Working with a herd allows us to engage with a variety of individual animals. This is beneficial as horses have distinct personalities, attitudes, fears, moods, and characteristics. This encourages us to be patient, flexible, to problem-solve, communicate mindfully, and to be empathetic. You have to learn to work in partnership; giving direction, receiving feedback, learning alternative ways to communicate; and with a herd, you have lots of opportunity for practice. When working with horses, we are engaged with an animal whose behaviour mirrors our body language and internal/external mood states. We can’t wear a mask or pretend to be something we aren’t with horses. They teach us to be honest and sincere, and give us positive, non-judgmental feedback in return. We become responsible for the messages we send and how we deliver them. Thus we learn emotional regulation at the same time.
Working with horses is not an absent-minded task. We need to be attentive, we need to be in the moment, and to be both physically and mentally engaged and working. Being experiential further allows us to accommodate all our learning styles; verbal, visual and tactile. These skills are transferable to all settings, so we can apply the things we use in the barn to our other life experiences.