Students can start telling and understanding their own stories using the horses.
And the reward for engaging with this challenge—the lessons learned and experiences to be gained—is tremendous. “Horses teach you so much about leadership”, Melissa commented. “Just in something as simple as walking up to a horse, putting a halter on, attaching a lead rope and walking them somewhere, there are tons of leadership principles that you need to have. It [working with horses] is building confidence in knowing where you’re going and having a plan of how you want the horse to get there.”
These principles are applicable both to guiding horses and to leading others. Working with horses is tangible, direct practice in leading well, much of which is relational. Melissa elaborates on this idea, “Are you being a good leader, a kind leader, and opening that door in the direction you want to go so that the horse can willingly follow you? Or are you being more authoritative and the horse is a little more resistant to follow you, because you're being very harsh in your body language and in your motions and reactions to what the horse is doing?” These principles are related, if not identical, to those found in the effective leadership of people.
Are you being a good leader, a kind leader, and opening that door in the direction you want to go so that the horse can willingly follow you? -Melissa Hougas (Equestrian Program Manager)
In addition to leadership, horses also help people understand their relationship with God and others. “People often see themselves as the horse and God as the human or vice-versa,” Kenyan described, “and they’ll look at that relationship in a new way. That deepens their faith.” Furthermore, “people will often see themselves in the horse, and so they’ll see their actions in a new light, because they’ll find a horse that acts like them (or so they project).” Kenyan continued, explaining how she loves watching people learn by watching their horses, the students “learn about community and their relationships—they can kind of start telling their own story by using the horses.”