-curricular activity,” she said. “One of our students, Sandy Wilson, is doing his PhD on sleep in our athletes and he spoke to some of our staff and students about it, which inspired a conversation about research. That expanded into these studies and we now hope to take it further and look at other sleep behaviours in the equestrian community.”