Leadership With Horses
Elevates Your Ability to Lead and Work Together Effectively
Leadership with Horses > Overview
Leadership with Horses
Spend the day with a herd of horses
and learn what they can teach you about
trustworthiness, authenticity, and connection.
Leadership with Horses is more than just team building. It’s an equine leadership development program that pairs equines with individuals and teams to teach skills that transform their ability to lead and work together effectively. Programs are grounded in the principles and skills of emotional intelligence (EQ), which is the cornerstone of effective leadership and teamwork.
Leaders develop their emotional intelligence best by learning and practicing in real time.
Research has proven that traditional training fails miserably in sharpening emotional intelligence. That’s why experiential interactions with horses can accelerate your conceptual understanding of emotional intelligence and help you produce actionable results far exceeding any classroom session.
Team Building Program with Horses
We offer a variety of fun and challenging encounters with horses that stretch your perspective of what it means to be a leader. We design powerful, effective interactions between people and horses, supported by coaching, personal reflection, and peer feedback.
Amanda’s team building program increases a group’s connection and collaboration, develops more clear, and focused communication, improves empathy and compassion, and increases a more mindful and authentic leadership. To register for the Leadership with Horses program, call Amanda at (425) 488-7747 or send an email.
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Benefits of our program
We promise to create a breakthrough experience for you and your team. You walk away with a clear understanding of your individual and collective strengths along with improved skills to reach ideal solutions and achieve a new level of performance.
- Greater empathy:
Develop compassion for yourself and others which will foster and deepen relationships.
- Connection and Collaboration:
Build trust and team alignment through meaningful connections to yield better results and increased productivity.
- Mindfulness and Authenticity:
Develop mindful practices to bring greater clarity and intention to your role as leader and team member.
- Clear and Focused Communication:
Master both verbal and non-verbal communication along with a greater capacity for listening to others.
How Horses Teach Leadership Development
Horses are EQ Masters!
Engaging in meaningful interactions with horses can offer rich learning experiences that help leaders and corporate teams build a greater sense of connection, improve communications, and gain a deeper experience of relationship and authenticity.
Horses naturally seek out leadership. It’s what keeps them safe and creates harmony in the herd. However, no horse just hands leadership over. That's why horses want to know three things from you as a leader:
- Do I trust you?
- Do you pass the 'sniff' test?
- Do we have a connection that matters?
This is exactly what your human herd wants to know about you, too.
The Most Memorable EQ Leadership Coach You’ll Ever Meet...
is found in an arena, not in a Zoom room or behind a desk!
Horses have roamed the earth in herds for more than 50 million years. To survive and thrive, horses have developed a set of skills and characteristics that are at the core of what we call emotional intelligence. Horses honed these skills and qualities long before humans even walked the earth. This is why they’re naturally far better at emotional intelligence than we are and why they truly can be our greatest teachers.
Herd dynamics resemble team dynamics
Herds are complex social structures requiring collaboration and cooperation. First, self-awareness is highly attuned in horses. They are keenly aware of their surroundings and the need for safety at all times. Additionally, herds have rules. For horses to remain with a herd, they must self-manage within those rules. Not surprisingly, social dynamics are key to maintaining the vitality of a herd. Herds survive and thrive through relationship awareness and relationship management. Because of this, they depend on leaders with the skills to manage resources, maintain herd cohesiveness and monitor the ever-changing landscape. Strong connections, clear communication, and trust are essential for leaders and herd (team) members.
Horses remember what we often forget - every interaction is a conversation.
Perhaps the greatest gift horses have to offer us as coaches and teachers is their mastery of relationship awareness. A big part of EQ is the ability to notice and interpret nonverbal cues from others. Horses are extremely sensitive to emotional and physical nuance.
The language of horses is through the body.
Within the herd, horses have a finely tuned and subtle communication system that combines physical movement and emotional expression. Horses not only use this communication system with each other, but they also extend it beyond the herd as well.
When interacting with humans, horses keenly notice and interpret our bodies and energy – or how we ‘show up.' They read us instantly and accurately. Their responses can be subtle and complex or bold and demonstrative. They respond positively to emotional honesty and congruency. They are curious and seek connection. And if you want a horse to cooperate, you must connect with them in a genuine way and demonstrate your commitment to partnership.
How engaged is your team? How engaged are YOU?
If you are ready to receive immediate, transparent, and honest feedback on your leadership abilities, it's time for you and your team to work with an EQ Master. An equine coach will hold up a mirror to your leadership strengths and gaps in ways you simply won't get from anyone or anywhere else.
You'll experience in-the-moment discoveries and walk away with leadership competencies that will stay with you long after your session is over.
We are proud to partner with the award-winning Willows Lodge
Recently named by Travel & Leisure as one of the 15 Best Resorts in the Western United States, Willows Lodge offers clients a memorable meeting and retreat experience. The idyllic, nature-based location creates a reflective and productive environment for you and your team. As part of your experience, we offer our Leadership With Horses program to companies hosting a business meeting at the Lodge. We partner with several equine facilities located close to the Lodge. We can provide your team with an active and engaging experience to complement your conference agenda.
For more information about the discounts and special offerings available to you, contact
Willows Lodge or Amanda Madorno.
Partnership with Amanda and Roam Consulting allows us to offer something different to our corporate guests in the way of leadership training and team-building.
We know that groups want more than a classroom experience to elevate their learning. They want to experience something extraordinary that they can take back and apply in their own work environments.
We take pride in finding the sorts of partnerships that help us continue to evolve as a preferred venue for all types of company retreats.
