Horses by nature are prey animals. Their highly developed ability to detect the subtleties of human behavior such as emotion, intention and predatory tendencies makes them ideal teachers. Humans have – for many reasons abandoned this more instinctual – emotional way of being for a more rational, cognitive one.

This may seem appropriate in a world that favors logic over instinct and information over intuition yet many humans will look at their lives – both professional and personal and say, “Something is missing.” Often what is missing is that connection to a more authentic way of being – a more emotionally instinctually intelligent way of being in the world.

Horses live in the moment. As herd animals they are highly social and highly curious. Their language is one of images and instincts while our language is one of words and logic. Those who have successfully forged the horse to human bond have done so by understanding and applying this unspoken language – the language of the heart.

Ironically the greatest human to human bonds also utilize the language of the heart – the nonverbal, emotional, intuitive and deeply connecting language of authenticity. Great leaders, phenomenal coaches, lifelong relationships all speak this language. Horses are now being recognized as teachers in helping us to learn to live more authentically human to human.

Our MISSION at Epala™ is to facilitate the development of partnerships between humans and horses where boundaries are mutually respected and emotions are understood as the language of connection and interaction. Our intention is to teach humans about reconnecting with their deepest intuition in order to be better leaders and better partners in personal and professional relationships and we invite horse to be our teachers.

HORSES FOR PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

In observing the herd behavior of horses it becomes evident that horses model the strength of cooperation over competition, relationship over isolation, responsiveness over patterns, emotion and intuition over logic, and process over goal.”

Pick up any personal or professional development book today and the same qualities will be touted as the ingredients for exceptional leadership and personal well being. So why is it that horses become better teachers of human leadership and the qualities of well-being than a book or conference?

Horses' expertise comes from being herd animals that have retained the thought and behavior patterns of their nomadic ancestors. Instinctively they “read” us and respond back by mirroring what they sense. As humans we engage in similar “reading” of one another by instinct. Unfortunately that instinct has been “trained” out of us by a culture that favors rationality and verifiable data as the primary source of information. To reawaken this ability in ourselves is to begin to understand that leadership is about deeply understanding the relationships around us – only then do we harness the ability to inspire those we lead.

Horses – when given the freedom – will interact and respond to human engagement much as they do with one another in the herd. They have a tendency to mirror back to us our current state of emotions by expertly reading the rhythm of our breath, our blood pressure, heart rate, body tensions and arousal state.

Horses are also highly social – requiring relationships in order to survive. Sound familiar? They will seek to engage with us – to create a relationship – only when we abandon the “dominance” paradigm and adopt the “partnership” paradigm.

Personal and professional relationships can take on the qualities of dominance or partnership. Both have shown that they yield results but only the “partnership” paradigm has been shown to yield the long term capacity for individuals to genuinely connect and contribute from their heart.