Apparently riding horse may improve relationshsip! There is a lot to be said about simple communication between two beings. This is what we focus on at GoodWizz.com. I let you discover this article:
People use horses for riding, to plow fields and haul loads and therapy for children with disabilities. But can horses also teach people how to become better communicators and leaders?
"It's blowing up more and more and more," said Judy Wiesbrook of Mishicot, talking about natural horsemanship, which focuses on teaching humans as they work with horses, rather than training the horses to work with humans. Practitioners say the method helps improve the way people work with others.
Wiesbrook has practiced natural horsemanship since 1997 and has had clients come to her five-horse Iron Star Acres farm year-round for six years, she said. Four years ago, Becky Mraz of Green Bay joined her.
Ultimately, clients "play" with the horses, Wiesbrook said, trying to get them to perform different tasks as they advance through the levels of natural horsemanship. On a first visit, clients stand in the field with the horses and let a horse choose them.
Later on, clients will guide horses to jump over obstacles, and can ride the horse when they're ready. The program isn't about riding, rather, it focuses on personal growth, Wiesbrook said.
"The riding piece is secondary," she said.
Horses, like humans, have different personalities, or "horsenalities," Mraz said, and work better with certain types of people. They can sense a person's energy, and mirror how the person is acting or feeling, she said.
If a person tries to get a horse to do a task, but the horse feels their stress, anger or other negative quality, it won't respond, Wiesbrook said. It might even run away, she said, if there's too much pressure put on it.
But, "there has to be some firmness involved," she said.
This is where the experiences translate into working with people, Wiesbrook said; the horse's reactions show how people could perceive your actions, and how you can communicate and be received well.
The process also incorporates problem solving. Wiesbrook will hand a harness to a new client and, without instruction, ask him to put it on the horse, so the person can work through an unfamiliar task.
Source: http://www.htrnews.com/article/20101025/MAN0101/10250391/Horses-help-improve-relationships-at-Mishicot-farm
