Allen went on to get her certification in
Equine Assisted Learning through the Equine
Experiential Education Association, or, as
she calls it, the E3A. The association’s
certification course not only taught her how
to be a facilitator, but also helped her establish
a business model. HorsePowerment is the
first and only of its kind in Rhode Island and
there are other examples in Utah, Arizona,
Vermont and Texas. In addition to keeping
her up to date with the EAL world, Allen’s
E3A membership allows her to keep in touch
with other such members.
“They all have their own piece they focus
on,” Allen says, “There’s one down south that
focuses on helping firefighters because first
responders have to be able to build as a team
and work together in stressful situations.”
And though her own emphasis had
centered on special needs populations, Allen
has started to expand her reach. She recently
hosted a group of camp counselors who
wanted to better connect with their newer,
more diverse group of campers, including
those with behavioral challenges and those
on the autism spectrum. Allen especially
wants to work more with corporate teams
interested in professional development.
“A group of car salesmen reached out
because they kept losing customers after the
initial meetings,” Allen says. “As it turns out,
some of the younger employees were finding
that they were spending too much time on
their phone and their focus and attention
weren’t on the customer, whereas the older
sales reps were more personable and had those
relationship-building skills. And that all came
out with the boys. They weren’t able to
establish the connection in the session. So, we
took the observations and applied it to the real
world: If you’re talking to someone and you’re
fidgeting or you don’t look them in the eye or
you’re not focused, the person is going to feel
like they aren’t valued or worth your time.
They’re not going to want to work with you,
just like the horses didn’t.”
When I joke that her programs might even
be good for couples, Allen agrees whole-
heartedly. “Yes, it can benefit anyone!”
How does it all work? Those interested in
booking a HorsePowerment session can sign
up directly through their website, horse
powerment.net. From there, depending on
the type of program (personal development
and wellbeing, corporate leadership or youth
development, for example) you’re interested
in, Allen will ask participants to fill out a sim-
ple, confidential questionnaire so she can plan
and customize the upcoming session to the
individual or group’s needs.
She shows me an example of an agenda for
a corporate session, which takes up half a
workday (“Most like to schedule it in the
morning, but we’re flexible,” she says). The
agenda kicks off with getting to know the
horses, and then leads into a sit-down review
of what the participants can expect that day.
The group will go over a summary of the
questionnaire results and everyone involved
will come up with one to three goals they’d
like to achieve through the program (i.e.
learning to delegate or building up confidence).
She also highlights the importance of horse
communications and safety (read: how to avoid
startling a horse). Then it’s time for an activity.
One example is “Balls in the Air.” In this
exercise, five people usually participate, with
one person hanging back, taking notes, while
the other four interact with the horse. Two
stand at the front to lead while the other two
stand on either side and hold three grapefruit-
sized balls (labelled with team goals) each
against the horse’s flanks. Together, the four
must successfully navigate a winding obstacle
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