Business owners, along with managers and executives in corporate settings who wish to experience accelerated learning in areas of team building, leadership, and relationship development, seek out the Equine Assisted learning programs at Coaching with Horses programs.
Coaching with Horses Equine Assisted Learning programs provide a dynamic process of building leadership and self-awareness skills through horse-human interactions. The ability of managers and leaders to effectively embody these skills impacts an organization’s bottom line, since successful team building, interpersonal communication, and conflict resolution efforts are crucial in today’s marketplace. While interacting with horses, individuals become able to identify and shift the limiting behavior patterns that prohibit them from developing trusting relationships in business settings.
Why Horses?
Horses are wise mentors in this unique type of work. As prey animals, their “flight” instincts become instant mirrors and non-judgmental feedback mechanisms for humans. Horses sense and respond to a person’s intentions, emotions, and thoughts that are conveyed subconsciously through body language. Through the experience of observing a horse’s response to their requests and directions, each person learns how to communicate more effectively, face their fears and manage their emotions, and become more consistent and congruent with their actions.
A tremendous confidence boost comes from learning how to connect with and direct a one-thousand-pound animal while standing on the ground. Sessions with horses are highly interactive and provide an ‘in the moment’ learning experience, teaching skills, which can be difficult to acquire in more traditional settings.
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Horses require presence and trust from a leader.
Through participation in our Equine Assisted Learning leadership programs, individuals will learn to:
- Make choices and take actions based on courage and awareness
verses automatic, ‘learned’ responses. - Build trust in relationships and teams.
- Develop skills to work through uncomfortable, emotionally
charged situations. - Move from conflict into resolution and agreement more quickly.
- Face fears and learn new behaviors to gain personal power
and respect. - Experience breakthroughs that increase the depth of Emotional
Intelligence. - Expand cohesiveness and productivity within teams and partnerships.
What about Kathy?
Kathy Pike brings fifteen years of experience as a professional coach, writer, workshop leader, and outdoor adventurer to her leadership work with horses. She is a published author and regular contributor to magazines and publications. Kathy travels throughout the U.S. and internationally, facilitating programs on emotional awareness and personal /professional development. A former trainer for CoachU (a leading coach training organization), Kathy now employs horses in her training and coaching programs.
Kathy is a leader in the field of bringing horses and humans together for leadership and coaching. Once dragged by a horse, Kathy learned to face her fears and work with horses again. Her greatest teacher has been her wild mustang Corazon de la Montana, who teaches her about trust, intention, and leadership every day. Partial Client list:
- Microsoft (Seattle and Denver)
- Women’s Vision Foundation
- Tony Robbins Coaching Group
- Dalby Wealth Group
- Sun StorageTek
- International Coach Federation (ICF)
- ICF regional coaching organizations in Oregon,Indiana, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Denver and Boulder, Colorado
Click here for a complete Client List and Bio
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What will we do, and how does it work?
Coaching with Horses™ programs brings together individuals and teams with a horse to learn how one approaches building relationships and gaining leadership. All of our horse related activities are on the ground. Other activities bring together a team to work with a horse.
Through processes that help you understand the nature of a horse, participants learn to pay attention to subtle body language, emotional messages, clarity in thought and confidence in achieving a goal while interacting with a horse. We believe that this integrative approach to learning gives the most immediate and lasting results to the individual and teams.
Isn’t this just play?
Play is considered a complex exchange that is seen only in relatively intelligent animals and humans. There is value in experiencing play that focuses on the quality of interaction and the results produced. The intention behind coaching with horses is to bring others to more significant levels of self-awareness and engaging of new behaviors. Self-observation and awareness while interacting with a horse, reveals a person’s blind spot in his/her leadership and relationship building skills.
We take this work seriously, and our horses are trained and seasoned teachers. We ensure that participants understand the dynamics of their interactions with horses and how to immediately apply their learning into the business or corporate environment.
What if someone has fear about working with horses?
It is not uncommon for many of our participants to have some trepidation, anxiety, or fear when it comes to working with horses. Some have never been around them, and others may have had a scary incident as a child. We coach clients to understand the wisdom of their whole experience and how to gain their power and choice while their fears or concerns are present. This, in itself, stretches leadership capabilities.
No prior horse experience is necessary for this work, and safety precautions are thoroughly reviewed. Also, we ensure that participants understand horses, their nature, and how to stay safe while engaging with them. We honor both the human and the horse, and we intend to create a setting that brings the best out in both beings. Our participants are always at choice, and no learning is forced.
What is the next step?
Call 303-545-2555 or email Support to set up a time to talk about how Coaching with Horse programs can provide you and your team a powerful way to develop new relationship building and leadership skills.
Program locations are available near Boulder, Las Vegas, and Tucson, Arizona.
The Leadership with Horses program really put things into perspective for me. You think you know what’s going on (people’s motivations and actions) and you don’t…and it doesn’t matter. Trying to figure it out is a waste of effort. When working with the horses I really “got” that what really matters most are your actions and intentions and how you interact with others.“
– Arleen Knaub, Lockheed Martin
When I was present with the Horse, the horse was with me step for step. When my mind wandered, the horse was gone. This experience helped me to understand when I am fully present (in mind and body), I am in control of the direction I take, the way I interact with others and the environment around me.”
– Steve, Calgary, Canada
“Kathy, it was such a delight having you join us last week and lead us through the experience with horses. Definitely exceeded my expectations.”
– Cindy Bates, Vice President U.S. SMB and Distribution, Microsoft
Kathy’s skills as a coach and facilitator coupled with her skills with horses changed their lives. Within a few hours, Kathy helped those in the leadership Institute to see how they were leading: inspiring or thwarting their people from doing their best. The participants quickly saw what worked and what they needed to change if they were going to have cohesive, dynamic teams. Instead of weeks or months of classes, talking, team building, etc., after a one day workshop, the women went back to their corporations and started doing things differently to get the best from their people”
– Jill L. Marce, Director of Business Development, Women’s Vision Leadership Institute, Denver, Colorado
