Saturday, July 3, 2010

What Is Equine Leadership?


All of us are leaders. We lead ourselves, we lead others, many do both. Equine Leadership Development is a powerful hands on approach designed to enhance your awareness of, and improve your skills, in non-verbal communication. Believe it or not, human to human communication is actually 93% non-verbal, but most of our energy, training and education is spent on the remaining 7%. Non-verbal communication is largely neglected. Horse communication is 100% non-verbal. By learning to communicate without using words you are developing your non-verbal communications skills. These skills are often absent in today’s current business environment. By increasing your awareness and utilization of these non-verbal skills you can enhance your leadership, energize your teams, and bring huge benefits to yourself and those around you.

Why horses?

Horses have survived for thousands of years in herds. They are consummate team players. Their very existence depends on working together. They allow the natural, effective leaders to lead and the others to do the job they are intrinsically best at doing. If you do not show effective leadership horses will do it for you, their very lives depend on it. Actually what we are calling new leadership techniques is in fact Ancient Wisdom. The beauty of working with equines is that they see us as we truly are, looking past the superficial masks we wear. They provide direct feedback and will mirror how we feel and how we act. Their feedback is honest, without prejudice, and has no ulterior motive. Horses have no agenda or ego ,they do not lie, and it is impossible to lie to them, no excuses, no B.S. They will see the real you.

By learning to work with a horse, performing simple tasks, you will discover your leadership style through the way they respond to you, there is no right or wrong. Horses require honest connections and will respond with trust and engagement. Through your equine interactions you will find ways in which you can develop your leadership style and incorporate new interpersonal skills for your own benefit and the benefit of others. Participants in these courses often find that they walk away with a greater understanding of:

• Team building and dynamics
• Clearer communication, verbal and non-verbal
• Mindfulness and self awareness
• Leadership styles and skills

2 comments:

  1. Hi Judy,

    It was lovely to read about your developments in the Guardian today. I have wondered about the developments of the farm over the years. We so much enjoyed our visit our students.

    I am also interested in your equine leadership development and how that is going. My husband and I bought a horse three years ago. It has been a wonderful learning experience and I have been reading a lot on using horses in facilitation work, particularly, Lind Kohvanof's books. Anyway, thought I would say hi, if you ever want to chat about equine facilitation, it is always a topic I am up for.
    Kindest regards,
    Tara Costello-Ledwell

    tara@aheadinthegame.ca

    http://aheadinthegame.ca/

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  2. We have used equine leadership training for may years in our company and have found the results to be better than any 'traditional' form of leadership training schemes out there.

    If anyone is interested in equine leadership training in the UK we use these guys here.
    Leadership training with horses in the UK

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