Here are our top ten reasons

1.        100% of a horse’s communication is non-verbal. Because of this, you can’t smooth-talk, bribe, fool, or verbally intimidate them… which means you have to learn how to be effective at non-verbal communication. As up to 93% of human communication is non-verbal, this skill then translates over into more effective communication with fellow humans.

2.        Horses are large, sensitive, and expressive animals who have individual personalities and wills of their own. As such, they create contexts that are constantly changing, requiring you to plan and communicate effectively, but also to change the plan at a moment’s notice. This ability is ofton critical in today's face-paced world.

3.        Horses tend to provide a mirror for what your body language and intentions are, even if you are unaware of it! A Horse Powered Solutions facilitator will help you to learn how to use this mirror to develop insight and make behaviour adjustments so that your body language is congruent with what you are really meaning. This will result in learning to communicate more authentically and more assertively.

4.        People tend to interact and react with horses in much the same way as they do with people, so you get the chance to work on your behaviour patterns. Horses' reactions and responses provide immediate and observable feedback for your behaviour, and clear reinforcement for any changes you make. This visible responsiveness is empowering as you can actually see the effect that you are having, and the difference that a change can make.

5.        Horses are non-judgemental, non-discriminatory, and do not care about your status or what others think of you. This provides a context for you to feel truly safe in practicing doing something differently.

6.        Horses are often seen as big, scary, and difficult to "control". This is frequently a useful metaphor for real life situations. Learning how to work with your team to accomplish tasks that seem difficult, frustrating, and overwhelming is a valuable skill that you will get to practice in several different ways in a safe situation where learning is the ultimate achievement.

7.        Working effectively with horses requires confidence, patience, emotional congruence, trust, compassion, and self-awareness. By learning to bring these elements into interactions, you will be rewarded with the responsiveness of a cooperative horse.

8.        For group exercices, as in EACD workshops, it soon becomes clear that every member of the team is needs to contribute to create a successful outcome. Even one non-contributing member can mean the difference between success and failure of task. While this is true for the corporate world as well, it becomes more obvious when all interactions and outcomes are physical and visible. Working in an arena or field with all team members in the same physical location and attempting to achieve a clearly measurable outcome together – a certain response from a horse – provides an opportunity for clear feedback in this regard.

9.        Horses don’t think like us. This means that creativity, focus, innovation, and cooperative effort is often necessary to create a desired outcome. You will practice brainstorming rewarding solutions to overcome seemingly-impossible challenges!

10.        “Horses are smarter than people. You never heard of a horse going broke betting on people.” – Will Rogers

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