Leadership Development with Horses

Business owners along with managers and executives in corporate settings who wish to experience accelerated learning in areas of team building, leadership and relationship development seek out our Coaching with Horses programs.

Coaching with Horses programs provide a dynamic process of building leadership and self-awareness skills through horse-human interactions. The ability of managers and leaders to effectively embody these skills impacts an organization’s bottom line, since successful teambuilding, interpersonal communication, and conflict resolution efforts are crucial in today’s marketplace. While interacting with horses, individuals become able to identify and shift their limiting behavior patterns that prohibit them from developing trusting relationships in business settings.

Why Horses?

Horses are wise mentors in this unique type of work. As prey animals, their “flight” instincts become instant mirrors and non-judgmental feedback mechanisms for humans. Horses sense and respond to a person’s intentions, emotions and thoughts that are conveyed subconsciously through body language. Through the experience of observing a horse’s response to their requests and directions, each person learns how to communicate more effectively, face their fears and manage their emotions, and become more consistent and congruent with their actions.

Through observation of herd dynamics and one-on-one interaction with individual horses, attendees also learn new relationship building skills. A tremendous confidence boost comes from learning how to connect with and direct a one-thousand-pound animal while standing on the ground. Sessions with horses are highly interactive and provide an ‘in the moment’ learning experience, teaching skills which can be difficult to acquire in more traditional settings.

Through participation in Coaching with Horses programs, individuals will learn to:

Make choices and take actions based on courage and awareness verses automatic, ‘learned’ responses.
Build trust in relationships and teams.
Develop skills to work through uncomfortable, emotionally charged situations.
Move from conflict into resolution and agreement more quickly.
Face fears and learn new behaviors to gain personal power and respect.
Experience breakthroughs that increase the depth of Emotional Intelligence.
Expand cohesiveness and productivity within teams and partnerships.

What about Kathy?

Kathy Pike brings fifteen years of experience as a professional coach, writer, workshop leader, and outdoor adventurer to her leadership work with horses. She is a published author and regular contributor to magazines and publications. Kathy travels throughout the U.S. and internationally, facilitating programs on emotional awareness and personal /professional development. A former trainer for CoachU (a leading coach training organization), Kathy now employs horses in her training and coaching programs. She is Level One EAGALA certified and is an Approved Equine Facilitated Learning Instructor.

Kathy is a leader in the field of bringing horses and humans together for leadership and coaching. Once dragged by a horse Kathy learned to face her fears and work with horses again. Her greatest teacher has been her wild mustang Corazon de la Montana who teaches her about trust, intention and leadership every day.

Coaching with Horses™ programs are facilitated in Colorado, Arizona and Washington. Meet Kathy’s team of facilitators.

Partial Client list:

Microsoft (Seattle and Denver)
Women's Vision Foundation
Tony Robbins Coaching Group
Dalby Wealth Group
Sun StorageTek
International Coach Federation (ICF)
ICF regional coaching organizations in Portland, Oregon, Indianapolis, Indiana, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Denver and Boulder, Colorado
Boulder Chamber of Commerce

Click here for a complete Client List and Bio

What will we do and how does it work?

Coaching with Horses™ programs brings together individuals and teams with a horse to learn how one approaches building relationships and gaining leadership. All of our horse related activities are on the ground. Other activities bring together a team to work with a horse.

Through processes that help you understand the nature of a horse, participants learn to pay attention to subtle body language, emotional messages, clarity in thought and confidence in achieving a goal while interacting with a horse. We believe that this integrative approach to learning gives the most immediate and lasting results to the individual and to teams.

Isn’t this really just play?

Our work goes beyond the concept of play and is deeply embedded with the intent to coach others to higher levels of self-awareness and engaging new behaviors. Self-observation and awareness while interacting with a horse reveals a person’s blind spot in his/her leadership and relationship building skills. We take this work seriously and our horses are trained and seasoned teachers. Participants will feel stretched into new perspectives and learn and practice new ways of interacting and building trust with others.

In general, learning can be conscious and unconscious depending on the environment, intention and activities presented. Play is considered a complex activity that is seen only in relatively intelligent animals and humans. There is value in experiencing play that focuses on the quality of interaction and the results produced.

We ensure that participants understand the dynamics of their interactions with horses and how to immediately apply their learning into the business or corporate environment.

What if someone has fear about working with horses?

It is not uncommon for many of our participants to have some trepidation, anxiety or fear when it comes to working with horses. Some have never been around them and others may have had a scary incident as a child. We coach clients to understand the wisdom of their whole experience and how to gain their personal power and choice while their fears or concerns are present. This in itself stretches leadership capabilities.

No prior horse experience is necessary in this work. Safety precautions are thoroughly reviewed for each learning session. In addition, we ensure that participants understand horses, their nature, and how to stay safe while engaging with them. We honor both the human and the horse and our intention is to create a setting that brings the best out in both beings. Our participants are always at choice, and no learning is forced.

How is this going to help my bottom line?

Horses will only respond to leaders they trust. One year ago I adopted a wild mustang. As a seven year old this wild horse had a mind of his own and his own way of surviving in the wild. He was deemed un-trainable and un-adoptable. I decided to adopt him anyway. Nothing was possible in our relationship until I had gained his trust. After gaining his trust we moved beyond trying to figure out each other’s motives, or having suspicion, into working as a team. Our growth now is expediential compared to before we established trust.

The book, The Speed of Trust; The One Thing that Changes Everything, by Stephan M.R. Covey outlines the importance of trust for any relationship and that without trust there are costs in the relationship. The cost is time. Instead of time spent to create successful results it is spent repairing or supporting the relationship. With greater levels of trust there is a mutual confidence between individuals or parties.

Coaching with Horses will change your bottom line as you will see more getting done in less time, and your teams will demonstrate cohesiveness and mutual support. This, matched with competency creates the potential for excellence.

What is the next step?

The first step is to identify your or your team’s needs and how horses can help achieve new behaviors and approaches to leadership and relationships. Call (303)-545-2555 or email Kathy to set up a time to talk about how Coaching with Horse programs can provide you and your team a powerful way to develop new relationship building and leadership skills.