Redefining Leadership : No Horse Experience Required

How are you? If your world is anything like mine, you’re in a time of quickening. Experiences are deep, rich, agonizing, wonderful, and going so fast it’s hard to keep up with all of the things. I hope you’re able to find the sweetness in all that is happening with you, for you, to you. I have a share for you below. And if you have a share for me, please reply to this email or schedule a chat. I’d love to hear how you’re doing and what you’re up to.

One of the things that I’ve been up to in the last couple of years is training to be an EQUUS Experience Certified Facilitator. The EQUUS Experience is an award winning equine assisted coaching experience. Here’s a link to the EQUUS Experience creator, Kelly Wendorf’s, page about the EQUUS Experience. I’m working on making it available in the Bend area. If when you read this, you know in your bones that want to do a retreat in Santa Fe, let’s design an experience for you at Buffalo Spirit Ranch! (This link gives you an idea of what we can create for you in Santa Fe).

But let me back up. This letter is titled, “Redefining Leadership : No Horse Experience Required.” What does leadership have to do with horses?

The horse is the second most successful mammal on the planet, second only to the platypus. At 56 million years and counting, horses have not only survived but thrived through tectonic shifts, climate change, periods of mass extinction, drought, and famine. Their secret to millions of years of existence? Their sensitivity, resilience, agility, and sociability.
The EQUUS website states, “the herd is governed by a sophisticated lateral ‘moveable’ shared hierarchy that serves the whole…They value connection, clarity and authenticity, and trust those who are congruent with their intentions. (In other words, those who say and do what they mean and mean what they say and do). Their leaders are those who demonstrate care, responsiveness, clarity, presence and charisma.”

When I’m asked, “Why horses?” My answer is this:

They have a lot to teach us about surviving and thriving. And unlike the platypus, they are willing to partner with humans.
But how do they do it? What are the qualities of horse culture that have made them so successful?
The answer: a unique culture modeled as the 5 pillars of Thriving.

The Five Pillars of Thriving: Safety, Connection, Peace, Freedom, and Joy held by the tenets of Care and Presence.

The five pillars of thriving held by the two tenets of care and presence and time in the arena teaches us how to become the kinds of leaders and community members that horses are. They are the kinds of leaders and community that have built-in shared values. Together, they create a culture that ensures survival of the species and a life that’s prioritizes thriving of the mind, body, and the spirit. Put another way, they prioritize life. The leaders lead from behind with care and presence. This stance cultivates a robust culture that can continue on should the leader step down or perish. In healthy herds, the leader is not the exuberant stallion as typically depicted in movies. Rather, the leader is either a mare or in domestic herds, a mare or quieter gelding.  You can spot them by how still they are and by their subtle movements that send the rest of the herd into motion. You can tell by the way they keep watch. This alertness gives the rest of the community a feeling of safety that allows them to become fully who they are. The community members don’t lead lives of rule following, doing what they’re told by the powers that be. They have voice and choice within the context of the 5 pillars and two tenets. Their roles are critical to the well-being of their herd. They bring humor, curiosity, care, comradery, mischief, and they teach the 5 pillars and two tenets to the youngsters so that everyone is safe and connected to themselves and to the herd.

This is a culture that survives and thrives.

Let’s take it off the range and into human professional and personal leadership. Where does personal agenda over community show up in your life? Conversely, where does community over personal agenda show up in your life? Are there places in your life where you’ve found the sweet spot of individual and community needs? What roles do you play in your community/communities? Where do you look out for others? Where do others look out for you? Where do you naturally take a more permanent leadership role? And where does your leadership show up by playing a different role from your standard leadership role? Have you been in a group that has a moveable hierarchy that serves the individual and the overall wellbeing of the group? How does that work? What conditions are present to cultivate this dynamic culture. There are no right or wrong answers here. Context matters. Bring your curiosity and look at it from a horse’s ‘pillars of thriving’ perspective.

There's a phrase, "How we do anything is how we do everything."

The horses show us how to do things in a safe, connected, joy filled environment. They teach us a new and ancient way to lead and to organize ourselves. To lead from behind, embodying power with versus power over. A way that is the foundation of 56 million years of surviving and thriving.
While we humans know a lot about how we can make things better in the world and in our lives, the dominant culture has a long history of being out of sync with a surviving and thriving mindset. We need teachers and guides to help us remember this part of ourselves. To teach us what has been lost from more than a century of disconnect from being in sync with natural processes.

Is equine assisted coaching therapy?

Nope.

When I share what I’m up to, I often hear, '“Equine therapy is so cool!” And that’s true. It is really cool. Here’s the difference. While time in the arena can feel therapeutic, the focus is on your self-development with the horse as your teacher and me as the facilitator. EQUUS Experience horses have a voice and choice about their work. They get to say how they feel about working that day. They get to choose how to engage with their student that day. They get to be the dynamic beings that they are. They are not on a rigorous therapy schedule holding session after session until they burnout*. They are respected partners and teachers who lead by example, giving you an immersive experience of safety, connection, peace, freedom, and joy held by care and presence.

Wanna learn how to lead with the wisdom of a 56-million-year-old?

You can learn this in and out of the arena. I bring equine teachings to you by proxy through

• 1:1 coaching
• The Wisdom of Thriving, an 8-week group program based off the teachings in, Flying Lead Change: 56 Million Years of Wisdom for Leading and Living, by Kelly Wendorf

​

To have a direct experience with 56-million-year-old wisdom, book a

• Custom private retreat to Buffalo Spirit Ranch, the home of the EQUUS herd, in Santa Fe New Mexico.

​
Coming soon

• The award winning EQUUS Experience in Central Oregon

​
You won’t find information about any of these offerings on my website. (I still need to write the copy). Reading this post gives you the inside track on a new and ancient way to lead in your work and life. If you want to learn more, book a chat with me. It’s just a short chat. Not a long sales call. It’s a chance for you to learn about each offering and to ascertain if you want to talk more about any of them.

I look forward to talking with you.

Before you move on, please do me a quick favor. Who do you know that would be interested in learning about the 5 Pillars of Thriving and implementing them into their lives? Please share this post with them.

Thank you very much.

Love,
Kate

*Not all equine therapy programs lead to horse burnout, but many are more focused on the human experience than the experience of the horse.

​P.S. When booking a chat, if you can’t find a time that works for you or want to talk sooner, reply to this email with your phone number. We’ll figure out a time that works.

Photo of Artemis, the EQUUS herd’s lead mare, enjoying a rest as we watch over her.