Anyone who has had the chance to take part in a professionally led horse assisted coaching session can only smile at such ideas. After all, the experience alone of standing in the "ring" with such a large animal and having one's own fears and insecurities, but also inner calm, self-confidence or leadership quality directly reflected and displayed is unique.
Together with an intensive setting, sensible exercise preparation and professional feedback and transfer by the human coach or trainer, the coachee experiences the approaches to change very directly. And can thus integrate them more easily into their own everyday life.
At the "il Institution", it has long been possible to attend horse assisted seminars, trainings and coachings - now we are taking the next step and including training to become a horse assisted coach/trainer in our range of courses. Before we go into the prerequisites for equine assisted coaching (EAC) or horse assisted training, let's first take a look at some of the points that make coaching with horses so special:
Equine assisted coaching: honest, clear and authentic
Equine assisted coaching: honest, clear and authentic
Horses do not care about the background, status, profession or age of the coachee - they are unbiased and do not interpret. Horses give honest feedback in a friendly way during coaching, which, paired with the professional feedback of the coach, is a great additional benefit.
Outside and on the move - varied equine assisted coaching
In equine assisted coaching, coachees are not restricted by space - experience has shown that the best ideas often come out in the open air and in nature. Whether equestrian coaching takes place in the paddock or protected from wind and weather in the indoor riding arena: the coachees can give free rein to their thoughts and also experience first-hand what it is like to "make progress".
Horses leave an impression and react to body language
The impressive effect of the horse touches people externally and internally. Due to their sensitivity, horses instinctively recognise the body language signals of the client. They pay attention to the smallest body movements and react to them without interpreting. This way they mirror the behaviour of the human being.
Insecurities and nervousness, but also inner calm and composure are transferred to the horse and therefore give the person real feedback.
Experience-oriented coaching with horses
Horse assisted coaching experiences are unique and, due to their amount of experience and experiential character, can be processed particularly well by the brain and stored on a long-term basis. Ideas can be tried out immediately - this makes the change processes particularly sustainable.
Proximity/distance and leadership quality
Horses convey an appropriate sense of closeness and distance. In addition, when dealing with animals, most people behave in a personality-oriented rather than a role-oriented way, so change processes can be approached on a deeper level.
Horse assisted training is particularly suitable for leadership training because horses instinctively seek leadership. Clear leadership was important for survival in the wild. If they followed the wrong leader, this had fatal consequences. Therefore, horses choose leaders carefully and make demands such as sovereignty, composure and authenticity.
Equine assisted coaching as a valuable additional offer
When we as a training institute offer new methods and additional trainings, they always have a certain something and offer a special addition to the coaching method suitcase. This is also the case with Equine Assisted Coaching (EAC).
People who already have experience with horses can create a valuable addition by incorporating NLP and targeted coaching methods learned in the "Training to become an Equine Assisted Coach/Trainer".
To illustrate this, here is a case study from an Equine Assisted Coaching practice:
A client came with the issue of being faced with an important decision. What should she do about it? How should she proceed? She had just decided on a path in the last few weeks, but then she changed her mind again.
At the beginning of the coaching she was allowed (or rather had to 🙂 ) make a decision here too: Which horse did she want to work with? The client chose Luzia, our sensitive Haflinger mare. After a phase of getting to know and familiarising ourselves with the mare, we clarified what exactly we wanted to work on and established corresponding ground anchors at different places in the indoor riding arena.
The first ground anchor was about the possibility of further practice. Under the guidance of the coach, the client immersed herself in the future situation (with the help of VAKOG). Luzia, meanwhile, was restless, flapping her tail as if flies were on her, and visibly uncomfortable. Insecurities, nervousness, but also inner calmness and composure are transferred to the horse and thus give the human being real feedback.
The second ground anchor was about the situation of taking three months off and travelling and then seeing how things should continue. Luzia stood motionless, looking disinterested, almost sleepy. Horses pay attention to the smallest body movements and react to them without interpreting. In this way they mirror the behaviour of humans.
The third ground anchor was about the variant of going straight to work and implementing the slumbering ideas. In the course of the conversation, Luzia began to scratch happily, rolled on the floor anchor (metaplan card), stood up, shook herself and nudged the client cheerfully. She laughed and said that it was indeed time to put all the learning and ideas into practice. We then concentrated on concrete goals, considered strategies and worked on limiting beliefs.
The future was visualised on new floor anchors, solution-oriented questions were asked and a belief system was dissolved or replaced by a new, positive one. Meanwhile, Luzia reflected the unconscious body posture and the "energy" as well as the "dynamics" of the client and thereby clearly indicated suitable solution paths. In this way, the client was able to transfer the confidence she had gained during the coaching into her everyday life with a clear decision, concrete strategies for achieving her goals and strengthened by her "trial action".The future was visualised on new floor anchors, solution-oriented questions were asked and a belief system was dissolved or replaced by a new, positive one. Meanwhile, Luzia reflected the unconscious body posture and the "energy" as well as the "dynamics" of the client and thereby clearly indicated suitable solution paths. In this way, the client was able to transfer the confidence she had gained during the coaching into her everyday life with a clear decision, concrete strategies for achieving her goals and strengthened by her "trial action".
The future was visualised on new floor anchors, solution-oriented questions were asked and a belief system was dissolved or replaced by a new, positive one. Meanwhile, Luzia reflected the unconscious body posture and the "energy" as well as the "dynamics" of the client and thereby clearly indicated suitable solution paths. In this way, the client was able to transfer the confidence she had gained during the coaching into her everyday life with a clear decision, concrete strategies for achieving her goals and strengthened by her "trial action".The future was visualised on new floor anchors, solution-oriented questions were asked and a belief system was dissolved or replaced by a new, positive one. Meanwhile, Luzia reflected the unconscious body posture and the "energy" as well as the "dynamics" of the client and thereby clearly indicated suitable solution paths. In this way, the client was able to transfer the confidence she had gained during the coaching into her everyday life with a clear decision, concrete strategies for achieving her goals and strengthened by her "trial action".
If you have already had some experience with horses and would like to combine this with professional coaching methods, the training to become a horse assisted coach/trainer is the first choice to specialise in this particular work and coaching with horses.
At the il-Online Academy the training takes place 100% online and can then be used in horse assisted individual coaching as well as with groups and families, in learning training and for companies.
You can find all the details to our online course HERE and in our detailed blog article about the Horse Assisted Coaching training online.
