Change starts from within — and I’m here to help you activate it.
What is Equine Assisted Coaching?
I practice a form of equine coaching called EFHD (equine facilitated human development) and have a diploma in EFHD from IFEEL Qualifications (International Foundation of Experiential Education and Learning).
This involves helping clients to achieve their goals via behavioural change through undertaking specific exercises with horses, who are pivotal to this form of coaching.
Most communication in life is non-verbal, yet people have been taught to focus largely on verbal communication and in doing so have forgotten the power of intuition and emotion. Horses live in the moment and their outward behaviour always expresses what they are feeling, thus they always act authentically. They provide a calming presence, helping people to become more mindful of the present moment. Horses become uneasy and unwilling to connect with people who are incongruent (i.e. when a person’s internal state and feelings do not match their behaviour, for example because they are trying to cover emotions such as fear or anger with a false appearance of calm).
As a species horses are highly sensitive and attuned, with an amazing ability to sense subtle changes in the underlying emotional and physical environment. It is this ability which makes horses such a key part of the learning process, as they act as a mirror for human emotions, reflecting what people are feeling in the moment in an authentic and non-judgemental way. This helps to increase people’s self-awareness of their actions and behaviours in a relaxed and safe environment, providing the foundation for behavioural change.
How it works
‘Animals were once, for all of us, teachers.
They instructed us in ways of being and perceiving that extended our imaginations, that were models for additional possibilities’
- Joan McIntyre
Contact me
Contact me to book a session or if you have any questions