Working with horses helps educators build team skills

By Todd Martin and Janelle Buchanan

Fourteen teachers and administrators from Saegert Elementary School in Killeen ISD spent part of a recent winter day at the Rafter 5R horse-boarding facility, doing team-building exercises and taking away lessons from their interactions with the horses and each other. Tim Manson of Innovative Horizons, which provides team activities for organizations, says horses instinctively communicate with body language that can reflect the way people work together.

The first activity of the day was to walk up to a horse in a large enclosure and put a halter in place. Initially, this resulted in the horse walking away, followed by the teachers. As Manson points out, when a team works cohesively, the horse will usually comply; a disjointed team causes tension among the animals. Haltering a horse can become an exercise in frustration if the human is loud or demonstrative. A gentle, patient tone works best, which is true for building a team in the workplace.

Another activity required a group of teachers to work in small groups as one person led the horse with a lead rope and others tried to pick up balls from the ground and hold them against the horse while picking up more balls. The small balls represented the dozens of tasks performed daily by teachers, and larger balls stood in for additional challenges, such as budget restraints or state testing requirements. A final exercise involved participants leading a horse into one of several marked squares without touching the animal. Some strategies worked, some failed ― just as in everyday life in public school. The school received an action plan based on the training feedback, and Manson provided follow-up consultation.

“I think we’re learning about interacting with students and staff team members in a way that represents different viewpoints,” says school counselor Mona Odom. “If something doesn’t work, you change your plan; be flexible.”

Manson, a lifelong horseman and former defense contractor, has provided the leadership training through horses since 2000. He says he’s never seen a session fail, at least not because of the horses.

“I’ve never had an organization not change,” he says. “If they don’t change, it’s because they fall back into old habits.”