Equus coaching takes a unique approach to leadership, executive, and life coaching – incorporating horses into the experience. Horses are herd animals that have evolved and survived for 56 million years. The herd is their community – full of social interactions, teamwork, and hierarchy. Each horse has its unique personality and, yes, can even burn out just like us. While horses don’t use verbal language, they communicate through their senses and use of non-verbal communication with their eyes, ears, nose, touch and heart energy. Heart energy is an electromagnetic energy given off by the brain and the heart.
Besides the parallels we can draw between horses and humans, horses also have a knack for enhancing our self-awareness. Horses serve as a mirror to peoples’ internal selves. They tend to be very sensitive to emotions, thoughts, visual cues and intuition. They can help people identify what might be in their way, or an internal dialogue that they haven’t fully realized yet. They generally have a therapeutic effect on humans – healing you from the inside out.
Why Horses for Laura & Red Clover Leadership?
Laura has personally experienced the healing of a horse. As a young girl and teenager, whenever she was troubled, she would go to the barn to be with her horse. She didn’t understand the power of the horse then, but knew that her horse “understood her” and “helped her feel better”.
As an adult, her understanding of the horses’ power grew, but it was profound when she was grieving. When she lost her husband, all she wanted to do is to be around horses. Her horse Bo was an empathetic and gentle friend. He read her energy and emotions – if she showed up broken and emotional, he was gentle and quiet. If she came to him with some energy, he would have a pep in his step and meet her where she was that day. He and her other horses have been powerful influences in her life.
Equus Coaching is a unique and recommended experience, but it is not required for your engagement with Red Clover Leadership. Check out Our Solutions to learn more about all Red Clover’s offerings.
What to Expect
An Equus Coaching session typically starts with a brief safety demonstration (see safety demo script here), tour of the ranch, and familiarizing yourself with the horse. It doesn’t require any prior experience with or knowledge of horses – there is no riding involved and all of the work will be from the ground.
The coach will work with you to identify an area of life, work or a pattern that you’d like to have thought-partnership on. As you interact with the horse, the coach will help you notice feedback from the horse and help interpret what it means. As the session with the horse comes to a close, there will be an opportunity to sit, discuss, and even journal what’s been learned, the outcomes, and actions to take. Here’s an example schedule of an Equus Coaching session: Equus Coaching Experiences
Red Clover Ranch
Most of the Equus coaching occurs at the Red Clover Ranch in House Springs, Missouri. The ranch is a scenic, quiet, privately owned ranch. It is not open to the public. There are no trainers, boarded horses, or events. It is the perfect location to get grounded, engage with a horse, and grow. With access to horses and a round pen or arena, the coaching can occur at alternative locations.
Being an Equus Coach
For Laura, an Equus Coaching certification was the perfect way to combine her passion for horses, with her passion for helping others succeed. This unique approach has helped deepen her skills and passion for coaching, and taught her new ways to help others find paths forward.
Not all Equus coaches are formally trained and have credentials (or certification) to practice. Laura went through extensive training provided by the Center for Equus Coaching in order to provide quality coaching with horse co-facilitators. The training program builds the foundational skills needed to deepen a coach’s tools and approach for helping others, including:
- Basic horsemanship and safety
- Ways to interpret horse feedback to aid in a client’s growth
- How to combine proven leadership approaches with the power of horses
- Improving a coach’s ability to “read” people
- Enhancing a coach’s approach in 1:1 sessions, authentic, and effective communication
The training program encompasses the core competencies and ethical standards of the International Coaching Federation (ICF).
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