How we work
"For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them." Aristotle

When you come to a group or one-to-one session at Awareness with Horses, we will first explore what you wish to address in your life. We will then design activities to assist you in meeting those goals in through learning experientially and experimentally.

For example, you may learn experientially how to connect with the horses, how to lead, and how to work with the horse at liberty. You may learn how horses communicate, and enter into a field of herd mindfulness and reflection. You may lead a horse through a series of obstacles first individually and then as a group, as a way to explore dealing with your own life obstacles.

During a workshop or session we enter a field of no wrong or right doing, a completely non-judgemental space for self-development and reflection, where we create an environment of safety, trust, confidentiality and openness for learning and growth through the opportunities that natural occur by engaging and working with horses.

All our sessions and workshops encourage self mastery through connecting with the power and wisdom of horses, it is not about gaining power over the horses, or learning to train or control a horse.

What horses can teach us...
"Horses have been transporting us on outer journeys for thousands of years. In the twenty first century, equine facilitated experiential learning is a profound new way of horses transporting us on inner journeys from where we are to where we need to be." Sue Blagburn

The conventional way of thinking is that humans have something to teach horses. We turn this on its head and focus instead on what horses can teach us about ourselves, others and the world at large.

Participating in a session becomes an adventure, where we explore how to enter a relationship with the horse which is equal, not power over. By engaging with horses in this way, participants learn about themselves, others and the world at large.

"There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man." Winston Churchill

Through facilitating, coaching or counselling with the horses as the teachers and guides, we develop a process of enquiry which helps participants move from where they are to where they would like to be. The learning is in the experience of the relationship which forms between human/s and horse/s and what awareness that brings.

Horses don't judge and their powerful non-judgemental feedback and unconditional positive regard can provide can help in building self awareness, calmness, self confidence, emotional intelligence and resilience, as well as presence and mindfulness skills.

We also focus on what horses can teach us by just being horses, and not just from a human (anthropomorphic) perspective, but by meeting the horses in their field, in their culture, this can help us get back into our senses and our embodied ways of knowing.

Horses are natural teachers of helping us to develop embodied awareness and as Albert Einstein said, "The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant."

Horses communicate mainly through body language, but did you know that at least 90% of how we communicate is nonverbal too! At Awareness with Horses we concentrate on the intuitive mind and our embodied ways of knowing.

Horses are prey animals and because of that they feel much safer if we stay in the present moment, hence by  engaging with the horses in away that is mindful and without over-using our rational cognitive mind - e.g. judging, assessing or questioning - working with the horses as our guides can help us to let go of what we think we know in order to open up to what we don't yet know.

In this authentic state we develop natural presence, with the opportunity to relearn how to trust our feelings, our hearts, our sensate responses, and gut feelings.
‍
Horses as partners and symbols
Horses as an ancient archetypal symbol represent dignity, honour, beauty, grace, presence, strength, power and endurance.

For thousands of years man and horse have worked together in a partnership of balance and harmony, by those who had wisdom and insight. They have been of great service to man and always there has been an undercurrent of true horsemanship, nags men, horse whisperers, indigenous peoples who worked with horses without dominance or force. The ancient art of horsemanship has been traced back to 8000 B.C. Horses were easily domesticated due to their social nature and inquisitive spirit.

Less than one hundred years ago horses were our transport, our agricultural support and our courageous servants in warfare and the sport of kings. As machines took over their jobs as workhorses and war horses, our equines have become our recreation, our partners and our pets. But now as we emerge into a new paradigm of what it is to be human in the 21st century, a growing number of us feel certain that horses have a new role to play in teaching us and being of service to us, from helping us find a form of leadership based on co-creation and co-dependence, a leadership based on love, insight and compassion.

Today horses can be our teachers and healers helping us reconnect to what has heart and meaning in our lives, assisting us in re-aligning mind, body and spirit so that we can walk into our future with courage, grace and integrity. Trust, empathy, honesty, humility, integrity, congruency, are all qualities we can learn with horses as our teachers.

There are six different options we can offer you…