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3. HorseSense Workshops and Seminars: Questions and Answers

WHAT IS HORSE SENSE AT WORK?

Horse Sense At Work allows people to gain new insights into workplace and family relationships, in a situation where the "other" individual weighs over 1000 pounds–and happens to be a horse. HorseSense is based on my research and teaching in the management field for over 20 years, and raising and training horses for almost that long. My workshop approach uses horses to provide a physical experience of concepts like reciprocal influencing and empowerment, leadership, teamwork, and communication. Learn how to learn with mind, body, and spirit integrated. For more information, visit the web page at horsesenseatwork.com for stories, photos, and updates on workshops.

HOW IS HORSE SENSE DIFFERENT FROM "HORSE WHISPERING?"

Horse training approaches characterized by understanding and cooperation have been popularized by the novel and movie "The Horse Whisperer." My reaction to that title was that it should be called "The Horse Listener." Then I saw the Monty Roberts book, "The Man Who Listens To Horses." The point is, that successful trainers like Roberts, or like Craig Cameron who every year demonstrates similar techniques at the local fair, all based their methods on understanding the horse, and using the horse’s language and the horse’s instinctual reactions to further their training, so that the horse may be quickly ridden. The horse is desensitized to normally fearful and unfamiliar behaviors (being led, being saddled, being ridden). In the process, the horse learns to overcome the initial fearful reactions, and begins to trust the trainer. The trainer establishes themselves as the leader of the herd, but a friendly leader, who allows the horse to be the follower; to, in Robert’s terms, "join up."

My approach is not designed to prepare a horse for riding in 2 days, my purpose never was to be more economical (while being more kindly) in training horses. My purpose is to create a relationship between myself and the horse, or to facilitate the relationship between another person and their horse. Once we have begun a relationship, it continues to grow and develop as each of us, horse and human, grows and develops. We negotiate what it is we are going to do with and for each other. In the HorseSense workshops, the horse-human relationship is used as a mirror, to give us direct honest feedback, "from the horse’s mouth."

IS THIS A "TALK TO THE ANIMALS" KIND OF WORKSHOP?

NO. This is a workshop about learning how to talk to, and work with, PEOPLE. We will use the process of trying to communicate with an animal (a horse) to help folks see their own styles and methods of communication, and their own styles of learning about communication. Whether people are successful or unsuccessful in communicating with horses is irrelevant; what is important is what can be learned from each attempt, regardless of outcome. As a side effect of this process, participants will gain some knowledge of ways to relate to horses. Further, experienced horse people may discover new ways to apply the interpersonal skills gained in this workshop, to improve their riding and/or their relationship with their horse.

SO THIS IS A WORKSHOP ABOUT RELATIONSHIPS?

YES. This workshop is about relationships, and about how to improve them through enhanced self-awareness which in turn leads to enhanced communication. This focus on the importance of relationships influenced all my business practices as a full-service stable owner. For example, most horse professionals recommend people decide what horse-related sport they prefer, then get a horse with talent in that area. I recommend you get a horse that you get along with. I watch for the chemistry between horse and human. The horse always knows who they like, and they tell you. When I sold my horses, I always watched the reactions of the horse to the person. I could tell when there was not a match, and usually the people could too. On two occasions I saw my horses purposely exhibit a physical problem when being viewed by potential buyers. One horse fell while being ridden, and the other had a horrible lame limp. Neither horse had ever previously had such problems, and they never had them again. While these people seemed like good potential owners, I knew the horses did not want to go with them. Similarly, when Nahdion first met David (my husband), he licked David’s face. I have never seen him do that, with me or with anyone else. I believe that animals do have some sort of instinctual understanding of relationships. I also believe that we humans have the same instincts, but we let our busy brains cloud our ability to access that knowledge. I focus on getting back in touch with that deep sense of knowingness about relationships.

In our academic work, David and I practice this same approach, of valuing relationships as an end in themselves and not as a means to an end. When we meet people we like, whose values we share, we try to find opportunities to work with them. We have an explicit intention to work only with people with whom we can develop a positive relationship.

DOES THIS WORKSHOP ADDRESS CROSS-CULTURAL ISSUES AND DIVERSITY ISSUES?

YES. The horse world constitutes another culture, and we will address these implications. In some other cultures (the Mexican culture, for example) when people in business encounter each other, they spend more time on "preliminaries" or small talk, asking how you are doing, how is the family, etc., before getting to work issues. In the US we tend to jump right to our work-related PURPOSE, we think it is more efficient to just get down to business. Other cultures recognize the value of the relationship over and above the immediate task at hand. With the horse, you can choose either method. However, each has consequences. If you want to build a relationship with the horse, you must engage in certain "preliminaries." (For a dramatic example, see Nahdique’s Story.) If you just want to get from A to B with a horse, you may accomplished this based upon the horse’s past training. Horses who are treated in this "instrumental" fashion, without a personal relationship with their rider, usually develop an impersonal and perfunctory attitude towards work, to protect themselves. This often happens with horses who are ridden by many different individuals. The more people take time and pay attention to a horse, the more that horse’s unique personality will start to show.