You can lead a horse to water…Lessons on leadership from R Tse
After 6-months of working at home, unable to travel, it was time for me to try something new. I felt compelled to participate in a new activity, shake things up a bit and to stretch myself and get out of my comfort zone. What I found along the way was not only that stretch, but also leadership lessons from a horse.
Yes. You read that right. It has been an incredible experience!
I am not riding the horse (not yet anyway!), I have been trail running, with my friend and colleague Cecilia Engquist and her horse R Tse. Cecilia is a fellow coach, who also specializes in Equine Facilitated Coaching. She is also an endurance runner, an ultra-marathoner. What was I thinking..!
This whole first experience was a stretch for me. I do run, short distances typically, on concrete or a treadmill, not on trails, or sandy trails at that. We decided on a 6-mile trail run, which was also a push. Additionally I’m a city girl, so going out to a ranch was an adventure in and of itself, notwithstanding bugs (lots of them), snakes, wild animals I know were watching but I did not see, cows and the occasional bull. That I completed that first trail run (alive) was a success, and exhilarating! I went a second time, I hope to make it a habit, and will sign up for a trail race in October. That was exactly what I was after.
But, I gained so much more too, just from hanging out with R Tse. Hear me out.
I fell in love with R Tse; he is warm, witty, protecting, communicative, emotionally intelligent, and a teacher. These are the leadership lessons that I learned from him so far:
Vision casting and intention
You have to know where you want to go, be intentional and look in that direction. Whenever I was holding on to his lead rope and kept looking back at him to make sure he was following me, he would stop moving forward, and sometimes stop and even nudge me. I learned to keep looking ahead, and trust that he was following behind me. Once we achieved that mutual trust, we moved forward smoothly and together.
Somatics of leadership presence, emotional intelligence and authenticity
I had to be really present and observing to understand what R Tse was trying to tell me. I had to show up authentically and with confidence. The calmer and more confident I was, the closer he came. I had to stop doing, and start being. I had to be mindful of and manage my emotional state.
I also became aware of this energy flow, how to direct it. I understood that where I stood with regards to his energy bubble, told him a lot and could be understood as aggressive, directive, or respectful and trusting. It was a reminder of how much communication and understanding is non-verbal.
Show you care
I understood that horses lead through caring, and that as herd animals, their model of leadership is based on typically matriarchal traits such as intuition and cooperation versus those such as rational thought and manipulation.
“Horses do not care how much you know, until they know how much you care” EquestrianCo.com
So, I got out of my comfort zone and achieved new milestones, gained confidence in some abilities, and learned some valuable leadership lessons in the process.