My horses are starting to shed out their winter coats, a sure sign that spring is around the corner. Which reminds me of last year, when I treated myself to an at liberty immersion experience with Leslie Nichols, who are based outside of Phoenix, Arizona. I was looking forward to some time away from the dreary Northwest weather, as well as spending time with this gifted horsewoman and her amazing herd of at liberty horses.
At liberty is working in partnership with your horse with all physical connection removed – no halters, ropes, or anything else that ‘ties’ you to your horse, or, your horse to you. To accomplish even the most basic at liberty exercises, you must use a combination of your body language, breath, energy, and intuition to communicate, create connection, and invite partnership. It is, in many respects, the highest level of horsemanship, and the highest level of leadership through partnership.
I’ve spent years developing my horse knowledge and skills with training and instruction, both in and out of the saddle. All of it has informed the Leadership with Horses programs I’ve created for individuals and teams. I arrived in Arizona pretty confident in my at liberty foundation. And I was ready to get to the advanced stuff. I was there for a breakthrough that would allow me to do even more with my own horses and give me new ideas for Leadership with Horses programs.
Leadership Development Experiences
I’ve spent years developing my horse knowledge and skills with training and instruction, both in and out of the saddle. All of it has informed the Leadership with Horses programs I’ve created for individuals and teams. I arrived in Arizona pretty confident in my at liberty foundation. And I was ready to get to the advanced stuff. I was there for a breakthrough that would allow me to do even more with my own horses and give me new ideas for Leadership with Horses programs.
Meeting My Resistance
Right off, Leslie started me with the basics. She graciously, yet quickly, de-constructed a lot of what I thought I knew about at liberty work. And I got pretty damn stubborn about that right away.
I wanted to send horses over jumps. I wanted them to sail around me in a circle at the trot and canter. I wanted them to charge towards me at a full gallop from the opposite end of the arena because I’d asked them to come to me. I was not prepared for horses to have little interest in me and walk away from me. Or worse, stand there and look at me like I’d grown three heads. All that confidence – ok, my ego and my expectations about how I wanted it to go got in the way of how it went. Big time.
Then there was Arizona. Coming from the Northwest, I simply wasn’t physically ready to spend three days outdoors in the hot, dry climate. I wore a hat. I drank gallons of water. I got dehydrated anyway – maybe a little heat stroke – and distracted by the physical effects on my body. At one point I even heaved up my lunch in front of Leslie and to the delight of the ranch dog who was sitting at my feet. Wow.
Shedding Resistance
Lying on my hotel bed with the A/C blasting, trying to recover from the heat, it hit me. I needed to shed my excuses. Here I was spending more time rationalizing what was preventing me from getting to the next level of at liberty, rather than simply stepping into what Leslie calls the experience of at liberty.
I had to shed my resistance and let something new happen. Forget the heat. Forget my arthritic feet. Forget what I had to do to get my money’s worth out of the intensive. I had to get curious, show up, and be open to what was truly happening in the arena between me and the horses.
I had to set aside what I thought I ‘knew how to do’
and learn how to be what I knew how to do.
Things shifted after that. I still struggled with the heat. My feet were still creaky. And, I got interested in creating a genuine connection between me and the horses. I had a wonderful session with Bonito, an American Quarter horse who reminds me of Cato, my at liberty horse. I quit relying on the lead rope and became the person and leader I needed to be so that he would really want to be with me.
Connection: Stronger than a Lead Rope, More Effective
Connection is the single most important ingredient for success with at liberty. It inspires a horse (and the people we lead!) to recognize you as a leader and partner. The horse comes to respect you, to see you as someone worth listening to and being with. Even though this concept is already at the core of my coaching and leadership development, Bonito showed it to me in a new way.
Through connection, I started listening to what he was sharing with me about my presence and communication. I stopped trying to make him do something and extended an invitation instead. We created an energetic bond together that became light and easy. I literally felt how less is more. And he jumped over those barrels, several times! I was so excited at our accomplishment, I jumped up and down. In the sun. On my creaky feet.
I learned a lot from Leslie and her herd of at liberty masters. There were incredible moments when everything came together as I’d expected, and, most of it was entirely unexpected. I came home with a new awareness, lots of ideas, and a profound experience of walking my talk. I have a renewed energy and excitement for my own at liberty experiences with my horses and what I can offer in Leadership with Horses programs. And I came to terms with all I still need to learn – horsemanship, like leadership development, is life-long learning.
How about you?
- What is it that you need to shed in order to be a better leader?
- How often do you rely on what you already know about your leadership strengths and abilities, even when a situation calls for a translation of all that into a new way of being a leader?
- When do you rely on the trappings of your leadership training rather than the experience of leadership?
- When was the last time you were excited about your leadership?
Contact Amanda
If you want to shed whatever is holding you back from your best leadership self and you’re curious about how horses can help you do that, feel free to call me at (425) 488-7747 or send me an email. I’ll share and learn right along with you. Because that’s what the experience of leadership development is all about.
