The course took place in September 2011 and was entitled: ‘Authentic Leadership through the Gift of Horses’. When I heard the title I found myself wondering what a horse could teach me about leadership, but within the first two hours I had completely changed my mind. I discovered that horses are a very useful tool when it comes to learning not just leadership, but specifically authentic leadership. Firstly, titles and background mean nothing to a horse, so in order to lead a horse you must be an authentic leader in your words and actions. Secondly, the way a horse acts gives an honest impression of the human behaviour they are receiving, which means they can teach you a great deal about the kind of leadership style you are portraying. And finally, a horse’s trust must be gained, which requires honest and compassionate leadership.

We carried out a number of exercises with the horses. In the first exercise, we each had to lead a horse from one side of a field to the other. When we first did this we were all still a bit unsure and were able to sense this from the horses, who were not entirely convinced to follow us. We then repeated the experiment but changing the way in which we led the horses, for example by looking ahead at the goal instead of at the ground, and exuding confidence instead of apprehension. Sure enough, the horses’ behaviour changed as we did this, becoming more and more inclined to follow us. I will never forget how it felt as the horse became more trusting and easier to lead. In another exercise we had to groom the horses, including cleaning their hooves. This required us to gain the horses’ trust so that they would be willing to lift their feet for us. It was an important lesson that it is not necessarily our words but the energy we portray that make us good leaders.

In other activities we worked in groups, first to lead a horse through an obstacle course and then to saddle up the horse. In both of these exercises we had to take the positive energy we had used in the first activity and now apply them as a group, which was somewhat more of a challenge. This helped to teach us about communicating as a team and how to give the team as a whole a more positive drive towards the goal.

In addition to the practical exercises, we also did some theoretical work and discussions on what the qualities of an authentic leader are. We then spent some time reflecting on our own individual leadership assets and downfalls. We also had to think of times at which our leadership skills were put to good use, at which point the SAWomEng conference immediately popped into my mind! This was a very useful exercise because it helped us gain more insight into what kind of leaders we are and want to be and how we could use the skills we had gained from the course to better ourselves as leaders.

It was a privilege for me to attend the course. I learnt a great deal both about leadership and about myself, and a lot of my perceptions about good leadership were changed. I am so grateful to the SAWomEng team, not just for what I gained from the conference last year but also for what I gained from this course. I have no doubt that these skills will be of great benefit to me in any leadership roles I hold in the future.

By Leandra Webb