THE EQUINE ADVANTAGE:

Understanding the gentle teachings of the horse to enrich our personal
and professional relationships, for life.

Getting Results

How do talented horse trainers get amazing results with difficult horses in very short periods of time?
Simply by trusting the horses and setting them free. Free to be a horse, not held back with ropes, halters or harsh bits. They are free to make their own decisions. Exceptional results can be achieved with a horse if they are treated as an equal partner with trust, respect and honesty.
The same is true for individuals. Managers and team leaders often neglect to set their team members free. If they were only aware of what amazing results could be accomplished by trusting them instead of locking them up in a box-type environment, a new approach might be considered.

Communication Skills

The foundation for a good human/horse relationship is two-way communication. Although many may accomplish results by dictating and dominating their horses, they would achieve more trusting and positive results by listening to what their equine partner is communicating.
The same results can be accomplished amongst human beings if they learn to listen and trust their partners, team members, colleagues and various relationships. The traditional way of “breaking” a horse by domination and fear is similar to the way some leaders and managers work. In both situations, results eventually get achieved but at a high cost: it’s more time consuming and the partners (equine or human) are probably not anxious or motivated to work with this leader again.

Out Of The Box

There is a better way of getting results quicker as well as to ensure trusting, enthusiastic, motivated partners to work with you, not for you. Putting people in boxes while limiting their abilities through hierarchical structures is a widespread concern in today’s businesses and organizations. By changing the way people think about themselves, their jobs and how they work as individuals and in teams, we are empowering them with life skills that will benefit their personal and professional lives, as well as the organizations for whom they work.
An enlightened form of leadership will seek to involve and inspire participants as opposed to direct and control. This type of leadership empowers participants, which results in authentic team spirit and more productive/willing team members. There is a tremendous power that is leveraged when a person’s individualism, creativity and spirituality are unleashed. The horse has the ability to gently leverage people to this realization about themselves. You can force people to work together in a team environment but you can’t force optimum performance and productivity. The desire to perform comes from motivation. When working with a horse if too much pressure is applied to the partnership, he will most likely choose to leave. Humans are very similar in the sense that they may choose to intellectually “leave” the project they are working on. Knowledge will keep you free from the desire to dominate through fear. This applies not only to horse trainers but also to team leaders, supervisors, managers, presidents and CEO’s.