Leadership training, Mr. Ed style

If it weren’t for a horse, my favorite teacher of all-time would have never been born.

My fourth grade teacher, Ms. Neill, used to tell a story of how her great-great grandfather was supposed to be on the Titanic, but his trusty steed revolted that day and refused to take him.

Horses know things.

When Julie Puentes told me she was a leadership trainer, and that she uses horses, my response was, “Wha, huh?” People learning leadership — through horses.

Here’s, basically, how it works: You get in the ring, attempt to accomplish a task with a horse (walk it once around, trot once around, and walk again), and see what happens. Whatever signals you’re putting out there, consciously or unconsciously, said horse will not only pick up on, but respond honestly. See, the reason this works is because as humans, we’ve learned niceties. We’ll smile and nod and avoid awkwardness at all costs. Not horses. They’ll toss their heads and laugh at you. Well, at me anyway. Who knows how they’ll respond to you.

Julie told me a story of one corporate exec. who got in the pen and had a good ‘ole time. He accomplished the goal, but the horse was acted frantic and nervous the whole time. Lesson learned: that’s the effect this exec had on people. So though he gets the job done, it’s not really working for his colleagues. Huh. All that from a horse. And a horse interpreter, of course.

With Big Head Todd’s help (and Julie’s interpretation), I learned me a little somethin’ about follow-through. And nine months after I shot it, here’s the story.

Schedule some equine-assisted learning of your own with Leadership Bridges. And follow Julie on Twitter for all sorts of leadership and equine gems.

And some mad props and humble thanks to both Julie for her time — and ultimately, patience (nine months!) — and to Scott for his skeels behind the camera. You rock that fanny pack.