uncharted
EQUINE ASSISTED PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
NAVIGATING THE HEART THROUGH THE LANGUAGE OF THE HORSE
What is EAPD?
Equine Assisted Personal Development
EAPD is grounded in the language of the horse, creating space for individuals to reflect on connection, communication, and the qualities of healthy relationships.
Horses communicate primarily through body language and look for this same method of communication in their leaders. Participants of EAPD learn to shift their focus from self-centered to horse-centered as they learn the "foreign" language of the horse and all that their body language communicates. This creates a more observant, aware, and authentic partner in relationship to the horse.
Universal instructions are presented in the activities, but the experience that follows is unique to each participant. A licensed facilitator, horse trainer, and herd manager help participants navigate relational dynamics with their horse through reflective questions.
Much of what a horse communicates is from a place of silence. Its body language emanates conversation. A horse can communicate a myriad of instructions, responses, or defenses simply through its posture.
But silence is not always the same as stillness.
Silent horses may have found their release from pressure through their obedience, but not their willingness. Silent horses may have been so broken by training methods that are unnatural to a herd mentality, that they have relented as a horse and surrendered to the method. But a still horse, a horse that has found “softness,” is a horse that has found leadership, whether herd or human, that causes such a sense of security that they no longer need to self-protect.
Silence vs. Stillness