“Circles for Success”
Leadership Equine Experiences

Horse's are extraordinary creatures. Being prey animals, they are extremely in-tune to their environment. Particularly the people that interact with them. Why? People are predators. The horse must carefully "read" each human's body language to decipher this simple thought process, "Safe or not safe." Because of their natural abilities to read people and inquisitiveness, they make choices to use their bodies to "open a communication" with humans. These moments can invoke responses from humans that range from surprise to excitement to simply just thought provoking. Regardless of what the human reaction is, these moments can be unforgettable. Spending time with a horse in a quiet, contemplative environment encourages the horse to "reach out" to people. That can be seen or felt in many different ways through the horse and human relationship. Hence the concept of equine intuitive connection.

The Circles for Success program is for non-horse and horse people alike.

Why the name Circles for Success?

In horse training, I have found that every training skillset, in some way, can only successfully and effectively develop, with time, by circling back to the intuitive connection that was originally created by horse and human. Similar to horses on a racetrack or horses being taught to lunge on a lunge line, the starting point turns out to be the ending point. It seemed only natural that the "circles" we make in horse training become a part of the name for this program.

For the non-horseman, the discussions focus on the first 2 categories of the 4 category program. For up and coming horsemen, The Natural Connection INC develops a horsemen methodically using all 4 categories. Those categories are:

INTUITIVE CONNECTION - leading to - INTUITIVE COMMUNICATION
- then -
PARTNERSHIP UNDER-SADDLE - leading to - EDUCATED HORSE TRAINING

Category 1:

THE INTUITIVE CONNECTION

This entails a discussion regarding how a horse thinks and makes decisions, based on it's natural instincts being a prey animal. Discussions will relate to humans being predators and how we can make a symbiotic relationship. Some topics discussed include but are not limited to: the history of the horse, prey vs. predator, herd hierarchy, leadership in the horse world vs. the human world. There are individual and group exercises that can be utilized to help with the teaching stage of intuitive connection. Some exercises can be as simple as being with a horse and hand grazing, learning to lead a horse, grooming a horse, or spending time studying a herd of horse's interactions. Regardless of the simplicity of the exercise, this is the first step to learning about the world of the horse and how the human participates in the horse's world.

Category 2:

THE INTUITIVE COMMUNICATION

Communication between the horse and human can open up only after there has been an "acceptance". The acceptance is for the human to recognize the use of body language as the horse's primary means of communication. Once an open dialogue has been opened regarding this topic, instruction can begin. Opening a communication between a horse and human can happen in many different ways. An example would be teaching body language and leadership through the use of a round pen. A round pen is a safe enclosed area where the horse and human can learn to communicate with each other on multiple different levels. Intuitive communication can get much more in depth as the human learns to handle the horse and request the horse to isolate specific body parts. This process not only helps the horse to become a better equine partner, but also opens up more avenues for the horse to want to "please" it's human. With proper tutelage, this process can naturally create a better bond between the horse and human, as skillsets start at a teaching stage and progress to the "let's do it at an A+ stage."

Category 3:

THE PARTNERSHIP UNDER-SADDLE

For up and coming horsemen, learning to ride a horse is a gift. It's a gift that keeps on giving as both horse and rider learn to work with each other. Where you go with your riding is completely up to you! In a Corporate Leadership Retreat, people can go through categories 1 and 2 and simply decide they want to trail ride for category 3. For people more serious about learning about horsemanship and horseback riding, private lessons might be the next best step. In the traditional riding world, it is not unheard of where people learn to ride by simply walking in to a stable, paying for a block of group lessons, and get right to it. Is that wrong? No! But there can be a large portion of the bond and partnership between horse and rider missing in these group lesson atmospheres. There is definitely a time and a place for riding in groups, but wouldn't it be great if people learned about how horses communicate first, how to work with them on the ground second and then learned how to ride the horse third? Then once that rider learns to ride and steer better, then they can move into a group lesson with confidence. Just a thought!

Category 4:

EDUCATED HORSE TRAINING

For our dedicated up and coming horsemen that want to take their horsemanship to the next level, the Natural Connection INC follows a distinct training program to help both horses and horseman reach reasonable goals. Why is this called an Educated Horse Training Program? Because we follow a methodology that a professional trainer created and has proven to be effective, so why reinvent the wheel? And effective + easy to learn + easy to follow on-line makes this methodology a no-brainer for our program. More importantly, it's extremely moldable to each horse's needs. When training a horse, we dip back into the importance of having the knowledge and some experience with trusting your intuition. The energy of the human in relation to each horse, and learning how to "dial it up or dial it down," is a primary focus while learning to teach different types of horses, all with varying needs and personalities. The goal is to have a horse training program that the human can easily have access to, both with horses and without. There's nothing like osmosis!