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Wisdom Horse
at
Stepping Stones

Farm & Retreat Center

What is Wisdom Horse?

Unlock teamwork, leadership, and personal wellness

Wisdom Horse is a unique model that partners people with horses to facilitate growth. By integrating the mind, emotions, spirit, and body, our program offers an immersive learning experience. Ideal for corporate teams AND individuals, participants engage through action, feeling, and experience, not just lectures. Discover how to show up in the world by aligning thoughts, emotions, physical presence, and spirit in powerful new ways.

The Wisdom Horse Team

Transforming Connections for All

Wisdom Horse welcomes a diverse array of participants eager to unlock new pathways of communication and presence through partnership with horses. We specialize in guiding corporate teams, wellness groups, families, veterans, and individuals on a journey of discovery, tapping into their unique strengths and exploring new possibilities, both as individuals and as part of a collective.

How can Wisdom Horse Help You?

Wisdom Horse for
the Corporate Team

Enhancing leadership skills, self-awareness, and team dynamics.

Wisdom Horse improves feedback, performance, timely action, and Somatic Intelligence by integrating physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects. This experience also strengthens teamwork and organizational commitment. In today's remote work environment, Wisdom Horse at Stepping Stones Farm & Retreat Center offers a fun, memorable experience that strengthens team performance and relationships. It helps employees reconnect with their purpose and commitment to the organization.

Wisdom Horse Inquiries

Wisdom Horse for
individual and group Wellness

Boosting initiative, decision-making, accountability, and communication skills.

Wisdom Horse encourages creativity, problem-solving, and personal growth. Regardless of the type of client, participants experience full intellectual, emotional, social, and physical immersion.

The learning is authentic, fostering real change and stronger relationships. Horses play a key role, reflecting our energy, intentions, and movements. Horses enhance personal and leadership development with their beauty and grace, offering honest feedback and reflecting the changes needed for growth.

Wisdom Horse Facilitators assess clients' strengths and goals, selecting specific unmounted activities with the horses. These activities, where horses are either led or moved with energy, help participants develop essential skills like communication, emotional expression, listening, leadership, decision-making, cooperation, and trust. Based on the Outward Bound Model of adventure-based learning, participants engage in equine challenges followed by guided discussions to reflect on their experiences.

These activities integrate the mind, emotions, spirit, and body, creating profound learning moments and actionable insights. This judgment-free environment promotes real-time leadership and teamwork practice, ensuring a safe, transformational impact on individuals, teams, and families. As Cheryl Sandburg said, “When you are unaware, you cannot change. Once you become aware, you can’t help but change.” Change happens at Wisdom Horse.

How can Wisdom Horse Help You?

Wisdom Horse Facilitation

We assess clients' individual strengths and goals, selecting specific unmounted activities with the horses.

Wisdom Horse provides a unique environment where people come together to connect, learn, and grow in a safe, welcoming space. Our judgment-free zone allows for the practice of new behaviors in a supportive atmosphere. By sharing meals and experiences, participants strengthen their bonds in ways that remote work simply cannot replicate. The power of being fully present, all together in one space, fosters authentic relationships and encourages personal and professional growth like never before.

The Wisdom Horse Team

Testimonials

Please take a moment to delve into these THREE key pieces to hear and see what other people are saying about the Return on Investment and Positive Results from Equine Experiential Learning.

The first is a video of an actual Client who brought his Pharma Life Team for a day and a half experience at Wisdom Horse.

The second is an article from Forbes Magazine in March of 2024 describing how this kind of leadership training really works for businesses to become DEI compliant in a safe, fun and creative way.

The last is a Podcast which goes into why horses are such profound teachers, providing rich metaphors and mirrors to bring together mind, body, spirit and feelings. All three testimonials bring out essential components of why Wisdom Horse benefits individuals, groups and businesses.

Evidenced Based Theory, The Foundations of Wisdom Horse

Wisdom Horse embraces a unique blend of evidence-based theories to guide its transformative equine-assisted programs for individuals and groups. Our philosophy is grounded in the belief that growth stems from recognizing and building upon individual and collective strengths. By combining theoretical insight with practical, reflective exercises, Wisdom Horse facilitates a journey of discovery, investigation, and application. This approach ensures that every interaction not only fosters personal and professional growth but also equips participants with actionable insights for real-world application.

Why Wisdom Horse for Personal Wellness Development

Are you looking for support in Recovery or with a Chronic Illness?
Do you feel stuck in old habits and desire guidance to create lasting positive changes?
Do you want to build more meaningful relationships and improve your communication skills?
Are you wanting to create strong, more well defined boundaries?
Do you want to move beyond a traumatic experience and enjoy more freedom?
Are you striving to find balance between work, life, and personal wellness?
Do you want to enhance your coping strategies for handling life’s challenges?
Are you looking to cultivate more gratitude and positivity in your daily life?

Why Wisdom Horse for Corporate, Nonprofits or Government Clients

Do you have a team that has not been together face to face for two years?
Are your team members lacking connection to the mission and vision of your business?
Does your business experience high turn over of staff or frequent Absenteeism?
Do you want to strengthen the Leaders on your team?
Would enhanced communication and team work be welcome in the workplace?
Do you want to comply with federal standards for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in a fun and unique way?

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Special Note: We do not offer Riding Lessons, Psychotherapy or HR consulting

Why Horses?

Horses are the foundation of Wisdom Horse, pure & simple.

They teach us in “the moment”, in real time.
They encourage reflections and unconditional regard.
They inspire us to be calmer, clearer, more positive people.
They foster a deep and abiding awareness of self and others.
They enhance our ability to give and receive feedback, which affects the quality and quantity of our performance.
They offer the opportunity to practice new behaviors in a supportive, nurturing, unjudgmental environment.
They offer a safe space to practice key leadership traits such as trust, good communication, group planning and delivering results.
They show us how to be a HERD---a team---a contributing member with a specific role in the group.
They connect our hearts, heads, bodies, spirits, allowing us to use all our talents to move more effectively, consistently and confidently in our world.

Why These Pillars Work?

Horses are prey animals. Like humans, their instinctive social nature is to find safety and belonging in their herd. Within the herd, there are clearly defined roles, responsibilities, and clear leadership resulting in horses & success and survival as a species. Horses are about "WE", not "ME"
Utilizing heightened awareness of their environment, horses quickly and accurately assess the state of mind of those around them and non-verbally reflect that knowledge back.
Horses give immediate and honest feedback when participants either possess or lack clear intentions, providing a true mirror of behaviors and the change required to achieve results.
Horses care nothing about a person’s position, power, status, title, ethnicity, challenges, or where they went to college. They accept people for exactly who they are and what they present in the moment.
Learning to successfully communicate with the horse translates into learning better, more effective ways of communicating with people

Clifton Strength-Based Leadership

Inherent Leadership Potential: Recognizes each individual's unique leadership strengths.
Enhanced Performance: Demonstrates that recognizing and cultivating unique skills leads to higher satisfaction and performance.
Skill Identification: Employs a straightforward online assessment to help participants discover their specific leadership talents.
Real-World Application: Provides experiential learning with horses to practice and deepen leadership skills, fostering effective teamwork.

Outward Bound
Inspiration

Experiential Learning Curve: Guides team members from comfort zones through increasing challenges via unmounted equine activities.
Supportive Environment: Creates a non-judgmental space for insight and growth, improving communication and effectiveness.
Intuitive Insights: Partners with horses to reflect human behavior, fostering a deeper connection to intuition beyond traditional discussions.
Behavioral Practice and Reflection: Facilitates practice of new behaviors with reflective discussions to translate lessons into learned real-life applications, boosting confidence and teamwork.

Types of Groups that Will Benefit

Small and mid-sized businesses
Corporations seeking to improve culture
School boards
Nonprofit boards
Government agencies
Spiritual leadership
Sports teams
Teachers
Yoga & meditation groups
Health care providers
Veterans & their Families
First responders
Alcoholics Anonymous
Addiction recovery groups
Families experiencing separation or divorce
Breast cancer survivors
LGBTQ groups
Grief & loss groups

HOW THE WISDOM HORSE EXPERIENCE UNFOLDS

sTEP 1:

CLIENT DESIRES TO HAVE THEIR TEAM OR RETREAT GROUP EXPERIENCE A WISDOM HORSE SESSION

The Founder and Lead Facilitator selects the most appropriate Co-Facilitator to work with the group of up to 12 individuals. A potential date and length of the experience is agreed upon by both the Client and Wisdom Horse Co-Facilitators.

sTEP 2:

ASSESSMENT

Wisdom Horse Co-Facilitators start by meeting with the individual, team leader or retreat group leader to determine what the needs of the participants are and what the goals for the experience would be. Depending on the goals and outcomes, the Client and the Wisdom Horse Facilitators discuss potential time line, length of stay at the farm, catering and group size.

sTEP 3:

PROPOSAL

The Co-Facilitators then develop a proposed specialized and focused sequence of equine experiences for the Participants based on these desired goals, budget, and timeline. This is the step during which the final cost and length of stay with meals will be sent to the Client for their review.

sTEP 4:

CONTRACTING

Once the Client agrees to the proposal, a formal contract will be sent to the Client. A 25% non-refundable deposit will be required to reserve the date(s). A 50% payment will be due two months before the actual date. The 25% remainder of the fee will be due 2 weeks prior to arrival date.The Co-Facilitators will send out a Welcome Letter to the Client that is to be distributed to the Participants. This letter will contain information about their time at the farm and what to expect. It will include appropriate dress, the promise that it requires no formal horse experience and that it is unmounted. It will also describe the experiential nature of these activities and what the stated goals for the group are.

sTEP 5:

ARRIVAL OF PARTICIPANTS

All that remains for the arrival at Stepping Stones Farm & Retreat Center, is to come ready to be outside and have fun with your group. Everyone will be transported back in time on this historic 270 year old working farm. Participants will enjoy being the only group at the farm for their stay. Guests will dine, work, and stay in peace and comfort so they are free to fully benefit from this experiential educational adventure with the horses.

sTEP 6:

The Session(s)

Each group will gather together to receive an Introduction to Horses and Safety during the activities. They will then Meet & Greet the horses to observe Equine Herd Behaviors. During this time, Participants will be asked to select their favorite horse with whom to work. Up to six horses will be engaged in any one session. Group size is limited to a maximum of 12 people. Safety is a top priority with solid instruction about how to interact with a horse. Each session takes place in an enclosed arena with careful supervision by credentialled Facilitators and trained Equine Specialists. The sessions are typically 1.5 hours in length with the horses, followed by a half hour Debrief of the experience. Groups or individuals may choose to do only one session as part of their stay at the farm. Two or more sessions may also be arranged and blended with other programming depending on the needs of the individual or group.

sTEP 7:

The Debrief

The Debrief discussion following the equine experience is when “Ah Ha” Moments happen. Discovery emerges and learning ‘sticks’ long into the future. Participants are asked by the Facilitators to reflect on what the horses did and why they think they did it. They are then encouraged to consider where similar things show up either in their workplace, the dining room table, at school or on their team. This introspection helps Participants build on their strengths while uncovering limiting behaviors. This is the key piece that brings the experiential learning to fruition. Action Items are generated at the conclusion of each Debrief.

sTEP 8:

Findings

This newfound awareness comes together through Action Steps that can be taken back to real life at home or at work. The Findings for each group will be summarized as Outputs in a written report with pictures of the actual Participants and horses. This serves to formalize the Take Aways or Action Items for use back in the workplace, family or team.

sTEP 9:

Evaluations

Clients will be asked to fill out a written Evaluation of the Wisdom Horse Experience in order to continually improve upon the process and delivery of services.

sTEP 10:

Check In

The Founder and Lead Facilitator will check in with the head of the group or team one month after the Wisdom Horse Experience was delivered. This inquiry will be to explore the tangible results that have happened as a result of the work done with Wisdom Horse.

Click here for
sample final report
wisdom horse provides to each client

Want to know more about Wisdom Horse Sessions,
and whatYour Wisdom Horse take away could look like?
Click Here for our Downloadable PDF

Wisdom Horse fits with your Private or Corporate Retreat Perfectly:

Host your next retreat at Stepping Stones Farm & Retreat Center

Private Retreats: Your Personal Oasis

Wisdom Horse Add-On Available

Enhance your escape to Stepping Stones Farm & Retreat Center with the addition of Wisdom Horse, a transformative addon that elevates your private retreat experience. Alongside the tranquil beauty and exclusive amenities of our farm, Wisdom Horse offers a unique opportunity for deeper reflection, connection, and personal growth. Immerse yourself or your small group in personalized equine experiences that foster meaningful insights and a profound sense of peace. Perfect for individuals seeking an introspective journey, celebrating special occasions, or teams aiming for a focused and enriching gathering. This addon integrates seamlessly into your custom retreat, providing a serene backdrop for relaxation, rejuvenation, and the creation of cherished memories, all while engaging in powerful, unmounted equine activities designed for lasting impact. Make your retreat truly unforgettable by exploring new dimensions of self and collective understanding with Wisdom Horse.

Ignite Team Excellence with Our Corporate Retreats

Wisdom Horse Add-On Available

Experience the transformative power of corporate retreats at Stepping Stones Farm & Retreat Center, where we specialize in creating vibrant and impactful experiences for your team. Our retreats are more than just team-building; they are immersive journeys that harness the unique qualities of our Wisdom Horse program.

Our Wisdom Horse program involves equine-assisted learning, a powerful method that leverages interactions with horses to develop essential leadership and communication skills. Guided by skilled facilitators, this experience enables your team to discover new ways of working together, building trust, and fostering a deeper understanding of team dynamics.

Imagine your team surrounded by the lush beauty of our farm, where the tranquil ambiance encourages innovative thinking and open communication. Our expertly crafted programs blend outdoor challenges with strategic brainstorming sessions, all enhanced by the wisdom of our horses. These experiences promote collaboration, creativity, and leadership development, providing practical skills that can be applied directly to your workplace.

One standout feature of our corporate retreats is our ability to tailor the experience to your specific goals. Whether you're focused on improving communication, enhancing leadership skills, or fostering a more cohesive team culture, our retreats, enriched by Wisdom Horse, are fully customizable to meet your unique needs.

As the sun sets over our picturesque setting, your team will leave feeling revitalized, motivated, and equipped with practical skills, guided by Wisdom Horse, that can be applied directly to your workplace. Stepping Stones Farm & Retreat Center is your partner in unlocking your team's full potential, setting the stage for your business to achieve new heights of success.

Host your next retreat at Stepping Stones Farm & Retreat Center