Brown Makes His Needs Known

By Barbara K. Rector, USA

A few days ago, a very generous spirited colleague and friend, Linda Kohanov, invited me to participate in her four day teaching seminar focused on the Wisdom of Pioneering Spirit. Linda knew I was recovering from yet more dental surgery and that my horse Brown was living nearby.  Brown had been moved two weeks earlier to El Milagros for the purpose of learning how to be a horse amongst horses.  He was turned out with nine other geldings in a ten acre grass pasture paddock.  Jean Burke, supervisor of the Milagros herds, has a good track record with me; she kept Rama for three years while I was in graduate school.

Brown is an August ‘92’ foal and near as I can determine, I’m his third owner.  He is a Minnesotabred American Quarter Horse who trained at a Duluthshow barn showing so successfully as a Western Pleasure and Trail horse that when he was about seven years old he was hauled to Arizona for our Sun Circuit where he achieved Regional Championship status in both divisions.  Brown came into my life as he was turning twelve years.

On the sixth day of Brown’s socialization adventure my friend and colleague Lisa Walters agreed to visit him with me after we finished up with our third annual face to face meeting of the Epona Quest Foundation Board held at Linda Kohanov’s new home in Amado.  Jean’s Milagros pastures are just two freeway exits south past theArizona–Mexico Border check point.  We call Jean to let her know we are on Bridge Road approaching the railroad tracks; she agrees to meet us at the locked gate where Brown’s section of pasture is located.

Each nine to ten geldings or mares or babies and their Mom’s have two ten acre irrigated grass paddocks that are rotated each week to week and a half depending on the grass length, growth, and water needs.  Lisa and I follow Jean’s truck out to the designated gate for Brown and his group.

My heart sings when in response to my whistle and yell out, “Hey, Mister”, Brown pops his head up from eating and knickers a greeting.  I’m thrilled as he begins to walk towards me.

Then, while he’s still some distance away, I observe in alarm that he is walking as if in a perpetual half pass to the right with a strange wiggle twist to his right pastern or hock.  In fright and panic I think his leg is broken.  Jean says, “No.  His eye wouldn’t be so bright, his interest so high in my offered carrot; if his leg were brokeen, and he would hardly be walking – if at all.”

The three of us determine something isn’t right and that he needs removal from the pasture for further checking.  Jean goes in amongst the hovering crowding geldings, to halter a willing and compliant Brown.  I slam the gate shut on the three youngsters attempting to follow him out of the pasture.  He has developed friends.  The big Percheron grey, Mac, bellows to him and Brown answers back even as he’s busy minding Jean’s request to back up.

I confirm his eye is indeed bright and run my hands down each of his legs.  No sign of heat, no obvious swelling.  Mystery.  He is definitely walking with an odd twist, drag of right hind leg and as he does so is curved sideways.  We decide to walk him up to the barn a distance of some mile and a half.  I start off walking him on his lead with Lisa following driving Vanilla (my trusty 01 Subaru).  Jean and her truck filled with three large shepherds bring up the rear.

Brown is dancing in place as the notion dawns he is leaving his friends.  Soon they begin to gallop down the fence line next to the tree lined lane where we are walking.  Knickers and bellows and general racket, Lisa tells me later that Brown did several steps of pretty good piaffe.  I have to remind him to stay with me and not go up taking me with him.  Relief floods through me; his leg isn’t broken with this agility display.

Three quarters of a mile at the gate, Jean wants to switch places; she can see he is about to lift me off the ground.  As I hand him over to her, she reminds me the dogs know me.  No matter really as I open door to drive her truck, they all bound out.  Not a problem for Jean.  She’s a remarkable hand with a horse, even one strong as Brown now attempting to pull her stocky bulk up.  Yes, I can now see, he’s actually doing quite a decent piaffe.

I lock the gate per Jean’s instructions and Lisa follows me around to the barn.  Jean has walked the shorter route down the house lane through the private courtyard of the owner’s home.  We arrive in time to see Jean and Brown round the mesquite shaded bend.  He’s walking still with that odd curve, twist and drag.  Jean puts him in a large barn paddock about the size of a small dressage court – two twenty meter circles stacked on top of each other.  She wants him to keep moving; so puts hay at one end and water at the other.

A small adjacent paddock holds an aged Shetland pony and a long haired donkey.  Further down the fence line is a lovely bay Arabian gelding.  Brown immediately investigates the pony and donkey – two animals with which in the past, he has exhibited strong reactions of fear.  Not so now.  He is definitely displaying a more socialized ‘horse amongst horses’ demeanor.

The vet will be out Thursday or Friday for his regular weekly ranch visit day.  It’s Joe Robinson out of Nogales, our old friend from the days of Trekhner mare, Tasha and Kelly’s Welsh pony type, Dolly when we hunted to hounds in Sonoita.   In the meantime, Jean will keep him in this spacious paddock and give him a gram of Bute (horse aspirin) per day until Joe has an opportunity to go over him.  Jean is of the opinion he has over done it playing and romping in the herd life; she has observed some full out gallops; Brown has made best buddies with Mac the big grey Percheron.

The coming week I have dental surgery and won’t be able to drive for a few days.  I agree to stay in touch with Jean by phone and check on his progress.  I do want him vet checked and if he takes a turn for the worse sooner rather than later.  On Friday when Joe looks him over, he finds no obvious sign of injury.  Brown actually passes the basic flexion soundness exam and still walks slightly curved with the odd twist and drag.  Joe didn’t have his x-ray machine with him; he agrees to bring it next week.  He speculates there could be arthritic changes in that hock.  Once he sees the picture, he may decide he could be helped by injection into the joint of Legend (product name for a hyuralic acid joint fluid).

As I hear this from Jean, the picture of the first day of turn out six days earlier pops into my mind; head groom Jesus walking Brown on the lead as he first entered the paddock.  Amongst all those geldings down and across the entire ten acre pasture, being familiarized with the perimeter of fence line, the location of salt blocks and the water tanks.  Brown had been passageing.  “Making himself BIG”, in Anna’s words.  That was probably more passage than in his entire nineteen years life up to that point.  He’s tweaked something in his hock, I’m thinking.

The following week post dental surgery, I’m cleared to drive and visit him daily late afternoons after the Wisdom seminar at Linda’s.  Rather nice to discover I’m approximately 45 minutes away drive way to drive way on the back roads past the Fairgrounds and down the ‘Suharita autobahn’ to old Nogales Highway through township of Continental.

First day’s visit, I brush his shaggy winterized coat and clean his feet.  I notice his poops are healthy and there is even a roll spot in the sand so I know he is getting down and up with no problems.  After finishing off his six carrots Brown does an odd thing.  He walks over to a cattle loading chute and puts his head underneath it.   He stays motionless for a few minutes and then retracts his head from the dark interior and looks at me intently.

Several minutes looking at me and then he puts his head between his front legs and rubs his eyes.  Again Brown looks at me and then swings his head around to place it in the hole of the underneath side of the loading chute.  “OK, what the heck?” I’m thinking.

As he finished off his carrots, I had asked him what more he needed from me as we waited out the week for next vet’s visit scheduled for the following Friday.  Now Brown is again standing motionless with his head inside the dark hole of the chute.  I go over and actually poke my head in along side his.  We are eye to eye, neck along neck, shoulder to shoulder looking ahead into the dark interior.  I notice the shade on our eyes is pleasant.

After a few moments, it occurs to me this probably isn’t the safest position and I’m clueless as to what he is looking at if anything.  After I retract my head and step back, Brown brings his head out and turns again to look at me intently.  Then he puts his head between his legs and rubs his eyes.

“You want your fly mask!” I exclaim.

Brown nods his head up and down several times affirmatively.  He puts his head on my heart.  “Message delivered”, he seems to say.

“Well, OK, I’ll be here tomorrow afternoon with your freshly washed fly mask.”  I give him a big heart hug and go get the remaining apple to cut up for his departure treat.

Home from my Minneapolis teaching trip, I visited Brown yesterday (November 5, 2011) and he is even better.  Almost back to normal with only the faintest of wiggle twist drag to his leg.  He’s been five days with no bute.  Joe did his x-ray on Friday and we’re currently waiting for the reading and news of whether he is cleared for pasture turn out.  I’ve already told him that I don’t care if he’s ever ride worthy.  I just want him to be free of pain and willing to engage with me and others in the Adventures In Awareness process of expanding our Awareness and developing Consciousness.

BKR/Casita Skyview
11.7.11

Post Script:

The day after Thanksgiving, daughter Kelly Kreiselmeier drives me down to Jean’s to visit Brown.  I want Kelly’s empathic read on how Brown is really doing.  Two weeks earlier, he had been cleared by Dr. Joe for return to pasture turnout.  His medicine bottle had not yet arrived and he was reported to be doing very well.

Kelly and I decide to do lunch first in Tubac and run into Jean in the sandwich café.  “Remind me to tell you good story about your horse when we meet back at the gate in about an hour”.

Again my heart sings, as I call out “Hey, Mister” and Brown pops up his head to knicker.  He starts briskly towards the fence line where he sees me waving the bag of carrots.  Odd.  Only Mac the big grey accompanies him.  The other horses hang back and mill around some invisible perimeter fence line.

Kelly agrees to feed Mac, the large grey Percheron while Brown and I have our nuzzle love fest and carrot feeding time together.  Jean comes down the hill to join us. “Ok here’s the story”, she says.

Jesus walked Brown out into the pasture while I worked the gates.  Brown positively strutted.  Once released from the halter, he looked around and seemed to say to the gathering group of horses, “I’ve been thinking this through – all alone back at the barn in the back paddock.  I’ve   learned something over the last three weeks.  No one, absolutely no one  is to come near me.  Except possibly Mac, my best bud.  No one else”.

Indeed, with merely a wrinkle of his nostril, an evil eye look or a both ears back snake faced, Brown was keeping those other gelding way away from the fence where he and Mac were enjoying the carrots.

Jean continues, “if he’s not careful, I have other pastures with more knarley geldings for him to deal with”.

As we’re leaving, after having taken a look at my brother Walt and Shirley’s Future and Alleah (they are both glossy and Alleah actually chubby), I approach Brown waiting at the fence.  “Did you hear that Buddy, best wear your new found mantle of authority with dignity and grace.  Jean has other more ‘bad boy’ gelding pastures should you get out of hand.”  Brown stares intently at me and then at Jean.

Kelly remarks, “I have no doubt that he understands the message”.

BKR/Casita Skyview
12.8.11

Lessons From the Picadero: Paying Attention To Our Intention

By Nikki and Leslie Kagan, Israel/USA

The picadero – much like a round pen with corners – is a place where we can explore our own truths and look in the mirror of how we relate to others.  With our equine partner, we have the opportunity to experience the impact of our presence – our emotions and energy – on others.  This experience can be a very powerful metaphor, as was the case with “Susan,” a participant in one of the corporate HorseSense programs we facilitated recently.

Susan is the Office Manager for an executive search firm in the northeastern United States.  She had never been around horses before our program, and seemed to be enjoying her interactions with them very much.  Still, she entered the picadero with some trepidation, gripping the flag tightly in her left hand, unsure of how to proceed with Chip, a large Appaloosa gelding who was a veteran of a number of our programs. Susan approached Chip in an attempt to establish a connection with him.  Dropping the flag to the ground between her own and Chip’s front feet, she held out her hand in silent gesture of “hello”.  Chip expressed mild interest in the flag, nosing it lightly, and ignored Susan.

We watched as Susan tried more affirmatively to connect with Chip, moving closer to him, tentatively stroking his neck with her right hand, holding the flag aloft in her left hand near Chip’s head, and occasionally shaking it.  When these gestures produced no obvious connection, Susan began to wave the flag at Chip’s left haunch, then his shoulder, then his haunch again – trying to get him to move.  Chip stood perfectly still.

Susan’s efforts became increasingly disjointed and remained without effect. It was painful to watch her frustration visibly mounting.  After a very long few minutes of being ignored, Susan turned away from Chip looking dejected. She lowered the flag, lowered her head and said, “I just don’t know what to do.”

Nikki joined Susan in the picadero and asked her a few questions.  “What would you like Chip to do?”  “How would you describe what you’ve tried so far?” “What else might you try?”  With a few words of encouragement about the importance of setting your intention and concentrating on being clear when asking for what you want, Nikki stepped out of the arena and left Susan to continue.

Susan seemed to draw inward and we all watched in silence.  Then she took a step back from Chip and snapped the flag energetically behind him.  Chip raised his head and shuffled forward a few steps.  Encouraged, Susan repeated the vigorous snap of the flag.  Once again, Chip responded by moving forward a few more steps.  Then the dance began in earnest.  With each step that Chip took, with each snap of the flag, we could see Susan’s confidence grow until both horse and human were trotting easily around the picadero together.  Susan was grinning from ear to ear, carrying herself lightly and openly, radiating excitement and energy.

After a minute or so, Susan stopped trotting, lowered the flag and, having accomplished her objective, moved to leave the picadero, not noticing Chip following behind her like her newest best friend.  We motioned to her to turn and look, and then asked her to stand by Chip for a picture of the two of them together.

Once the picture was taken, Susan left the picadero and walked past the group, clearly moved by her experience.  Without speaking, Leslie placed a hand on Susan’s shoulder, and Susan started to sob.  Leslie asked, “Do you want to talk about what’s coming up for you?” Susan nodded and explained that her experience with Chip mirrored her experience in the office with staff.  “I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings at work, just as I didn’t want to push Chip with the flag.  But they don’t pay attention to what I’m asking for, and I end up feeling frustrated.  I see now that I’m so concerned about being nice and getting along with everyone that I don’t really ask for what I want.  I don’t want to hurt their feelings, but I end up feeling hurt because I’ve been unclear and they don’t respond.”

Leslie asked, “How did Chip respond to your clarity?”  Susan answered, “It was great. Everything flowed so easily after that.  We had a great time!  This was a huge lesson for me in asking clearly for what I want.”

Not every picadero experience is so profoundly insightful, but the opportunity is there for those who are willing to engage with what they see when they look in the mirror of their equine partner’s eyes.

How to Gain Clients: The HorseDream Way of Doing Business.

By Gerhard J. Krebs, Germany

Whenever somebody is on the phone asking questions about the HorseDream train the trainer seminars, for example “what is required to do the training and to be successful in the horse assisted education business afterwards?”, we answer: “The most important thing is to get clients.”

If you have management skills and horse knowledge, that’s perfect. In the 2-day seminar you get all the information to combine both. But that is only the basic requirement to do a good job. It is not sufficient to make a living out of our concept.

There is one page in the seminar manual covering public relations, marketing and advertising. This page contains our experiences from more than 14 years management training with horses. We summarised in a few sentences, what worked and what did not.

Our core statement is that ‘Traditional marketing and advertisement does not work at all with horse assisted education’.

Unfortunately most of the seminar participants do not believe this. Therefore they try out everything on their own. We guess some of them think: “Okay, if you just do it the right way, it will work,” or “I have the competencies; I know how to do it.” And when they start their marketing they realise after a few months, there is no real success in terms of paid clients. They attract a lot of attention, appointments, taster seminars with much interest but no bookings.

How come?

Perhaps you know this famous AIDA model:

A – Attention or awareness: attract the attention of the prospective customer.
I – Interest: raise the interest of the prospective customer by focusing on or demonstrating advantages and benefits.
D – Desire: convince prospective customers that they really want to do the seminar and that it will satisfy their needs.
A – Action: lead customers towards taking action and booking the training.

There is a whole industry fighting for attention, interest, desire and action. Advertising agencies employ thousands of very creative specialists to constantly think about new ways to sell products and services. Be honest: what is your reaction to direct mail, advertisements in newspapers or magazines? What is your reaction to TV adverts? And what is your reaction to internet banners and pop ups?

If you are not really interested in the product, in the service or in the company brand you don’t even notice this kind of information. That’s why marketing psychologists come up with new strategies. They try to get the sales information into your subconsiousness. This is a method that works with a lot of people. They order the product, not because there is a need for it, but because they feel there is a need.

Of course the more conscious people are, the less this method works. You know the advertising is manipulating you. Moreover, you think every marketing activity is trying to pull the wool over your eyes. With time you learn to ignore it. It is no longer your cerebral cortex which reacts to the message but your amygdala. And your amygdala immediately says NO to whatever shows up as sales manipulation.

You think your horse assisted education advertising is information? Your prospective customer thinks it is manipulation. Your target group is the conscious customer and, believe me, he does not react to classic marketing as you hope he would. He reacts as you do. His amygdala works just as well as yours!

Okay then, how do we get clients? We wait for them. It sounds strange but it is true. We want horses to follow us out of free will. We want employees working together with us out of free will. And we want customers to come to us out of free will. The positive impact of such an approach is: you only work with clients who are really interested in what you are doing. That’s much better than working with participants who have been convinced to come to your training by written or spoken promises.

There are many companies out there, unaware of how important horse assisted education is for the benefit of their businesses. And there are a few companies out there which are aware. Don’t focus on the former. You will not gain any paid participants by doing so. Wait for five more years and some of them will probably be in the latter group. Focus on the companies which are already open for our new world of learning. They are only a few in relation to all the others but only a few in this dimension means tens of thousands worldwide and at least fifty to a hundred just around you within a radius of two hours drive.

What is required to get into a position where you are able to just wait for those clients? First of all you have to be present. In the very beginning of all our seminars people get the information to be present one hundred percent. Because when you are working with horses you have to be present. The horse is a very present sentient being and it wants you to be present, too. So working with horses teaches you to be present all the time. And as a seminar provider you have to be present in the market.

The market is the place where you turn desire into money. It is full of offered products and services which are not really needed. And yet they are bought. Those companies which are aware of the outcomes of horse assisted leadership seminars, horse assisted change management, horse assisted team building, horse assisted personal development must have the opportunity to find you. You go to the market with open arms just to be there, just to be present.

The internet is our main communication medium. More than 75 percent of our seminar bookings come via the HorseDream homepage. There is a German and an international version. Further there are special websites covering special topics, like HorseDream Concept, which was launched to attract large companies and seminar organisations. We also deal with the statistical part of our homepages watching which path visitors take inside our programmes. And of course we search for new horse assisted education offers.

Do you know how many natural or unnatural horsemen and women have invented this revolutionary thing called horse coaching? Hundreds. And they all consider themselves to be very unique. Hopefully for them, corporate clients will visit their websites, because otherwise they won’t survive. Whenever you find someone who offers horse assisted education on the same website besides riding lessons, mum-and-kids-projects and similar clinics you can be sure that s/he’s not an HAE professional in the sense of providing corporate trainings.

From our point of view, competition belongs to what we call “the old business”. Our vision is not to compete any longer but to collaborate and cooperate whenever and wherever it is possible. Look at the market. There are hundreds and thousands of companies with millions of employees. What if only one big company finally comes up with the idea to train all staff with horses? Who would be able to do that? We would have to say “Sorry, we can only manage three courses a month – and two of them are already booked.” You see, we need many of us. We need to be prepared for these first huge orders. And we are sure they will come. Horse assisted education is not hype; it is not something that burns like a big straw fire and afterwards calms down again. Horse assisted education is like building a future. It is like being alive again. It is like being human again. When people experience that horses are bridges between people, when companies experience that horses are even bridges between countries and cultures, there will be no stop for our concept.

So how do we spend the time until this happens? Being present, being aware, being of help to others, offering seminars and trainings in our own region, talking about what we are doing. What I mean is, burning like a fire of passion – not just presenting a method. Horse assisted education is more than a business. Whoever asks us what is required to become a horse assisted educator gets the answer “You need a long deep breath.” And s/he gets the recommendation not to leave their present job. If you can make a living doing your present job and start with HAE seminars once a month or so you will not run into any problem. And you will be able to put your seminar price on the table. And this price is high.

There is one big delusion. If you think you have to start with a low price offer you are terribly wrong. Your horse assisted leadership seminar is worth the highest price ever. There is no way to learn faster and more profoundly. So you deliver very high quality – actually not you, but your horses. We heard people saying after our training “These two days have been worth each cent we paid,” and “It would have taken us 10 months coaching, to get to these fundamental results.”

So you and your horses are absolutely good value for money.

There is one more point. If a company books a training for executives, the HR people know well that quality requires compensation. So what? Horses are much more expensive than computer slides. And horses working as trainers are priceless!

Let me tell you a short story. When we started with top management seminars for chief executives we set a price of 1,995.00 euros per person per day. Nobody signed up. Our thoughts were: if nobody signs up at 1,995.00 euros it will make no difference at all if nobody signs up at 3,995.00 euros. We had just changed the price on the website when the first vice president registered on a two-day course. In the meantime we take 4,500.00 euros if someone wants an individual one-day training. Why? Because it is worth this price. Do people still sign up at this price: yes, they do. Not very often, but once or twice a year.

That leads me to the next crucial point of our market approach. We won’t do more than three or four seminars a month. The horses need time between the dates. They have to recover from their work with the clients, which is not of physical but of psychic and emotional stress. As the horses are most important in our seminars we have to look after their psychical, emotional and physical well being all the time.

This does not mean that we are on holiday between the seminar dates. Just the opposite. We need the time to work on our websites, to network with business friends and those who might be interested in attending our open seminars or a corporate training. We need the time to run the International HorseDream Partners Community and the EAHAE network. I spend about four hours a day, just answering emails, giving support regarding special seminar issues, talking with EAHAE members and HorseDream Partners. The rest of the day is developing new ideas, working on seminar videos, preparing the next workshop or train the trainer seminar.

Considering all our train the trainer seminars it is like lighting candles everywhere. In the first three or four years people had to travel from the north to the south to attend a HorseDream seminar. Now they find the nearest HAE seminar provider in Germany with two clicks on the internet just around the corner. In the next few years they’ll find you worldwide, everywhere.

The base of qualified HAE seminar providers is becoming larger and larger. And this means the base of HAE seminar participants is becoming larger and larger, too. Word of mouth information about the incredible success that can be the result of continuous horse assisted trainings, will spread. That’s the way we attract companies. It is not about pushing, it is about pulling. Traditional marketing is a numbers game. The more you put in, the more you get out. But Horse Assisted Education marketing is not a game. It is a vision. And we will all keep this vision alive until the very last person can see it.

Charlie

By David Harris, United Kingdom

When we first started our workshops often we did not have a structure. We would invite friends family and acquaintances to come and “play” with the horses. If the play resulted in learning we would refine the process and utilise it in our programmes. This is the way many of our current exercises evolved.

On one memorable occasion we realised you do not need a structure or even an exercises for profound learning to occur. This is my memory of that wonderful occasion. I have changed the name of the participant to ensure this intimate learning stays that way. She gave me her permission to tell you the story.

It was a sunny spring day, warm but cool enough to require a coat. We had a group of four people playing with us. We had completed a safety briefing and the atmosphere was still with an air of excitement.

It was my intention to take the group through a lunging type exercise I was trying to refine. I asked who would like to try the exercise first. I was standing waiting with Johnjo, a chestnut gelding standing at 16.2 hands. He waited patiently while one of the participants stepped forward. Her name was Charlie (name changed by request).

I handed her Johnjo’s lead rope, gave him a gentle stroke on the shoulder in preparation for the exercise.

“Well Charlie, what would you like to work with today?” I asked.

She took a deep breath and then started to talk at a speed and rigor, which took me by surprise.

“Well I wanted to work with something that has been bothering me for ages” she took in a short, sharp breath and continued even faster.

“I am single and would love to find a partner, I have many men friends who would make great partners but we only ever have one date, never a second. And I do not know why.” Another even shorter breath and continued to speak still faster.

“I am attractive, intelligent, I earn good money, I have a great job and I think I am very interesting, why would it be that no one ever wants to go out with me more than once, I just do not understand”. She continued to talk faster and faster, snatching shallow breaths between sentences.

All the time she was talking Johnjo was yawning gently but regularly. Initially Charlie did not notice, but towards the end of her first stream she did. She stopped talking looked at Johnjo, then looked at me and said.

“My god, I am boring the horse”. For the first time she spoke slowly and it seemed from the heart and not the head.

As the words left her lips Johnjo stepped forward and put his head flat against her chest.

Charlie looked slightly confused and then put her arm around his big, soft head. They stood together in a heartfelt embrace, it seemed like time stood still.

After a moment Charlie looked up at me and started talking again building up speed with each word.

“Isn’t this interesting. When I got emotional the horse stepped forward to me. I do not understand, what does this mean? Do you think he is trying to tell me something? Wow this is amazing”.

Johnjo stepped back and started yawning again. Charlie stooped talking and looked into his big brown eyes. She sighed and said nothing; she looked moved by the interaction and visibly softened.

Johnjo stepped forward and again placed his head flat on her chest. Charlie put her arms around Johnjo and they stood, melting into each other. With each breath Johnjo’s head got lower, and lower; a sure sign he was very relaxed and connected. After a few moments he stepped back, there was a sense he was done.

Charlie looked at me, looked at the group then looked and Johnjo, gave his forehead a gentle rub and silently returned to the group.

Some weeks later Charlie called and said she had told all her friends what had happened with Johnjo. Her friends had said “Yes Charlie, that’s exactly what you do, you pretend to be what you think they want”.

Charlie asked me “Why did not they not tell me?” I asked her “Would you have listed if they had?”

This was a profound learning for Charlie by the simple act of being herself. She experienced the attractive quality of just being herself and had a whole body learning experience. Horses have an amazing ability to help us be who we really are. No pretence, no mask; the real self.

Making moves. Report on a horse assisted training.

By Michaela Schuhmacher, Germany

13 year old Peter isn’t very talkative. His most given answer is “Don’t know”. In school he’s causing trouble, because he doesn’t do his homework and often provokes his teachers by short unfriendly remarks. With teachers and parents he would question rules or simply ignore them. He’s also having problems to concentrate well. His marks are low, if he doesn’t achieve, he has to leave school in summer.

His class teacher likes him a lot and already tried a lot of things to make him feel more comfortable. His parents explained several times that it is important to get good qualifications in order to get a good job, that he has to be respectful to teachers and so on. Parents and teachers are quite desperate. They’ve tried their best, making offers, supporting him, trying to pull him in the right direction – unsuccessfully. Sometimes he’d say “I can’t do it” and doesn’t do what he’s asked to. Now they want me to “get through to him”, support him and help him to get out of his misery.

During sessions in the praxis he’d do the same to me as to every one else:
“Don’t know” and refuse to talk to me.

I suggest to consult my partner Chiara. The parents say: “We don’t think, he’d like it.”
Peter smiles and says “Yes”.

Session 1:

During the first session he makes contact very well. He’s not afraid and performes well. His first task is to walk with the horse and lead her (in the riding arena outside). The rule is: the rope has to hang loose all the time, no pulling, no forcing.

After starting successfully, Chiara would follow, so Peter doesn’t concentrate any more but starts dreaming. Chiara changes direction.
“Hey – what’s she doing?”
Chiara moves to the closest grass spot at the end of the riding arena.
“Oh no!” – He makes a noise that is between laughing and crying.
He manages to catch her attention again and starts walking again.
Chiara follows carefully observing when he’ll loose concentration again. Then – she changes direction.
“Oh no – she does it again!”
He follows her to the grass grumbling.
“Who’s leading now?”
“Well s h e is!”
“m”
He manages to get in the leading position again.
They’re walking.
Chiara’s waiting for her chance – and… changes directions.
Peter is very angry now “She’s always cuts off”
“What about leading?”
“I don’t know how to do it!”
“Be creative. She knows – long before you do where and when you’re going to loose your concentration. So first pay attention and concentrate, then find an creative solution that prevents her from walking to the grass”.
They start again. Peter is walking while concentrating very hard and paying attention to the horse. Carefully he’s observing her movements while they’re walking. The moment where she wants to go to the grass, he’d move around her quickly, so he’s in the leading position again.
Chiara is following, chewing, relaxing.
Peter smiles.

He does very well from now on, and after short time, Chiara wouldn’t even try to change directions but sticks to him.

Session 2:

I ask Peter a difficult task: to lead from behind. I explain to him that the leading stallion usually is taking care of the herd and making sure that everyone is o.k. by staying behind, overlooking the scene and leading from there, while the leading mare is in front.

Chiara is wearing a vaulting band.
The task is to move the horse within the riding arena (outside).
Peter doesn’t want to use the whip “I refuse to beat the horse”. I appreciate this and explain that the whip is not for beating but a tool to give a slight signal. He agrees to use it after I showed how it is to be used.
Everythings ready. Peter wants Chiara to move. He uses the whip, while his body is stiff and tough.
Chiara doesn’t move.
Peter’s giving me a look that says “Help me, pleeeaaase”.
I give him a smile.
He tries again.
Chiara doesn’t move.
“She doesn’t do it!” He’s giving me a desperate look.
“mm”
He tries again. Same thing. Horse falls asleep.
“Oh Mann! She doesn’t w a l k”. He’s giving up and let go off the whip.
“Try!”
He tries. No changes. No movements.
He’s desperate. “I can’t d o it.”
I tell him what I observed: “You’re using the whip with your hand, yet your body and mind say “I`ll stay here – I won’t move”. So Chiara doesn’t move. She says “I can’t do it this way, so I don’t do it. If you want her to move – you must w a n t her to move. Your mind a n d your body have to be ready for moving. Become aware and flexible.”
Peter is smart. He understands. This time he concentrates on his intention and his body is slighty moving forward while he uses the whip.
Chiara starts walking.
Peter follows slowly, hesitating.
Chiara stops.
Peter is confused. “What’s now? Why doesn’t she go on?”
“She won’t pull you.”
“Hä…?”
“She doesn’t pull you” [like all the others already tried without success] “Stay with her – keep moving”.
They start – and they walk. Slowly but steadily. Chiara would stop after a little while and they have to start again. They do that several times. It seems to be difficult for Peter to make his own steps, but he’s doing all right. He might need more practise here.

Session 3:

In session 3 I work with Peter on his attention and his creativity. He has to make contact with the horse (in the riding arena), get her attention and then lead her without the rope.
It takes all his energy to get her attention. At first she’d walk wherever she wants to. Peter – used to giving up at once is between laughing and crying.
“She’s walking away”, giving me that look again.
“Be creative, like in your first session – you can do it”.
His moves become quicker, he is focussing the horse and gets into the leading position. After a few steps, his concentration goes down. Chiara walks away.
He moans and grumbles – and follows her, focussing her, trying to find out where she is aiming at next. He makes a quick move around the horse – and gets into the leading position again. This time he keeps his attention span up longer – the horse follows.
He practises one or two more times, in the end it’s a scene of a harmonious play between the two of them.

Session 4 and 5

In Session 4 Peter’s working very well when leading Chiara over a canvas plane. Before he started, he made up his mind and focused on the task he chose (he could choose between: stopping in front of the canvas plane, making her walk over it and making her stand on it).

When beeing asked to wrap the canvas plane around the horse, Chiara went away, he couldn’t get close. This time he couldn’t fullfill his task (and making the experience of frustration. So I asked him to come back whith a workung solution. A week later he returned and explained that he first wanted to show the canvas plane to the horse, then put it on the horses back and finally unfold it. The pictures show how it worked.

We still have to work on some other things but Peter’s obviously improving. He’s built a strong relationship with the horse and behaving more self-confident. In school he’s also doing better now. Next thing will be to stabilze his new skills.

Closing sentence:

I don’t’ plan the sessions that way. I don’t know which particular task could be the perfect connection to Peter’s problem. Actually, I follow my intuition. Sometimes I decide what we would do, after he arrived. Another time I plan what task I want to give him (and might drop it, when the client arrives). Sometimes I ask a person what he or she wants to do. It always comes out right. The horse never lies.

Horses Are Mysterious Creatures!

By Renáta Foldynová, Czech Republic

“Horses are mysterious creatures,” a friend of mine told me when we talked about her project of horse assisted management training, and I felt this phrase in my mind suddenly opened the door to another world. Until then, the horses were for me like other domestic animals. I was not particularly interested in them; my interest was strictly neutral. But I was intrigued, attracted and inspired by the mysticism. Now, horses entered into my world of mysticism by the main gate in all their grandeur and splendour. From that moment I knew that I would take the first opportunity for contact with this leadership trainers shrouded in mysticism.

Finally the day came when I parked the car on the farm Heroutice that offered ideal conditions for the natural leadership course with the assistance of horses – accommodation, restaurant with lounge and garden, indoor and outdoor riding school, horses in pens, beautiful countryside 70 km from Prague. I got out of the car full of curiosity, what to expect. Just somewhere on the edge of curiosity, I felt the vibration of fear, how am I going to hold out as a leader face to face with these large animals.

The very first lesson – the observation of three horses from the gallery of the covered riding hall – was unforgettable. Our task was to observe the behaviour of this small group of horses and determine which of them is the leader. It was interesting to observe how the behaviour of the group reflected different character traits of these three animals, Master, Merlin and Louise. Even more interesting was to share views and insights with other students in watching the video after returning to the classroom. To my surprise, we didn’t agree on the leader of the herd. Each of the three horses was the leader in somebody’s eyes and each participant had strong and convincing arguments for their choice. The best example of the diversity of views on one and the same situation I had never experienced.

Another activity was leading the horse by the bridle near its head. At first glance, nothing complicated. We were outside. My colleagues fulfilled their tasks excellently and I took Merlin’s rein with confidence. Problems, however, arouse after a few steps, when Merlin saw a group of horses who just then had driven through a nearby meadow to the farm. These horses caught his attention, so that to fulfil a simple task for me was virtually impossible. I tried all possible ways to attract his attention back to me and our task, but in vain. Sure, it was the outside influences that made a real challenge from a simple task. But when analyzing the video with the teacher and other participants I clearly realized that my behaviour was lacking conviction. Merlin did not mark my words, he might have been more convinced by my body language, if only it were more expressive.

A more complex task was to get the horses to run around. It was an example of leadership at a distance with a tool – a riding whip with a flag. I had never tried anything like this before, so I had no idea how to use the riding whip. I tried different strategies, but with only partial success. Later the colleague, who had dealt with horses for years, demonstrated how to do it. Wow! Why are we looking for some complexity when the solution is simple and vivid, I thought to myself. What a lesson of humility this was! And what a lesson I learned to put into practice effectively! As a manager I have a set of different management tools, and often use them in a complex manner with little effectiveness…
After leading the horse from the front and from the side came leading from the back using the reins. After the previous experience, I was really worried. How should I handle this? I do not suffer from a lack of confidence and courage, but I was prepared for the worst. And again the surprise came – me and Master completed the task as easily as if it were the simplest thing. Sensational! Another surprise came in the analysis – this kind of leadership is an analogy of coaching. Even though I had already some coaching experience, this experience of coaching effectiveness was much more expressive. Instead of drawing a sail-boat and discussing wisdom and control as in a standard training, here I was standing on the swinging deck with the wheel (or reins) in hand.

I know that management is in part science and in part craft. You can read hundreds of books and not be a good manager, because a substantial part of the art of management is not transferable. This craft part we gain by practical experience through feedback from others. At the seminar with the assistance of horses, I found that feedback from these animals is much more vivid and goes deeper into my heart than feedback from other people. Words and logical arguments were not understood by the horses. They responded to the language of my body and to what my inner being wanted. With Master, Luis and Merlin I could go through some shells of sophisticated ideas to the foundations of my managerial skills and within two days realize my strengths and weaknesses, which had accompanied me for several years undetected. Horses are really mystical beings!

Lubomír Straka, MBA (*1970) works in corporate governance and international coordination division of Air Navigation Services of the Czech Republic. As a head of the strategic planning department, he deals mainly with performance measurement and management of air navigation services and with the application of performance-based management within the organization.

Horse assisted education – a most valuable completion of integral leadership training

By Dr. Barbara Gorsler, management trainer, Dietlikon, Switzerland

Managers (… and others..) can learn a lot during horse – assisted training. Approaching horses, watching their reactions to our behavior, touching them, smelling them, leading them with or without a rope – this is a very special experience which brings people “down to earth”. Contrary to schooling in classroom where participants are mostly rational decision makers the context of horse – assisted education opens the emotional side of people. The authentic feedback of horses provokes reactions and insights for the participants which touches them deeply. That’s why horse assisted education is a very valuable completion of classroom seminars. In role plays in the classroom people often play a role – they are not authentic and are not open to really face their personal problems and challenges.

The following case study will highlight what I mean by integral leadership training: I will tell you the story of Lukas, a participant of a two day seminar: “Successful conflict resolution”, followed by a workshop with horse – assisted education.

My boss does not pay much attention to me… how can I attract more attention and recognition ?

Confession in the classroom

Lukas was one of nine participants with banking and insurance background who attended the seminar: “Successful conflict resolution”. At first sight he appeared to be a nice guy, polite, very intelligent (classical scholar with double PhD), very interested to communicate with the other participants, very engaged during the exercises and role plays. Overall, he left a rather shy impression, which showed also in his stooping posture.

At the end of the first day, Lukas had gained enough confidence to tell us about his actual problem at his workplace. He was assistant of the management board of a bank and his task was delivering profound analyses and background information – he told us how he was fascinated by his task – he was sure he could deliver competent information based on his long experience in the field. Unfortunately, he was seldom praised – even worse, his boss, an ambitious young woman, only used his work to create an image for herself. He admitted that he was now no more motivated.

First encounter with the horses – his favorite horse being Santana

It is always very interesting to watch the participants whom you know from two days classroom seminar in a totally different environment during their first encounter with the horses. Most of them are really looking forward to the new experience. Others are sort of nervous to meet the horses and ask themselves if they will be able to lead such a big animal. A few are in fear of horses and tell me in advance that the observer role will be alright for them ( in most of the cases they change their mind and will ask me “What do you think, if I try myself ?”…).

Lukas was very eager from the very beginning – he told me that he didn`t have any specific experience with horses but that he was always fascinated by these proud and elegant species.

During the first exercise participants are watching a group of horses which play around in a riding arena. This exercise is useful to get a first impression of the horses. The task is to watch the behavior of the horses very carefully – are there any differences in character? – which horse attracts me most? During this exercise every participant can choose his favorite horse for the following exercises. Lukas` choice was Santana, a very elegant mare with beautiful expressive movements. I asked him why he chose Santana? “That is very clear, I am fascinated by her elegance and assertiveness – did you see how Santana reacted when this brown little pony wanted to bite her? … she just kicked out at him. I also chose Santana because of her gentle expression on her face..”

Lukas and Santana – not a dream team yet

The exercise is to lead the horse on a rope, individually. The participant has to walk through different obstacles with the horse: turn around poles, pass through small obstacles, walk over tarpaulins on the floor. Lukas was very eager to do his job with Santana – his eyes sparkled like a little child when he took the leading rope of Santana. Only seconds later the expression of his face changed dramatically: Santana was not willing to follow him. He tried to motivate her by gently moving the leading rope.. no chance – he did not know what to do. He tried some other timid movements, without success. He tried to talk to her – no chance – discouraged he watched the group.

I asked him: ..” Do you think the horse knows, what you want from her?” Lukas seemed to understand.. “ok, I will show her what I want.. I will take a leading position, walking in front of her”…with timid movements he made some steps forward – seemingly not convincing enough. Meanwhile, Santana took a very uninterested stance and did not move. Poor Lukas was in a quite desperate state … I asked him: .. “Do you think the horse can recognise your full presence and determination?” Lukas seemed to think about this and suddenly changed his posture, he appeared much more focused now and -.. no surprise.. Santana started moving and followed Lukas… up to the second obstacle where Santana stopped again. This time it was Lukas who gave the explanation himself: “I can tell you why she stopped.. I was very uncertain if she would pass through the second obstacle … how can I take a leading position when I am uncertain and even in fear?” Now Lukas made his way with Santana very determined and we could watch how he enjoyed realizing how easily the mare followed him – finally Santana had accepted him as her leader.

Lukas` statements after his exercise

Deeply touched and still very excited, Lukas told us how he lived these 10 minutes: “In the beginning I was quite in despair– I approached Santana so gently but I could not gain her confidence – I had no authority. Only after I was totally despaired about the failed trials I had the energy to get through and to be finally respected. I am sure Santana could feel that I was clearly focused on reaching my target. I am very happy now that I succeeded to move her, finally – may be that is also true for my life: I have to stand up and signal very clearly to others what I want!”

What we learn from this story

Already in the classroom Lukas had told us from situations at his workplace where he was not much respected despite his broad experience and competence. The exercise with the horse showed him a way how he could increase his assertiveness.

Typically, Lukas chose the mare with a lot of expression, who showed that she is able to defend herself … characteristics Lukas would like to have himself, as well. During the exercises Lukas could learn about the importance of determined body language and clear target oriented action – there was a clear difference of his presence – before and after.

I am always impressed, how the lessons taught by horses are so easily accepted by people – may be people think, “Well, its only a horse which reacts.”

That is a real advantage of horse- assisted education – horses can mirror people the unvarnished truth and it is accepted quite easily. For me as a coach or another participant it often needs a lot of diplomacy and fine feeling to bring the message to the point.

Working with horses we are not only focused on rational thinking but we are also touching the emotional side of our participants. As newest research about limbic learning shows us the emotional involvement is a prerequisite for inner acceptance and finally for change of habits or behavior.

Conclusion

Horse – assisted training is a most valuable completion of classroom seminars. To be efficient and sustainable the process of coaching and training is most important – horse assisted training must be embedded in a clear context: starting with a clear statement about the status quo and the personal targets of the participant. Previous classroom seminars often bring up important issues and targets for horse – assisted education. Another possibility is a well coached brainstorming with the group prior to the horse seminar. Most important is the reflection during the horse – assisted training session : by the participant himself, by the group and the coach. Videos are a useful tool to reinforce the reflection – nobody would be able to explain your nonverbal communication and appearance better then when you watch yourself on the video… ! Insight is one thing… change of habits another! So it is most important that the insight process is followed by a clear transfer plan – a plan which must be developed by the participant himself – because only he is able to know how far he is ready to initialize change– the coach is only the motivator of this process.

In the transfer process we have another valuable effect of horse – assisted education: the situations lived with horses leave a deep impression on the participants – the success stories with the horses serve as a clear anchor – the inner pictures of successfully leading Santana, Prince or whatever the name of the horse is, will encourage the participants to be more self – assured and determined.

Welcome to a New World of Learning

“Better a boss who’s always nagging, grumbling, exploding and mistreating us than a boss who has mutated into a horse whisperer.” That could not be true! It was 11th March 1998 and we were reading the summary of our carefully formulated press release in the local newspaper, having just successfully completed our first open “Motivation Seminar for Managers” with horses as medium and we were excited by the prospect of interest from not only hundreds but thousands of new participants in the future.

What was it that upset “pat”, the columnist? Why should his boss not “learn from horses”? Why by no means from “Friesians, possibly East Friesians”? He did not want to be compared to nags. He did not want to “always take higher and higher hurdles of work motivation and job performance, like these highly-bred willing four-legged animals” and “at the end gratefully eat from the palm of somebody’s hand! No never!” Was he not right?

He could not know that even more renowned press and TV journalists would approach this topic in much more detail in the following years. For example the seminar reviewer Baerbel Schwertfeger who published six pages in the German HR magazine “wirtschaft + weiterbildung” (“The seminar is an impressive experience”), or the journalist Dagmar Deckstein who wrote a three-quarter-page in the business section of the “Sueddeutsche Zeitung” with the sub-heading “The Rediscovery of Intuition”.

And we ourselves could not know that neither the mocking contribution of “pat” nor the well founded articles in the national press and the professional journals would be helpful to bring managers to our horse seminars at this early stage. Then, when even the famous news magazine “Der Spiegel” and the second channel of German broadcasting “ZDF” came we simply had to guess: Now we have got it! But no – it took four more long years for the prediction of a marketing magazine chief editor at one of our seminar evenings to come true: “It takes exactly seven years to get such a new concept into the market.”

In fact we never claimed that we had developed anything really new. One can already read that the horse is a mirror in the writings of the old masters on the art of riding. Observations that horses are skilled in extrasensory perception were already published by Henry Blake (“Talking with Horses”) in the 1970s. The fact that human beings were not able to imagine a life without horses for thousands of years is reason enough to think about the increasing distance between mankind and horses over the last sixty years.

“There is nothing good, unless you do it,” Erich Kaestner says. So let’s do it. Let’s take the horse back to the development of human beings, back to their raising of consciousness, their character building, their way of behaviour, and their leadership concepts.

Why the horse? Because it combines reality and vision. Because it is a mirror. Because it requires one hundred percent presence in every moment. Because it shows up boundaries. Because it opens horizons. Because it can be a medium to the universe.

We were not the only ones thinking these thoughts. From the year 2000 on we found similar approaches on web pages in several countries. The number of seminar providers working with horses in management seminars in Germany increased. Sometimes we detected sentences just copied and pasted from our HorseDream homepage on new websites. As a consequence in 2003 we decided to teach other trainers our seminar approach and to give them permission to use our concept and anything we had written on our website. One year later, in August 2004, we founded the European Association for Horse Assisted Education (EAHAE) together with seven other European trainers and coaches. When we started with our G&K HorseDream GmbH in 1996 we did not imagine that there would be more than 200 trainers, coaches and seminar providers with us, sharing the “vision to establish and develop Horse Assisted Education as a general form of personal and professional development in (not only European) enterprises, organisations, institutions, societies, and for personal purposes”.

But it becomes even more exciting. Nearly at the same time that the first horse assisted seminar providers in Germany, England, Austria and Switzerland dared to go to market, similar concepts were developed in the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

In January 2005 Ariana Strozzi held her first annual conference of the newly founded Equine Guided Education Association with participants from three continents. Shortly before this she had published her book “Horse Sense for the Leader Within. Are You Leading Your Life or is it Leading You?” Horse sense means common sense. In the meantime this term has been used as a book title or company name many times. The Austrian management trainer and leadership lecturer Fritz Hendrich gave his book “Horse Sense” the subtitle “How Alexander the Great first conquered a horse and then an empire. Three steps to the charisma of leadership.”

Well, we don’t have anything in mind about empires and their conquest. And actually we don’t think about charisma. In HorseDream seminars normality plays the lead. Our subject is reduction. Reduction to the essentials of leadership. And for us this means authenticity. Our horses accept the participants just as they are as long as they express themselves as they are. Our horses don’t engage in play-acting. There are extreme examples.

Peter stood together with Benetton in the picadero. Peter is a key account manager in a large telecommunication company. Benetton is an athlete; high and upright, muscular, glossy black, big – actually too big for a Friesian horse.

Picadero, a square pen of about ten by ten meters, comes from the Spanish language and means “small riding arena”. The exercise is called “Distance and Nearness”. Leading with distance, leading with human nearness. What is it like to push somebody to a distance? Am I able to do it? Without overacting? Am I a hurrier? Peter waves the flag, the “leadership instrument”, or better the “tool of power”. Benetton is moving around him in a circle. First walking, then he trots a little bit. The whole thing lasts for one or two minutes. Peter follows the instruction for the exercise and drops the flag behind him. The pressure is gone. Benetton stops. He looks towards Peter. He turns his head forward. Peter steps up to the horse. He holds a long lead rope, the “leadership structure”, in his hand. He hooks the rope to the halter and waits.

Maybe the horse follows you, at the loose rope, without pressure, without pull, without a word. Only based on the trust you gained in the first phase of the exercise – the phase of distance, respect. Because you did not play the boss, you did not need to prove your power. You just asked for distance, quietly and easily. And then you got intuitively that respect is present; that out of distance may come nearness. Without distance there is no nearness. Whoever wants nearness must be able to demand distance. Whoever wants distance must be able to allow nearness.

Peter is still waiting. Benetton stands in front of him like a statue. No muscle is moving. Peter’s hand moves to his pocket. Carrots are not required. We want the horses to follow us out of free will, not because they get something to eat, but because they like us; they trust us; because they love to be with us; because they know that we know where we want to go.

Peter pulls a tissue out of his pocket. He puts out his open hand toward Benetton. No reaction. Peter takes one step back. Then one step sideways. No reaction. The rope hangs loose. Once it is taut, the exercise is finished – that’s the agreement.

Peter steps up to Benetton. He takes off the rope from the halter, moves to the middle of the picadero and takes the flag again, his leadership instrument of power. He points the flag at Benetton and the horse begins to move. Round and round he trots. From time to time he throws his mane with a short head movement towards Peter who holds the pressure constant, walking with a firm tread in a small circle in the centre of the quadrangle. Then he drops the flag abruptly. Bennetton stands still.

Peter walks up to the horse, fastens the lead rope to the halter, makes an inviting gesture and takes a first step. Benetton stands still. Immovable. No reaction. A key account manager who sits facing his customer? Distance works but nearness does not? Ability is present but willingness is not? I hear the message well but lack Faith’s constant trust?

What is it that the horse wants to tell Peter? We don’t know. We cannot look inside the heads of our horses. We don’t interpret. We leave the situation as it is. But we know one thing very well: The experience with Benetton in the picadero will trigger something in Peter. Maybe it will come up in discussion during the seminar; maybe he will take it home, to the next customer conversation, or to the next sales meeting.

What is it that is so extreme in this example? “By the way, I was trained as an actor and was onstage for two years. A bad income. Too less to live, too much to die,” Peter tells us during the smoke break. Short silence. Then the question: “Well, could it be that you just played a role in the picadero? Did you wear a mask?” “I think I did,” Peter says.

We are used to acting behind our masks. We are even recommended to do so. Just do not let anybody come too close. Business is really tough. Who reveals themself is already lost. Authentic leadership! For sure!

“In the army I did not have any problems with acceptance from the very first moment,” Mayer tells the seminar group. The audience listens with interest. “It started with the clothing. With my name badge. My first name Christopher was too long. So it was just C dot Mayer. Know what? The newbies always thought this meant Captain Mayer.” Everybody is laughing. The moment Christopher is in the picadero together with Benetton nobody is laughing any longer. He holds the flag diagonally upright to the croup of the horse and runs. Accentuated paces. Benetton trots with a high knee action, like a Friesian who is being presented by the so called Monsterknecht at the stallion licensing. He loudly puffs the breath from his open nostrils so that everybody can hear it. The seminar participants back off involuntarily, expecting the horse could be driven across the borderline. The giant Benetton gallops through the ten-meter quadrangle. And Captain Mayer keeps up the pressure. Shortly before we give the signal to end the exercise when the flag is dropped. Benetton stops from full speed and turns his mighty body towards Christopher in the middle of the picadero, tossing his head, snorting wildly at him. You’d almost think Benetton is a dragon who spits fire.

Christopher does not even try to fasten the rope to the halter. What nobody considered possible in this moment happens: Christopher starts walking – and Benetton follows him. The horse now holds his mouth at head height of the man at maybe a foot distance. Christopher walks – and Benetton follows. No uncertainty on the horse’s part, no doubt, no resistance. Just nearness. “Typically capricorn,” Karin says, “hard on himself and hard on others.”

This is authentic leadership. The horse accepts the human being if he acts like he really is. We have experienced a lot of such examples in the last 14 years of horse assisted trainings. We saw men full of self-doubts and those pretending to be omnipotent. We experienced arrogance and humility. “Be yourself,” Karin shouts into the picadero as man and horse are facing each other stockstill for two minutes. “Then I would have to hug him now.” And precisely at this moment, the horse moves towards the human.

We don’t know any better way to let leaders experience the difference between distance and nearness. The picadero exercise is the emotional highlight in all of our trainings.

Emotional learning is deep learning. It is effective learning. And it is learning in a very short space of time. Emotional learning is also motivation and self motivation. Very often, the motive of leaders to attend a horse assisted leadership seminar is curiosity. The outcome of such a seminar, very often, is the insight that you cannot learn leadership because leadership is learning.

“When I was back at my company on the Monday morning after the seminar, the people in my team were totally different,” Maria tells us on the phone two weeks after the seminar. She is a manager in a large automobile company. “Actually I just wanted to be around horses once again for a day. And now all of a sudden everything has changed!”

In our seminars it is not the point to realise how many parallels there are between horse and human socialisation – that the lead mare is in charge and that she forms a dual leadership with the lead stallion. It is not about all the metaphors. Not about the symbolism from thousands of years history of horse and mankind. There is nothing wrong with all this.

“The map is not the territory.” The horse is reality and an explanation model. We take the horse as an “As If” and we place it in the centre of an emotional recognition process. Whether there results any change potential for the participants – and if so, in what way – stays consciously outside our influence. We try to enable instead of generate. The basic work with the people is done by the horse. Welcome to a new world of learning!

Gerhard J. Krebs, born 1949, holds a university degree in political science and contemporary German literature. He has been working as an entrepreneur since 1983. He started IT-Trainings in 1986 and founded G&K HorseDream GmbH in 1996 together with his wife Karin. They both started with horse assisted leadership seminars and team training in 1998 using Friesian horses as catalysts. Gerhard & Karin initiated the EAHAE in August 2004. Besides corporate training they provide national and international ‘train the trainer’ seminars addressing coaches and educators, who want to get into the Horse Assisted Education business, as well as HorseDream Partner License Workshops.

G&K HorseDream GmbH
Gut Klein Nienhagen
Ahornallee 11
D-18236 Kroepelin

Phone: +49 38292 820994
Email: gerhard@horsedream.com
Internet: www.horsedream.com

My Teacher is a Horse!

By Jesvir Mahil
University for Life

Remember those moments of epiphany (we’ve all had them) when your life takes a dramatic turn following a deep insight or discovery of a love that you have not experienced previously?

One of these life transforming experiences occurred for me about five years ago when I realised that there is a growing number of people around the world that have made a major shift in consciousness by promoting their horses to the role of educators rather than captive vehicles for transport or creatures for entertainment. In loosening the bonds of captivity and allowing their horses to experience the natural freedom and power that is so readily associated with them, horse owners around the world are stimulating a paradigm shift that could have an inspirational impact on innovation in the world of education.

Being an educator myself, I am fascinated by the work of these modern day horse owners that are no longer just training their horses but also allowing themselves to be trained by the horses. They are learning to listen to their horses rather than merely telling them what to do. This role reversal requires a very sophisticated sensitivity and understanding of the interaction between horses and their communication with human beings.

Gerhard & Karin Krebs, founders of HorseDream, are two of the pioneers using their sensitive insights into the educational relationship between horses and human beings. They have developed concepts whereby their gorgeous herd of Friesian horses behave as facilitators in educational programmes for developing practical skills such as leadership. Last autumn, I was fortunate to attend one of their training programmes and became a member of the European Association for Horse Assisted Education (EAHAE) which attracts members to its yearly conferences from around the world. Imagine that! Perceptions about the role of horses in education are changing around the world and there is a growing global awareness that the equine world can enrich our lives with much more than mere entertainment or transport facilities.

How do you see horses? What do they symbolise to you, metaphorically and literally? If you already own horses, what needs and desires do they fulfil? Are they your toys? Are they your tools? Are they your teachers?

If your horse is your teacher, what have you learnt? For example, when I was doing the HorseDream training in Germany I realised that the Friesians were very sensitive to subtle, imperceptible changes in my body language. These are changes that would go undetected by the casual observer but being aware of my own inner thoughts, I knew when these changes in my body language occurred. When I thought I was doing well with the horses and felt confident, my body language exuded this positive vibe. In contrast, when I thought I was making a mistake and felt embarrassed the horses seemed to sense this and lost interest in my endeavours to connect with them. I was amazed that I could think a thought and as if by telepathy get a relevant response from the horse. My assumption is that the thoughts were conveyed through the physical, emotional and, dare I say, spiritual dimensions of the interaction.

I am still an Equestrian beginner although I have read at least twenty books by contemporary authors, pioneers in placing the horse on a new pedestal: Master of Wisdom; Messenger of Truth; Teacher of Natural Communication. What is your position in all this? What is your story?

A Big HorseDream

By Christine Schöneberg, Germany

It was only in July when a large German car manufacturer approached Gerhard with an idea: could it be possible to integrate something with horses into an already scheduled management workshop? The audience was described as managers and team leaders from one functional area, facing the challenge of implementing a huge IT project and the corresponding process changes.

Target of the two-day-workshop was to discuss the necessary management structure and effective ways of collaboration within the organization – some very clear down-to-earth operational issues. The lady in charge of organizing the meeting was thinking about something special, eye-opening and intense; something the people would be talking about way beyond the workshop and reminding them about basic leadership and communication principles. There were only three minor details to consider: First, there would only be five hours time for the “horse part”. Second, the group was something around 95 people. Third, none of the participants was supposed to have the faintest idea what would happen. It was to be organized as a “surprise”.

During the month of August, a dedicated telephone line between Gerhard, the customer and Verena, who was appointed to be in charge of heading the event, would have been appropriate. Many changes to the agenda had to be taken care of, terms and conditions had to be negotiated, numerous concerns had to be cleared – the most important one for the customer: “How big is the risk? What, if it doesn’t work?”

The location was booked, a beautiful farmstead with two riding arenas and some Icelandic horses that were available as trainers. Additionally, Anja brought her two horses along. There was a professional caterer on-site; but it was the first time such an event took place here. On the HorseDream side, 10 trainers with very different backgrounds and experiences were taking part. They met the evening before, some for the first time, and discussed the details of the logistics, which had to be planned by the minute and needed to be carefully coordinated: in total, there were 10 groups, five which had to work in parallel in the arena while the other five groups were doing the debriefing of the first exercises. Thanks to the common HorseDream-background, the focus was on the flow of the event. The content never needed to be discussed.

Then the big day came. A few minutes before nine o’clock, the participants approached the premises, some in disbelief, most of them having a big question mark in their faces. They really did not have any clue about what they could expect. Yes, there was some preparation material distributed upfront, but without any hint towards the equine nature of the event.

After a brief speech from the upper management and Verena as the HorseDream representative-in-charge, the participants were divided into 10 groups, and each trainer gave them an introduction before they were led to the first encounter with their future trainers: the “Watching and Assessing”-exercise. Next followed the “Face-to-Face”, and while five groups went to debrief the first two exercises, the second half continued with leading the horses around poles, which required quite some coordination, as there was one group at each of the poles. The participants were anxious, sceptical, concentrated and very alert about what happened around them; a whole world of emotions showed up in this group of rational, grounded people that in a surprising way allowed themselves to get involved into a “great unknown” and also reflected upon themselves.

At the end, participants were asked to take a few minutes time to note down their personal insights. It was very quiet during these 15 minutes, when people gathered in the shade (yes, it was a warm and sunny summer day), and took their time individually. No doubt, there had been an impact.

PS: Two weeks later: the internal facilitator, who led the participants through the rest of their 2-day-program, confirmed that a lot of thinking and discussing had been initiated within each single person – and within the whole group. Yes, there definitely was an impact!