No matter what issue you want to explore in your life, horses can unlock the answers you’re seeking and guide you toward your next best steps. (It’s like having a secret ally to navigate your life’s challenges.)

 

When you need a clearer connection to yourself to decide what’s best for you in any area of your life, Equus Coaching gives you a powerful way to step out of overthinking and second-guessing. It opens up, immediate, honest awareness of exactly what you want and how you can shift to make it possible.

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What is Equus Coaching?

 

Equus coaching uses simple interactions with horses to help us learn to see our patterns in a way that is so deeply visceral that it breaks right through our blind spots. We might choose to work in a paddock, an arena, a roundpen or even in a stable.

 

Working alongside a horse, you will finally begin to see what’s going on under the surface in yourself in a way you can’t on your own. It opens your eyes to what’s influencing your decisions, relationships, confidence, stress levels and sense of direction.

 

Horses are extraordinary animals that respond only to what’s real. They can read us perfectly, picking up on the subtle cues we give them that we don’t notice in ourselves. Their natural curiosity, desire for partnership, and comfort with setting boundaries cuts through all the noise and helps us quickly see what’s going on inside ourselves.  

 

Issues that we’ve struggled with for years can often be resolved by a single session with these highly attuned animals. Horses don’t have any of the social conditioning that humans do, making every interaction with them pure, unfiltered, and easy to read.   And multiple sessions bring stronger certainty, allowing for a range of topics or depth using supportive, varied exercises and activities designed to meet your needs.

 

Even something as simple as inviting unbridled horses to follow us shows us where we hesitate, where we try to exert too much control, whether we are confused or connected to ourselves, and where we need to step back and re-evaluate our approach. It can show us not only what to do, but how to ‘be’ in this situation and in our actual day-to-day lives.  In a moment, you can have an insight that changes everything for you moving forward.

 

And when we vary the exercises to add in obstacles, cones, halters, grooming or herding a horse then so much more self discovery, awareness and easy and organic change becomes possible.

 

The combination of fast, embodied feedback and the absence of all human pretense helps us see exactly what’s going on within ourselves and what we need to deal with at the root. Personal development concepts like confidence, boundaries and presence move out of the abstract or intellectual realm and become direct experiences we can immediately learn from.

 

During your interactions with the horse, you’ll unlock “a-ha moments” about yourself that you can feel in your whole body rather than just your mind. And - chances are - being out of doors and guided in your interactions with these gentle and magnificent beasts - you’ll have a lot of fun!

 

And I’ll work with you afterwards to uncover what these insights mean for you and how to use them to make the shifts that give you confidence in what you do next.  

 

No matter what issue you want to bring to Equus coaching, your horse can help you achieve the breakthroughs that will open up a more authentic, fulfilling future.

 

“The instant feedback and insights gained by seeing how the horse responds was fascinating. I felt I gained greater clarity about my feelings and how to move forward.” 

 

—Dani B, Mental Health Nurse

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What Can Equus Coaching Help You With?

 

Because horses can provide such immediate, broad-reaching insights, people come to Equus coaching when they want transformation in an important area of their life or help navigating a challenging transition. And some come because they’re curious to explore how horses can help them navigate life.

 

Some clients arrive with a clear, specific issue they want to address. Others aren’t sure what they need, but they know something in their life no longer fits and they want to uncover what it is in a safe environment.

 

Sometimes it’s a personal issue. A major life transition, relationship or parenting patterns they want to change, a life transition they’re navigating or simply the desire to build more confidence and trust in themselves.

 

Sometimes it’s a professional issue. Career decisions, entrepreneurial direction, leadership challenges or moving to a more aligned and fulfilling field of work.

 

Sometimes it’s an emotional issue. Navigating loss and grief, burnout, overwhelm, emotional regulation or reconnecting with a sense of joy and and aliveness.

 

And sometimes it’s a mix of all three, because let’s be honest - life can be complicated. But whatever you want to work on or work with, your horse will help bring to the surface in a way that creates embodied learning (not just intellectual awareness), and unlocks what you need to do next.

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My Approach With Equus Coaching

 

As a certified Equus Coach (and Martha Beck Wayfinder Master Life Coach), I’ll guide your Equus Coaching sessions to help you gain clarity on what matches up with your most authentic self so you can make decisions that open up a more fulfilling future for you.

 

We’ll begin with an introduction to what kinds of activities you’ll be doing with your horse (all “on the ground”, no riding) and a safety briefing and orientation. 

 

Next we’ll work together while you interact with your horse. I’ll demonstrate what to do first, then I’ll be by your side giving you guidance on each activity in real-time. I’ll monitor your safety and tell you how to read your horse’s feedback every step of the way.

 

Afterwards we’ll work one-on-one to talk through what your experience was like and what it brought up for you. Through reflective coaching, we’ll uncover the practical insights that will reveal your next steps forward.

 

We’ll also use other coaching tools based on what’s best for that day’s topic, such as intuitive inquiry, the Sedona Method, embodied coaching, and more.

 

(And if you’re also scheduled for additional Equus coaching sessions, or combining this with 1:1 coaching, we’ll also talk about what we’ll do in our next session together. As you get more confident from working this way you’ll get more and more out of each session.)

 

“By practising and trying out different approaches and seeing the horse’s immediate response, the learning became very real.” 

 

—Fiona Thorogood, HR Manager, Retail

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No Experience With Horses Required

 

If you have never set foot in the same space with a horse before, that’s absolutely fine. Part of this work is learning that you are allowed to show up exactly as you are. Horses respond wonderfully to novices who bring curiosity and a sense of openness to their time together.  It can also be a way that those who are new to, or anxious about being with, horses can learn to connect with them in a safe and guided way.  

 

It all takes place on the ground and you are free to stand wherever you feel best - even looking over the fence at the horse or a herd can provide a wealth of coaching opportunities, metaphors and exploration.

 

And if you’re already experienced with horses, you will learn a whole new way of relating to them that helps the horse show you what you need to know about yourself. You can leave all your training out of the arena and just “be”. It’s an incredibly refreshing and freeing way to engage with the animals you already know and love.  And I’ve even worked with individuals with their own horses and many report a deeper bond and connection with their horses or ponies as a result.

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What Clients Say About Equus Coaching

 

“It helped me feel more centred, grounded and confident.”

 

“It was wonderful to see how the horses responded to shifts in my energy and gave me such great feedback and clarity about my actions and mindset. I’ve gone on to use these thought processes in my day-to-day life and it has really helped me feel more centred, grounded and confident.” 

—Hayley Hodge

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“If you want to get to the nub of an issue, this is a really good way to do it quickly.”

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“If you want to get to the nub of an issue, this is a really good way to do it quickly and get genuinely helpful insights.  Joanna creates a deeply supportive and transformative experience. [The horses] seemed to understand exactly what I was feeling — almost like extra friends who are with you 100%. I came away feeling lighter, clearer and different… in a very good way.”

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— Tana Blum, Homeopath and Health Practitioner

 

“It was like a magic wand!”
 

"Instead of hoping I'm on the right track with my book, I KNOW I'm on the right track. That's priceless. It was so powerful to have someone outside myself (Spike), who wasn't invested in any outcome, simply reflect the truth back to me. It was like a magic wand!"

 

— Inger Kenobi, Author

 

“It brought fresh perspective and helped me make some key decisions.”

“There’s something incredibly hands-on and experiential about being in the arena alongside the horse while being coached by Joanna. It helped me look at my challenge through a completely different lens, brought fresh perspective and helped me make some key decisions.”
 

— Sara Smalley, Founder, Venture Coaching & Co-Founder, The Foundry
 

“It helped me unravel a uniquely complex situation.”

 

“I was privileged to receive an Equus Coaching session with Joanna. At a time when many issues had converged at once, her guidance and the horse’s presence created an empowering space that helped me unravel a uniquely complex situation. The experience brought clarity and balance to my thinking, and I absolutely left knowing it had made a difference. I walked out of the arena with a completely different perspective.”
 

— Head Teacher, Independent Senior School
 

“With horses, the learning goes directly to the heart and sticks.”

“A truly brilliant session. Come with an open and curious mind and you’ll leave with powerful reflections, fresh insight and a renewed sense of self-awareness. You don’t need to be ‘horsey’ to take so much from the experience; these beautiful, majestic animals have an extraordinary way of creating space for reflection, presence and what matters.

 

With horses, the learning goes direct to the heart and sticks.”

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— Bee Fisher, Strategic Marketing & Communications Lead

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