What is Leadership with horses?

What is Leadership with horses?

Leadership with Horses (sometimes called Equine Facilitated Leadership) is an innovative approach to leadership and team development that involves working with a herd of horses to explore nonverbal behaviours and communication skills. I combine the experiential learning of working with horses with coaching, leadership and team skills to explore your default patterns of behaviour and instigate change.

Why horses?

Horses respond to your nonverbal communication and reveal default patterns of behaviour out of your comfort zone. They require clarity of direction balanced with a strong relationship based on trust and respect. They come with you when these are in balance and refuse to engage when they are not. As such, it provides instant and the clearest feedback you’ll ever get without judgement.

People often ask me if you could get the same results by working with other animals. There is something unique about horses – the depth of connection they create is greater than most other animals, the leadership skills they require are a parallel to the leadership skills that people require from us, and their sheer presence, size and power invites us to step into our own.

How does it work?

Leadership with Horses involves working with horses on the ground. Sometimes we work with the horses loose in the field and sometimes participants lead the horses in an arena. We do some work 1-2-1 with the horses and some as teams so you get feedback on how you lead individually and as a team.

As your coach, my role is to help you make sense of the experience and map it back to your workplace situations so you can make changes that enable you to be more effective as a leader or team.

Who is it for?

I work with senior leaders and executive teams from large organisations or fast-growing entrepreneurial organisations. I provide talent development workshops and team alignment programmes, as well as 1-2-1 coaching with horses.

If you’re not sure, book a call and we can explore whether I can support what you want to achieve.

What outcomes can I expect?

Organisations approach me with very different objectives but everything I do starts by understanding your business objectives and leadership challenges. Some of the benefits achieved include:

• Turned a loss-making division into a profit in 3 months

• A Management Buy Out team achieved their plan a year ahead of schedule

• An SME grew from 25 to 40 employees in a year

• Delegates gained instant promotions ahead of expectations

• Improved team communication, resolved conflict and increased business growth

• Increased sales through a more empowered, confident and aligned team

Do you ride the horses?

No riding is involved and no experience with horses is required. The activities are designed to be accessible to individuals with varying levels of familiarity with horses and are suitable for those who are frightened of horses as much as those who are experienced riders. Trained facilitators guide participants through the process and ensure a safe and supportive environment.

What if someone is terrified of horses?

This is very common! I used to be afraid of horses and it was in overcoming my fear of them that I discovered this way of working with them to develop leadership and team skills. Fear is an emotion that we all experience so I’ll help you overcome your fear in a matter of minutes and help you understand how you lead confidently out of your comfort zone in other situations at work.