Lucinda Newman, CEGE
In her 12th spring, Lucinda mounted a horse for the first time ever. What began as a challenge to ride an unknown, winter-pastured horse – with Lucinda ignoring her intuition to decline – ended at a gate that halted the galloping horse with a part dragging, part clinging, wild-eyed girl. The incident dovetailed with choices her parents had made that would make that summer one to remember; for Lucinda, there would not be a cohesive herd to race back to. The parallel incidents were passageways for Lucinda to get up and walk on her own two feet but the truth of the matter would stay buried deep for some time: how to heal broken places, reconnect with a curious and open self and find a reliable herd she could call her own.
Lucinda navigated the rest of her teen years with uncertainty while learning to live self sufficiently. For six years she delved into the animal world, working as a veterinary technician. Next she went on to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Studies and Vermont Studies from University of Vermont, followed by a Master of Studies degree in Environmental Law & Policy from Vermont Law School. Her work was then honored with an Excellence Award in Environmental Ethics. Eventually, Lucinda established Newman Consulting, LLC, a Development Consultancy of Funding, Organization & Program Services for agricultural and conservation-minded private and public entities in Vermont.
While Lucinda was inclined to develop her professional life, the buried truth began to beckon. So, at the simple suggestion of a friend, she took a journey to Woman Within International. This experience uncovered a deep descent connection to self and a life longing for itself. It was there that her real life work germinated. Upon returning home, she coordinated a Central Vermont Women’s Empowerment Circle, with the intention of continuing the deeper connection to self. For three hours every week and for eight years, Lucinda helped create a safe, compassionate and sacred container in which she and other women would gain self-mastery through facilitation, self-leadership, moving forward, non threatening communication skills, authentic voice and shifting emotional states. Concurrently, Lucinda found herself in a realm of self-development, compelled by change consciousness to lead the change she wanted for her life. She immersed herself in a myriad of workshops and retreats on leadership, communication, empowerment, emotional intelligence and conflict resolution ranging from Montreal to New Jersey.
During that same eight-year period, Lucinda came back to be with horses, this time honoring her intuition and hearkening the call of curiosity. She volunteered at the Humane Organization for Un-Raceable Standardbred Equines, a retirement racehorse farm in Jeffersonville, Vermont. Working there made it clear that retired horses have valuable gifts to contribute to society. She had a natural connection with a herd member who appeared outcast by the rest – a formerly successful Saratoga Springs racetrack trotter called Poppe. So Lucinda brought him home.
For their own reasons both Lucinda and Poppe had spent much of their lives apart from a natural herd so they found themselves exploring how to be functioning herd mates in a wide open place. For Poppe’s part, he just naturally needed to be a horse without human-imposed agendas. For her part and with natural curiosity, Lucinda studied and practiced Natural Horse and Human Partnership work of Monty Roberts, Klaus Ferdinand Hempfling, GaWaNi Pony Boy, John Lyons and Pat Parelli. Awareness of nonverbal communication unfolded with experience and time spent with Poppe and eventually more herd mates.
Becoming fluent in the language and culture of animalese, Lucinda eventually brought six more horses under her care, including a 2-year-old gelding that she started. She worked with a variety of different horse tribes along the way – Quarterhorse Paint, American Standardbred, Lippitt Morgan, Tennessee Walker and Percheron Draft. It was during the 10,000 hours of servitude and close, quiet observation that Lucinda took note of how the horses responded clearly and directly to her unspoken intentions and 'way of being' more so than stick, halter, tool or tactic. Principles of leadership presence and social herdship naturally emerged.
Lucinda’s greatest educators became the horse and herd – teaching her about effective leadership, deep spirit and social competency. Parallel lessons in her life emerged while working with the horses on the ground. She discovered truths about them and about herself, their nature and her nature, what repelled them and what repelled her. She noticed what magnetized them and what magnetized her, how they communicated and coordinated and how she communicated and coordinated, who led and who drove during moments of pressure, conflict, fear or change and which parts of Lucinda led and drove during such moments. The natural next step was to blend their energy together for even greater appreciative inquiry — to go from two units of ‘you and me’ to one unit of ‘we’. This gentle merger developed while riding bareback to wide-ranging places, as Lucinda directed her energy, and communicated mostly through core of presence, intention and energy level. For Lucinda, riding was a joyful, light, harmonious, spiritual experience.
By 2003 Lucinda sensed an important calling to share self-mastery skills and the horses’ deep spirit and effective leadership with other people. Through rigorous training and classes with Ariana Strozzi of Skyhorse, Master Somatic Coach and co-founder of the Equine Guided Education Association, Lucinda became a Certified Equine Guided Educator (CEGE) and coach in 2005. She emerged with a dedication to EGE service and was compelled to establish Horses & Pathfinders. As the premier EGE certified practitioner in New England and in the Northeast, USA, Lucinda continues to return to Skyhorse Ranch for further learning, deep inspiration and EGE Association connection.
When not working with horses by her side, Lucinda assists entrepreneurs, sole proprietors, partnerships, corporations, non-profits, non-governmental organizations, and state and federal government agencies, as a Development Consultant of Newman Consulting, LLC. With more than a decade of experience, she is expert at quickly grasping the nature of the business and exposing the core of the issues needing assistance. She then co-leads the change her clients seek – from program implementation, staff restructure and contract development to financial health, management coaching and strategic planning. Her greatest and most common observation has been that businesses, organizations and programs will only move forward if the team and its leadership learn and adopt fresh ways of cooperative internal operations and coordinate their dynamic and unique gifts.
Along a continuum of two decades, with a rich confluence from the tributaries of animal healing, environmental sustainability, professional and personal development, and insightful horsemanship, Lucinda reveals a range of equine-guided services for men, women, teams, youth and equine enthusiasts through Horses & Pathfinders. Lucinda also collaborates with the Vermont Technical College Equine Studies Program – as a lecturer, presenter and as a mentor to students with a similar passion. Her affiliations include the Flag Foundation, a network of farms and ranches that foster retired race horses and re-purposes them through EGE programs, and the Vermont Jungian Center for Spiritual Sciences, a whole-person educational experience in the Jungian context for individuation. Her Equine Guided Education work has been publicized in Living the Vermont Way.
In Lucinda's words:
"I connect people with horses for the love of connecting people to themselves, others and their creative, meaningful purpose within the larger community. It is my intention to support those who are called to Horses & Pathfinders to explore their connections, intuition and development more deeply. In addition to coaching people on how to open gates and access their place of power by way of horse and nature guidance, I nourish my creative force with taekwondo, cooking and parenting. I find joy in riding with my equine partners on a few hundred acres of meadow, forest, wetland, and ledgy hillside – ample space for curious exploration and discovery."
Imagine a woman who discovers the way home to herself.
A woman who descends into her own inner life.
Who reunites with her essential self and reclaims her natural capacities. . .