The EQUUS Experience® is our flagship program, for which we have gained international acclaim.
Photo credit: Andy Brophy
What if all the assumptions you had about yourself and your organization were not only challenged, but dispelled?
What if they were replaced by new possibilities and potential?
Imagine literally changing your brain to be wired towards presence, atunement and wisdom.
Imagine creating the life you really deserve.
It is our award-winning personal and leadership development process that changes organizations, and transforms individuals, families, leaders, and teams.
Through partnership with horses and masterful facilitation by our staff, The EQUUS Experience® inspires breakthrough learning in a joyful, powerful, and sustainable way.
The process takes place at Thunderbird Ridge, and is a stand alone two-hour and four-hour program and is also embedded inside our retreats, workshops and certification trainings.
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The EQUUS Experience® works with the confluence of neuroscience, attachment theory, radical self-inquiry and equine behavioral sciences to create breakthrough learning experiences that literally rewire participants brains towards wellness, fulfillment, confidence and courage. This results in peoples’ lives changing, whether it be within the context of their work or their personal life. Clients report that they feel greater awareness, increased trust in themselves and others, a deeper sense of purpose and meaning, and clearer direction informed by wisdom.
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All of our work is based in the rigorous science of horse behavioral science. We do not anthropomorphize them, nor project stories upon them. Our horses are diligently engaged with daily through riding and groundwork that inspires them to be free-thinking, respectful, partnering and opinionated. Not every horse makes a good EQUUS horse. We enlist horses that are spirited, special, keen to engage with people, and equipped to be robust and opinionated partners in facilitation.
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There are no prerequisites. No riding is involved, no horse experience necessary. This is not about the horse; it is about the individual person, group or team, and what they want to learn
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As horses are animals of prey they have acute sensitivity to all influences around them. They mirror these influences in very specific and direct ways. This makes them trustworthy reflections of what is really at work underneath the story we might tell ourselves, or the qualities about ourselves that may be hidden.
Accessing wisdom to inform your actions
The power of intention
Tapping into intuition and creativity
Creating healthier relationships
How to attune to others
The art of regulating stress in yourself and others
Leadership and right use of power
Trust in ones self and others
Creating conditions for thriving
Mindfulness and presence
Boundaries
Connection to your authentic self and your purpose
How to inspire others
Some of the things we explore —
Are you interested in having your own EQUUS Experience®?
Frequently Asked Questions
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EQUUS Experience® sessions and our other programs are by appointment only. Because of the nature of our work, and that we are often engaged with other clients, we do NOT accept drop-ins.
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No riding is involved and we do not put people on the horses at any time.
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The EQUUS Experience® is ‘Equine-assisted Transformational Coaching’ and is not therapy. It is about learning, discovery and creating new practical ways to live and lead. The horses reflect who you are, and how you show up, absent the story you might tell yourself about that. This liberates potential and possibilities to enhance a fulfilling life and / or career
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Minimum age: 12. Younger children may participate with adult supervision and as pre-arranged
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On site at Four Seasons at Thunderbird Ridge, our learning campus. We are literally a two minute drive away, or a seven minute walk away (on a lovely scenic well-marked trail that goes door to door).
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We work with individuals, couples, families, professionals, and groups of all kinds.
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EQUUS Experience® horses are highly trained and very respectful of their human counterparts. Many clients first walk into the paddocks being very afraid of horses, and emerge with a deeper understanding of that fear and how to work with it, and a herd of new equine friends!
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We offer two-hour and half-day sessions. We also offer deep dive private retreats for a half-day, up to three days. These longer engagements use other processes, in addition to the horses, to inspire life-changing experiences.
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Advance notice is preferred, but last minute sessions can sometimes be booked.
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Each session is custom-designed to meet the specific needs of the client, and so there is not ‘one way’ that it looks. But basically, people are engaging with either the entire herd, or one horse at a time using various forms of ‘groundwork’ exercises. They are accompanied by a skilled facilitator who is trained in the discipline of human development and learning, and this facilitator uses inquiry processes to assist in the insights and learning.
“I am still changing from my time working with you almost a year and a half ago – the experience feels just as visceral as if it happened yesterday. My time with you and the horses at EQUUS was pivotal in reconnecting me to parts of myself I didn’t know (or had forgotten) existed. I will always be tremendously grateful I decided to invest in that experience.”
Lisa D.