Our teachers are 1200-1500 lbs.
There is no pushing around these teachers. Our participants will have to step up because if a horse doesn’t have a leader, they will become the leader.
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They are a prey animal.
This means their senses are highly astute. They can hear our heart beat and they will react the slightest changes within a team - allowing facilitators to find those “teachable moments”.
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They are just like us - sort of.
Horses have a lot to teach us, but they are also a lot like us. Herds to horses are just like teams to people. Horses require a leader that they trust and respect, just like we would love to have in the workplace. These parallels give us the ability to parallel everything that happens to real life so that what you learn really sticks! Quite simply, the horse does the teaching; facilitators are there to offer explanation and provide guidance as they work through the solution. Working with horses creates memories that we can apply to our lives and retain far longer than sitting in ‘just another classroom'.
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Why do we work with a prey animal?
In a horse’s world, the rules are clear, easy to understand and dealt with swiftly when challenged. Nature provides them with instincts and senses that are very astute. For their mere survival, a wild horse must be aware of their surroundings and quick to react. Horses are tough and steadfast dance partners; they don’t judge, but they don’t forget. They don’t let you cheat and their feedback is honest and instant.
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How does this work?
Horses can magnify an individual’s problem immediately and provide a skilled facilitator with an opportunity to identify an individual’s character and their communication style. Horses don’t overthink a participant’s motive but horses do challenge their behaviour and leadership. Horses in this program are effective teaching tools; immediately responding to what participants do, trained facilitators look for "teachable moments" that horses identify. Quite simply, the horse does the teaching; facilitators are there to offer explanation and provide guidance as they work through the solution. The single most asked question is, why do we work with horses? To understand how this process works we must first realize how horses learn and understand the laws of survival. In a horse’s world, the rules are clear, easy to understand and dealt with swiftly when challenged.
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Nature provides them with instincts and senses that are very astute. For their mere survival, a wild horse must be aware of their surroundings and quick to react. Horses are tough and steadfast dance partners; they don’t judge, but they don’t forget. They can read people hiding behind a facade and their feed back is honest. As a prey animal, they are sensitive to the stimulus of each participant. They react to the stimulus through body language and participants must adjust their feelings and behaviours to work successfully with the horses. As facilitators listen to a horse’s nonverbal communication, together, they have the ability to walk participants through to finding lifealtering change.