Equine Facilitated Coaching is a discipline of personal and professional development whose time has come. For centuries horses have served humankind for transportation, agriculture, for waging war, and as a food source. In more recent times horses have been used as physio and psychotherapists to the mentally and physically disabled. In the last twenty-some years it has become apparent that all people can benefit and learn profound lessons from these majestic creatures, specifically in the areas of expanding inner awareness, enhancing interpersonal communication, team-building and leadership development.
In the 21st century we humans, particularly in western societies, are losing our connections to the natural world as we evolve technologically, displacing inner knowing and intuition with a reliance on mechanical conveniences and electronic devices. As we devote more and more time to intellectual pursuits our intuitive and sensory aspects tend to atrophy like unused muscles.
Being with horses offers an opportunity to reawaken and bring sensory awareness more into our conscious experience.Horses are prey animals who share space with us predators under precarious terms. Equine survival is based upon highly developed abilities to maintain near-constant surveillance of the environment and accurately antitipate the intentions of predators such as ourselves. As a result horses have a keenly developed ability to interpret our behaviour. This ability offers a unique opportunity for us to learn from their feedback.
