More than 10 Years after “The Horse Is Dead …”: Surely It Must Be Time to “Dismount”?!

Abstract

This article represents a response to an editorial piece written in Pediatric Exercise Science over 10 years ago by Thomas Rowland in which he debated fitness testing and asked whether the “horse” of fitness testing in schools was dead. Here, the authors revisit the debate and consider the progress that has been made with regard to fitness testing in schools in recent years. On the basis of findings from the literature and some of their research, the authors suggest that accepting the fact that the horse is dead would not be a bad thing. Their advice is certainly to pull tightly on the reigns, slow the horse down, and not allow fitness testing to dominate schools’ efforts to promote physical activity.