The Horsepower
Experience

The Horsepower
Experience

Equine Assisted Learning

Our signature program provides a unique environment that supports personal transformation for individuals and teams.

Experiential activities, such as Equine Assisted Learning (EAL), encourage you to examine your actions, thought processes and even emotional responses. Horses mirror and magnify your behaviours and emotions to give real-time feedback, allowing you to reflect internally to find better strategies that promote successful outcomes.

equine assisted learning

Equine Assisted Learning has been proven to enhance and improve emotional intelligence skills and social skills and develop better self-regulation.

By utilising your observation skills and trusting your inner emotions you will discover new ways to live and to lead.

How Equine Assisted Learning works

With EAL, the horse acts as a partner in the participants learning, a fellow facilitator who responds to the feelings and actions of the participant. This is because horses have a highly evolved survival mechanism that can recognise threatening or safe intent from up to a kilometre away. Hence, their survival as a species.

Because of this unique attribute, horses act as a mirror for the person’s internal state and will react accordingly. This will usually be a non-verbal cue that’s information for the participant. They need to act whilst finding a way internally to overcome or capitalise on emotional energy, thereby finding their own solution to their inner emotional state.

People who engage with EAL leave with:

  • deeper insight into themselves
  • greater confidence
  • improved awareness of others.

  • raised emotional intelligence

  • enhanced relationship and communication skills

This program has proven time and again to provide the deepest impacts on both personal and professional learning.

You and the horse

Observing Consciously

This activity is based on taking notice of the behaviours and actions of the herd. This encourages you to invest in observing yourself and others to gather information that will enable you to take an appropriate approach.

Connecting Deeply

You will explore the art of building rapport. This is a tactile activity where information is both observed and felt. The horse gives constant feedback of what it likes and what it does not.

Joining Energy

If you have done the first two steps well, then you can build on this by using your empathy skills to meet the horse’s energy and lift or calm where necessary. The aim here is to achieve an outcome by managing the energy of the horse and giving clear directions.

Teamwork

Here you must cooperate and navigate complexity as a team. Communication, Leadership and Roles must be clear to achieve a successful outcome with their key stakeholder – the horse (customer).

Reflect & Connect

At regular intervals throughout the day, you will have time to walk with a buddy and reflect on the insights you have gleaned. By listening and discussing each other’s experience, you will open your mind and discover new strategies that support deeper connection and more rewarding outcomes.

Horsepower Leadership is such a lifechanging course. It was amazing to see and experience how the horses taught my team and I and really got us all engaged together. I have spoken to all the members of my team since the session and everyone had an amazing day and gained so much from it. I am sure you will see many more teams from within Sandvik completing this experience from the feedback we have given internally. Once again thank you so very much for the day.

Paul Ogier, Remote Monitoring Centre Manager, Sandvik Mining

client logos

Ready to learn more about yourself as a leader?

Book a discovery call to get the ball rolling.