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The Professional Series

You will learn to:

• Understand the importance and power of non-verbal body language in communication. Become aware of the messages you may be sending and learn to read your client’s messages.
• Recognize and respect the personal boundaries of others. Establish your own boundaries. (A necessity for establishing and maintaining objective professional conduct.)
• Work “in the moment” with clients, by improving your attention and focus, so you can truly listen to what they are trying to communicate.
• Develop your own self-confidence by strengthening your existing skills, as well as developing new skills.

Horses provide immediate, unfiltered feedback. Feedback that your clients, are often unable to give you. Horses react to what people do, including body language, not what they say. A person’s body language is a true indicator of their thoughts and emotions. Inattention, indifference, impatience or aggression will trigger an observable, undisguised response in the horse. Analyzing the horse’s response enables you to judge the effectiveness of your actions. As you develop each new skill, the horse’s responses will change immediately.

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Listening, The Hardest Skill

"The most basic of all human needs is the need to understand and be understood. The best way to understand people is to listen to them” — Ralph Nichols

Training in health sciences and medicine often emphasizes intellectual proficiency. Listening, The Hardest Skill, helps participants to balance their intellectual capabilities with competence in the areas of emotional and social intelligence, sensitivity and communication. The result: Improved relationships with your patients, colleagues, superiors and employees.

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Understanding Behaviour as Communication

"Behaviour never occurs in a vacuum. It is the end result of the interaction between the child and their environment, and that environment includes the people in it. If you want to change the behaviour of the child, first look at your own. You might be surprised by what you see” — Temple Grandin, The Way I See It

Behaviour is communication. When your clients are non-verbal or have poor language skills or social issues you must learn to interpret their intentions through their body language and their actions. Concurrently you need to realize that your attitudes and behaviours in turn affect your clients. You must at all times demonstrate respect, patience, reassurance, empathy and honesty.

Understanding Behavour as Communication helps you to better interpret and utilize non-verbal communication to build honest open and respectful relationships with clients.

The result: You will improve your non-verbal communications skills to encourage and support positive behavior in your clients (and yourself!).

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A Different Perspective

"Autistic people can think the way animals think. I think animal genius happens for the same reason that autism genius does: a difference in the brain autistic people share with animals.” — Temple Grandin, Animals in Translation

Horses and people with autism interpret the world around them from a sensory-based, detail-oriented perspective. As participants work with their horse they learn to interpret horse’s behavior as it reacts instinctively to its environment.

The result: You will gain a greater understanding of how sensory issues affect behaviour. You will acquire tools and techniques to provide a productive and supportive learning environment for your clients.

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Taking the Lead

Participants engage in a series of activities with their horse. These activities are modeled on leadership 'games' that the horses play with each other in the herd. After each activity the group will discuss and reflect on the effectiveness of their actions and the feedback they receive from the horses. Analogies will be made to workplace situations.

Horses constantly seek strong leadership. Throughout the day participants will see a significant change in the horses' behavior as their leadership skills improve. As their relationship with their horse develops they will come to understand what it means to lead others by earned authority and not just a formal position on an organizational chart.

Participants will:

• Gain greater awareness of their leadership strengths and gaps
• Explore various leadership styles and test them for effectiveness in different situations
• Determine how a leader's behavior affects communications and relationships with others
• Develop a clearer, more concise communication style
• Learn how to create a clear, compelling vision that engages employees
• Balance empathy with assertiveness and set realistic boundaries and expectations.

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Leading Teams

Building and leading high-performance teams is the key to success in the corporate world. This workshop explores the leadership competencies necessary to create and maintain strong effective teams.

Throughout the two days participants will work towards specific goals individually and as members of large and small groups. In some situations the horse will take on the role of a team member, at other times they will represent the client. In either situation they willingly offer objective feedback about the effectiveness of your team's performance.

The Musical Ride, Equine Soccer and Donkey Penning are fun challenging activities that offer work teams the opportunity to reconnect and engage with each other in a create and positive manner outside the boundaries of the office.

Participants will come away with a greater understanding of:

• The key competencies of a successful team
• The conditions that foster team performance
• The role of the leader in establishing and maintaining performance-enhancing conditions
• The art of coaching teams to success