How Equine Facilitated Learning Works |

Everyone can participate regardless of their ‘horse experience,’ physical, or fitness limitations. Even those who are fearful of horses can fully participate.

Learning with horses is experiential

Developing a social or emotional competency requires engagement of the emotional, non-cognitive parts of the brain – as in experiential learning with horses (sentient beings).

Experiential learning is adaptable for individual style, preferences, strengths, direction, etc. As such it is more likely than conventional prescribed training or teaching to produce positive emotional effects, notably confidence, self-esteem, and a sense of personal value and purpose.

Learning is accelerated

When we interact with horses, they respond to the real person – not the persona. They are not distracted by what we say or how we appear. Horses offer undeniable reflections of who we are – giving us the opportunity to discover our unconscious beliefs, recognise our habitual patterns of behaviour, and see ourselves as others see us – all of which could take months to reveal by other traditional methods of professional and personal development.

Equine Experiential Learning activities simulate work/life situations

Much of what challenges us in our human relationships and in organisations is beyond words and rational thought. Horses provide access to direct perception of this reality independent of rational process.

The activities with the horses are often games that can be easily compared to real work/life challenges. The way participants respond to these games readily translate to how they respond in work/life situations making beliefs and behaviour patterns more obvious.