Why a horse?


Horses values in their herd leaders the same features as we humans values in our own leaders. In horse-assisted coaching we work on things like: 
  • earning trust and respect
  • communicating in a clear, direct and truthful way
  • decisionmaking and congruency 
But most of all we work on how your own thoughts and fears restricts you from knowing your true and unique self and learning how to use them powerfully in your everyday life. 

What can a horse teach you about yourself?   

Horses are grazing prey-animals. To be able to recognize even the smallest changes in its surroundings is a vital condition for the horse. That is why a horse, even if domesticated, is always on alert and can be frightened even by a bucket in a wrong place.

A human is fundamentally a predator for the horse and for a human to be able to work with a horse he needs to gain the horses trust and respect. 

A mutual understanding and trust combined with energy directed in the right way must grow up to enable smooth communication between a human and horse.   

It doesn´t take much intelligence to subjugate a horse by using force, violence and threat. But will the horse stay with you when he has a free choice of staying or running? You´re right, he´ll run like never before to get away from you. It is the same with humans, your team members. It is very easy to use threat and force to lead a group, but do you then have followers, or just subordinates?

When you take away the possibilities of using any kind of force you have to come along with this animal that weighs 500-600 kg only by building a solid relationship of trust, respect, understanding, and very clear and consistent communication. 

When you learn how to do it with the horse, that gives you instant feedback, you will know how to do it with your people, too. 

The horse trusts you if your inner self is aligned with your external communication. That is that you mean what you say and you say what you mean. When you are working with your equine partner and you aren´t fully aligned in your communication the horse will ignore your attempts to infuence him. This can be very frustrating but in the same moment there is a door opening up so you can really look inside and face what is going on inside of you. When you are aligned in your communication your horse will follow you willingly, by his own choice.

"Here we are walking around in our space-suits playing our authority games until we are confronted by a horse who has no idea of the rules of  our games"   
-Paul Hunting

The horse does not care about your title or your position. He doesn´t care if you are a man or woman, fat or thin, short or tall, wear designer clothes or a cheap suit. He only cares if you are a leader that he can trust, resepect and follow. 

Find out what is your own behavioral model as a manager or a leader?