Shared Leadership guides us to a natural, and therefore more effective, leadership style through our practice and awareness of horse skills. This makes us better leaders, partners, caregivers and riders of horses, as well as improving our human social interactions. It is lifelong work in which we learn to be open to and trust our own intuition.

Ninety per cent of human communication is non verbal. Horses, like humans, perceive social interactions with multiple senses responding more to body language, inner energy of feelings and tone of voice, and less to spoken words. The difference however, is that horses are non-judgmental, non-sentimental, ever-present and always accommodating. These qualities make horses great teachers because, as we learn the horse’s unique personality and strengths and we become the student of the horse, we come to see that their responses reflect our own true intentions and state of power. In this way the horse reveals to us when we are operating from authenticity as a Natural Partner and Leader, and conversely when we are operating from ineffective responses, old patterns and conditioned tendencies.

For the formal or informal equestrian on this pathway, learning is built upon a fundamental way of understanding and relating with horses that is universal to any method of horsemanship and discipline of riding in which we relate to horses as equal partners in a relationship rooted upon trust and respect.

For the non-equestrian, the overall comprehension on this pathway relies upon horse listening - approaching relationship in an entirely new way, working from the inside out rather than relying upon classically-learned tools and methodologies for both human and horse relationships.

Focus on this pathway will help us become more honest, authentic, self-aware and self-reflective, better at listening to others, horses and to our own intuition.