Also known as Equine Guided Development, Equine Facilitated Human Growth, Equine Facilitated Personal Development, Equine Facilitated Experiential Learning, Equine Facilitated Learning & Coaching, Equine Facilitated Psychotherapy, Equine Facilitated Leadership Development.
In the last fifteen years this fascinating dynamic has been developed into an innovative and powerful personal growth discipline, focusing on human and horse interaction and letting the horse show you the way. People of all races, ages, and spiritual backgrounds come to explore their full potential through interaction with horses. People who participate are encouraged to experience the spiritual, emotional and psychological benefits of being with horses, by allowing the horses to influence profound healing and positive change.
As animals with extremely large and sensitive guts and hearts, horses exhibit heightened emotional perception. The volume is turned up higher in their bodies since they don’t have the relentless mental chatter drowning important messages. Horses cannot be easily manipulated or lied to, they respond to lies and incongruent human behavior with agitation, disinterest, or by taking charge. They respond to genuine, honest behavior with eye contact or movement, they willingly interact.
Horses live in the present, living each moment with no fixating on what happened in the past or worrying about what may happen in the future. Imagine living consciously in the present moment, open to all the challenges, changes and joys which are all a part of being human. As humans we can find that the behaviours and beliefs which we developed in our formative years generally determine how we would react to certain situations and others around us, especially in times of change, crisis or conflict. These outdated patterns can continue to function as our unconscious operating system even though they no longer serve us in our relationships. By becoming conscious of the barriers and defenses originally developed to help you survive, you can take the step which means that you are no longer surviving but thriving in your relationships.
