Horses as Teachers: A Transformative Experience for Coaches
Discover how equine-facilitated learning can increase self-awareness, unlock blindspots, build leadership confidence and dismantle toxic behaviors in your clients.
Words alone can only take clients so far.
At Kenshō Stables, we invite professional coaches to experience a powerful modality that brings emotional intelligence and embodied leadership to life — Equine-Facilitated Learning (EFL).
In this immersive half-day experience, horses serve as profound mirrors, reflecting human behavior, energy, and emotion with extraordinary accuracy. You’ll see how this work helps clients move beyond insight into integration — accessing clarity, confidence, and calm in real time.
Led by Gretchen Fox Palmer, an executive coach and masterful facilitator with 15+ years in emotional intelligence and leadership development. Each session unfolds at our well-being centered 25-acre horse ranch just outside Austin — a natural environment for meaningful transformation.
What You’ll Experience
A guided equine-facilitated learning session with Gretchen and the horses
Firsthand understanding of how horses reveal patterns in leadership, presence, and energy
Time for personal reflection and observation of the modality in action
Integration conversation and connection with like-minded professionals
Who It’s For
Established coaches with active clients
Coaches who host VIP days, retreats, or group experiences
Practitioners seeking to add somatic or experiential elements to their work
Leaders ready to offer new experiences to their clients and offerings
Why Experiential Learning Matters:
Transformation isn’t taught in a slide deck — it has to be experienced.
As all coaches know, a large portion of the job is helping people break free from the old ideas, stories, and biases that hold them back. With talk-based approaches, that’s often half the work — but with Equine-Facilitated Learning, something different happens.
When a human merely stands next to 1,100 pounds of muscle and dynamic power, we automatically shift into a heightened state of presence — purely out of survival. When we’re beside them, all of our senses turn on. We become fully engaged, paying attention with our whole body.
This heightened state of awareness is the optimal state for transformation. It’s where insights become felt, embodied experiences — and where we immediate breakthroughs happen.
“Our culture teaches us that making significant changes takes a long time and is difficult to do. This is simply NOT true. Change happens in an instant. It is not a process — it is something you do in an instant by simply making a decision.” — Tony Robbins
Why Horses?
Horses are master mirrors of human behavior.
As prey animals, they must sense and respond to threats instantly — yet they have learned not to waste energy fleeing haphazardly. Over generations, they have mastered the art of reading intent. They notice our state of being, our intentions, our energy, and our emotions — with incredible subtlety and immediacy.
When coaches work with horses, these reflections surface patterns and blind spots that are often hidden in everyday interactions. Horses don’t respond to what we say — they respond to who we are in the moment. This creates a powerful, real-time feedback loop for:
Self-awareness — noticing how our internal state shows up externally
Emotional regulation — learning to calm and focus under pressure
Leadership confidence — showing up authentically and with presence
Shifting patterns — uncovering and moving beyond unhelpful behaviors
With horses, insights aren’t theoretical — they’re embodied. Change happens in the body, in real time, and leaves a lasting impression.
Masterful Group Facilitator
Gretchen Fox Palmer is a Culture Change Strategist, high-stakes communications expert and published author who helps leaders and teams deliver transformational change. With two decades guiding Fortune 10 companies, Silicon Valley startups, and global brands, she combines deep EQ expertise, crisis navigation, and experiential learning — including equine-facilitated coaching.
Proven Results
Gretchen Fox Palmer’s EQ programs deliver measurable impact:
87.5% of participants cite emotional intelligence skills taught as critical to company cultural shifts (EQ @Work)
85% report improvements in personal well-being
94% gain confidence in managing tough conversations
76% report improvement in morale in “I believe my company cares about me” survey question category
Casual, Coach-Friendly Environment
Participants are able to learn individually while connecting with colleagues and peers in a casual, tranquil, nature-based setting.
Debrief areas for private post-workshop group or 1:1 coaching for you and your clients.
Enjoy the grounds, offering a bonus ‘nature immersion’ experience
Revenue-sharing and mark-up opportunities for future sessions available.
Powerful, profound breakthroughs in one day.
Date: Week Day & Weekend Options
Each session includes:
Introduction to EFL
Three Transformational Workshop experiences
Debrief and discussion on integrating EFL into your coaching
Time to enjoy the grounds
Apply for Your Complimentary ½-Day Experience
We’re opening four exclusive sessions for qualified Austin-area coaches to experience Equine-Facilitated Learning firsthand.
This opportunity is complimentary and by application only.
See our upcoming events tab for available day/time options.
FAQ’s
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The purpose of equine facilitated learning (EFL) is to expand our personal awareness through a series of equine guided experiences.
These experiences allow us to enhance our abilities to notice and learn from our emotions and feelings as well as those of other sentient beings (animals and humans).
The EFL exercises are designed as building blocks to open new neural pathways in our mind and our body by stretching our ability to feel the presence and intention of others through using our entire bodies as a sensory device.
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Yes! Equine facilitated learning exercises are done on the ground guided by a trained coach and horse professional. Horses are always in controlled environments (behind a fence or in a halter with a lead rope). These are non-riding experiences.
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All horses will be under control in a fenced paddock or on a lead rope in every horse experience. In addition, you may refrain from being around a horse as much as you choose. We encourage everyone to explore fears like fear of horses, safely with professional guidance.
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Absolutely not, you may choose to do whichever sessions you want; however, sessions build upon each other and so it is advantageous to complete them all.
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Our workshops are intimate experience with group size capped at a maximum of 5 participants.
Still not sure if our workshops are right for you?
We want to ensure a positive and vibrant group experience for each participant at each event. You can schedule a 1:1 call with Master Facilitator Gretchen Fox Palmer to see if this event is a good fit for you.
