What is Equine Guided Education (EGE)?   It is the combination of a coach, a horse and a client working in partnership where the horse acts as the guide and the coach as the facilitator of the session(s).   Through such an open and respectful partnership the client experiences learning methods based on an authentic and intuitive knowing.  EGE is about developing a healthy self image, as well as social and communication skills that can be found in a variety of learning methods including psychotherapy, coaching, holistic health practices, general education, youth at risk and rehabilitation programs.

 

The Equine Guided Educator (coach) provides a safe place where true experiential learning can occur, overseeing the training sessions and helping to coax the true meaning through somatic methodologies.   He/she allows the horse to guide the client through the process of learning, integrating kinaesthetic learning with cognitive insight.  Through the process of evaluating an individual's current patterns of behaviour, perceptions, and performance, the Equine Guided Educator encourages the student/client towards a healthy self-image and supports the exploration of new practices for achieving personal and/or professional goals.

 

Why a horse?  The horse (equine) for years has worked in partnership with man for thousands of years and represents strength, grace, beauty, trust and dignity.   Their sheer size demands respect, you can not simply push a horse around, you need to encourage your horse to work with you.   Although it is possible to make a horse do something that it doesn’t want to do, the horse will not do it willingly and will begrudge you all the way.   Therefore working with horses is about being open, honest and focused about your intentions.  It is about encouraging the horse to want to do something and to enjoy the experience at the same time.   Such skills are badly needed in today’s world of computers, blackberries, iPhones etc where people rely too much on the written word and use “tell and bully” management methods.

 

Various scientific studies have shown that over 93% of human to human communication is non-verbal!   This means that only 7% of our communication is done through words – staggeringly small when you consider that the majority of training courses rely 100% on this method or 7%

 

What EGE tries to do is focus on the 93% through experiential sessions with the horses.   Why horses, well their size immediately gets your attention but more important than that they are live in a hierarchy not dissimilar to that of ourselves, our families and our work place.  By watching and partnering with horses we can learn to become better human communicators at home and in the work place.   Horses will only respond to focused and honest leadership, thus they provide the perfect mechanism for you to learn about yourself and see yourself through somebody else’s eyes – the horse!  Horses don’t have an agenda, they live in the present, and they give immediate feedback to you on your skills and how you are progressing.  If you are being too analytical then they will let you know.

 

In our EGE sessions you will find out about your style of leadership, communication, you will become more “body aware” and above all you will have fun.  I guarantee that you will not have been on a course like this before, all you need to do is bring yourself along and remain open and curious to learning new ways of thinking, doing things.

 

Horses, by living in a herd, are natural team players, they all know their respective roles, and positions in the herd, they trust one another implicitly to complete their assigned duties and they never stop asking who’s in the lead.   If you want to develop a high performing team for a new project, product launch or just increase a better awareness in your existing team then you can do no better than come on a two day team building EGE program at Mopley Farm in the New Forest National Park.

 

Some of the common exercises used here at our EGE facility are:

 

• Trust – what is trust? What domain does it exist in?  How do you use it to your advantage?
• Goals – developing and focusing on aspirations and ambitions
• Encouraging self confidence and increasing self esteem
• Enhancing your communications skills and methods
• Listening to what your body is telling you, your gut feel, your sixth sense
• Building effective relationship and interactive practices
• Uncovering and replacing old stories and behaviours that are no longer effective by creating new behaviours relevant to goals and objectives.

 

The Equine Guided Educator understands each horse’s unique abilities to bring out the best in the client that he/she has partnered.   Through this partnership the client receives, quite often, intensive feedback in a supportive environment.  This experiential way of learning (doing) integrates the horse’s natural wisdom with the experience of the coach therefore allowing the client to learn at a pace that is right for them, allowing them to accept responsibility for their learning.