Equine Guided Education

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What you have taught me, revealed to me and shared with me continues to shape and shift my life - the seeds you planted grow wild and rich with purpose in my fertile self. I am extremely satisfied in my work, my purpose, my home and my relationships. And what I love to do now is to share the principles you taught me to others. Thank you for being my greatest mentor.

Lucinda Newman, 2005

Equine Guided Educator Certification Program™

Overview

Equine Guided Education encourages growth and learning through the 'Eyes of the Horse'. The EGE process integrates equine activities, kinesthetic learning and cognitive insight in developing a healthy self-image and supporting new patterns of behavior and thought for achieving personal and/or professional goals.

"Guide"-one who can find paths through unexplored territory."

"Education"-discipline of mind or character through study or instruction; dealing with the principles and practice of teaching and learning.

What Does an Equine Guided Educator Do?

The Equine Guided Educator creates an experiential, supportive learning environment for participants to learn about themselves, heal what has been broken, and re-connect to what has heart and meaning through interactive experiences with horses. He/she allows the horse to 'guide' the process of learning, reflecting and exploration. He/she combines the process of kinesthetic learning and cognitive reflection in relation to the student's/client's mental, physical, spiritual, emotional and social well-being. Through the process of evaluating an individual's current patterns of behavior, perceptions, and performance, the Equine Guided Educator encourages the student/client towards a healthy self-image and supports the exploration of new practices for achieving personal and/or professional goals.

The Equine Guided Educator guides his/her students/clients through a learning process that is centered around their ambitions and goals for the future. He/she assists his/her students/clients in refining their gifts and creating environments in which they can thrive. He/she facilitates the student's/client's growth and learning through experiential exercises with horses. The horse, in this process, literally 'guides' the student/client and the Educator by revealing inner states of mind and physical energetic states of presence. The noun "guide" means "someone who can find paths through unexplored territory." The Equine Guided Educator as 'Educator' cultivates the integration of mind/body/spirit through experiential learning practices.

The combination of the Educator and the Equine Guide offers unique, impactful, experiential exercises geared towards developing people's self knowledge and self-responsibility. Some common learning schemas include:

Identifying and developing the student/client ambitions and aspirations
Developing the ability to stay focused on goals
Enhancing communication and negotiation skills
Encouraging self confidence and self-esteem
Assisting the process of developing trust with the oneself and others
Learning how to listen to and respect one's intuition and sixth sense
Building effective relationship and interactive practices
Uncovering old stories and behaviors that are no longer effective
Developing new stories and behaviors relevant to goals and objectives

The Equine Guided Educator understands how to allow the horse to reflect each student's/client's unique strategies and presentations in such a way that the student/client can receive this often intense feedback in a supportive process. Leveraging the process of 'learning by doing' (experiential) integrated with the horse's natural wisdom and healing presence assists the Educator in encouraging the student/client to accept responsibility for their own learning and behavior.

The word "Experience" is defined as the state or extent of being engaged in a particular study or work; developing knowledge, skill or technique resulting from experience; the sum total of the conscious events which compose an individual life as observed facts and events in contrast with what is supplied by thought. Effective learning occurs when the student/client engages in some activity, reflects upon the activity, derives useful insight from the analysis, and incorporates the result through a change in understanding and/or behavior. As Lao Tzu once quoted, "You cannot learn from a good book, because a book will not tell you what you do not want to hear."

Do I Have to Have Horse Experience to be an Equine Guided Educator

Because of the inherent risks involved with equine activities it is essential that an experienced equine specialist be present at any process in which a student/client is near or around horses. If the Equine Guided Educator is not a horse expert, then he/she needs to partner with someone who is. Even with an equine specialist present the Equine Guided Educator needs to have some experience with horses. He/she needs to be comfortable around horses and understands the basic safety issues associated with horses. Ideally the equine specialist should also be an Equine Guided Educator, and at a minimum should have some personal experience in EGE.

What are the Ethical Reasons to Become Certified?

The unique and profound opportunities of bringing horses to people for the sake of growth and learning is both exciting and serious. Horses can become unpredictable around incongruent emotions and energies within their environment. While a person may be competent with horses and/or human development, incorporating the two requires a whole new set of competencies. It is important to respect the horses and humans as sensate beings, each with their own unique perspective. The safety of the horse and human-emotionally, physically and spiritually-is an important and sensitive matter.

To make this amazing process accessible to the public it is important that we collaborate and learn together to develop a consistent industry standard. It is also important to respect what experts in the field who are committed to developing this discourse have already learned. The more that we gather together, learn from each other and share our experiences, the more Equine Guided Education will develop and flourish as a respectable and important part of human learning and growth.

While some professionals may have extensive horsemanship and coaching skills, the EGE process creates a whole new paradigm for learning. While the EGE process is unique and profound, it can also complex and unpredictable. A complete paradigm shift in concsiousness and learning takes place. An EGE professional needs to be skilled in recognizing even the slightest shifts in states of mind and energetic responses in the horse, human and environment at any given moment. It is essential to have experience or knowledge in the EGE process before attempting to facilitate the process. Even for professionals with extensive horsemanship skills, one must unlearn many of the horsemanship skills they have been taught in order for EGE to be successful. This makes the certification program relevant to them as well.

Horse Human Competency

A certified Equine Guided Educator demonstrates through curriculum vitae and enrollment in an Equine Guided Education program that he/she has studied to be either the horse specialist, human specialist, or both. An individual who does not already have extensive equine or human development skill should not expect to become competent to work with people and horses on the certification program alone. For example, a horse trainer who completes the certification program can become an Equine Guided Educator who is competent as an equine specialist. A certified coach who attends the certification program can become an Equine Guided Educator who is competent as a human development specialist. A person who does not have certified experience in horses or human development needs to take on additional learning in either the human or horse component. We can help you make those choices in your professional development. You do not have to have other credentials first, as this program will help you gain clarity on the type of work you want to do and the skills you want to develop. Below are some of the skill sets of an Equine Guided Educator from both facilitative and equine points of view.

EGE Certification Program

Endorsed by the Equine Guided Education Association, this program offers a multi-level education series for individuals who would like to learn how to incorporate horses into their professional offers. It is open to coaches, equestrians, educators, therapists, riding instructors, and other individuals who want to immerse themselves in this self-development program.

This is a learning-by-doing program. Not only will you learn how to facilitate the EGE process, you will be focusing on your own self-development as an individual and as a professional during the program. The EGE program includes intuitive horsemanship™ and a somatic (mind/body/spirit as a unity) approach to the coaching process. At Strozzi Ranch we believe that the horse is an equal partner who has the potential to share its natural wisdom and healing presence given the right environment.

The certification program covers the fundamental distinctions underlying any form of horse as healer/teacher process, the facilitator and equine skill competencies required, tried and true EGE exercises, how to know when to use what exercises and why, how to choose EGE horses, and much more. The program includes 3 weeks of instruction, experiential learning, practice sessions and supervision. Class goes from Monday through Friday each week, and weekends are days off. Cost of program includes continental breakfast and lunch during class days.

What Will You Learn?

Intuitive Horsemanship:

The universal principles of horsemanship that allow this work to be possible
Horse psychology-social, hierarchal herd structure
Body language and how the horse deals with energy
Leading by following vs. command and control
The appropriate use of pressure
Herd dynamics
Identifying the horse's emotional state and willingness to relate
Demystifying the predator/prey issue
The intuitive quality of horses
Working with horses with authentic presence as opposed to tool-based commands
The importance of being able to read energy

Equine experiential exercises as well as how, when and why they are applicable to human development:

Herd Dynamics-refreshing the archetype of the horse, symbology, leadership, etc.
Passive observation exercises
Communication through non-verbal langauge
Becoming part of the herd-listening to self, others, and morphogenic, energy fields
Round pen-passive exercise, reflection, inquiry
Leading the horse in hand-Extension, attention, vision, looking ahead
Centering on horseback-Allowing yourself to receive, listen to your body
Grooming as a self-care practice
Lunging-commitment, action, knowing what you care about
Team Game-interactive group exercises
Painting horses-creativity, imagination, mythical, etc.
Plus others…

Facilitation concepts:

Understanding group dynamics
Creating a supportive learning environment for a variety of situations
Developing your intuition and listening skills
Interpreting and articulating horses responses
Reading body language and incongruence in story and action
Knowing when to enter into challenging areas and when to hold back
Grounding interpretations in somatic feedback and body language
Staying centered on the goals of the client
Working with fear and judgement
Developing personal skills for staying focused and centered during intense interactions
Balance of positive feedback and honest reflection as seen through the eyes of the horse
Somatic concepts of Energy, Center, Extension, Balance, Authenticity
Knowing your boundaries and areas of competency in deeper personal work
Biological perspective of being human and being an animal
The power of seeing student/client from phenomena-based point of view
Importance of knowing how to work with aggressive behavior and incongruent situations
Differences between coaching and psychotherapy

We encourage participants to develop and refine your own voice and work within your existing terminology and competencies as well as integrating new terminology and methods into your existing approach. You will learn universal concepts that blend well into a wide variety of learning modalities. While our approach derives from a coaching model, it blends well into more traditional therapeutic and educational models. We will also cover topics including how to set up your business, what to look for in an EGE horse and other specific topics that you wish to address.

Application Process

Please fill out the application or call us to set up an interview.

Please see the calendar page for class dates and cost.

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