What is equine-assisted learning?
The business of partnering human and horse for personal learning has been steadily growing worldwide in recent years. Equine-guided learning (EGL) has wide application, individuals and teams seeking a new angle on personal development through facilitated workshops. Our executive education programmes, which by design are customised, employ methods other than traditional classroom-based teaching to engage participants. This approach to personal development comes from the recognition that experiential work deeply impacts an individual’s ability to synthesize the learning and to remember and effect change based upon experience.
Why horses?
Humans, like horses are herd animals and useful comparisons can be made to group dynamics in the workplace. At EquiLead, we partner with horses because they have a highly sensitive, attuned ‘gut instinct’. They are non-judgmental, offer immediate feedback and provide the opportunity to show clients the impact of their communication and leadership choices.
What happens in an EquiLead workshop?
Sessions with the horses are experiential in nature - clients learn by ‘doing’, rather than being told, or by seeing a demonstration. This is not ridden work, nor teaching in horsemanship - all exercises are ground-based, and don’t involve riding.
Individually or in a team, clients are invited to complete simple tasks with the horses, for example, to navigate an obstacle course with the horse on or off a rope, or to practise leading the horse using differing leadership styles. The metaphor of leading from in front or alongside is explored, and the ways in which participants meet and enter into the relationship with the horse often have parallel learning for the ways in which participants meet and enter into relationships with those in their professional and personal lives.