She will be doing two free booksignings where she will offer an hour-long overview and question-answer session about her new book The Power of the Herd: A Nonpredatory Approach to Social Intelligence, Leadership and Innovation.

• June 5 at 7 p.m. Copperfield’s Bookstore in Sebastapol, CA (707)823-2618
• June 6 at 6 p.m. Book Passage, 1 Ferry Building, San Francisco (415)835-1020

Linda will also be doing two workshops in the area:

Horse Sense at Work: Harnessing the Power of the Herd

• Date: June 7th, 2013
• Location: Sheraton Four Points, San Rafael, CA
• Cost: $185.00 ($175.00 if you register before May 31)
• http://www.mearas.net/horse-sense-at-work-harnessing-the-power-of-the-herd.html

This indoor multi-media workshop is designed to help you take horse-inspired wisdom directly into the human world. Whether you’ve attended a previous Eponaquest workshop or are brand new to this work, it’s a great opportunity to get the latest leadership, emotional and social intelligence skills that Linda developed through four years of research and development for her new book in a powerful one-day workshop! (See link for more in-depth description of skills to be covered.)

Linda is offering special group rates for businesses, nonprofits, equine organizations, and educational institutions that would like to send entire teams or departments to this workshop. For more information on group rates, contact rasa@eponaquest.com or call 520-455-5908.

Savannah & Brandy
Photo by Sue Smades

“When entire teams have these advanced, yet easy to learn, emotional and social intelligence skills in place, the organization runs more smoothly and intelligently,” says Linda, who has taught these skills to entrepreneurs, social activists, and major players in the aerospace industry. “Parents, teachers, and clergy have also benefited immeasurably from learning the Power of the Herd Guiding Principles. During my tour, I wanted to create an entertaining, fast-paced yet economical way for people to get these life-changing skills. Horse Sense at Work is for anyone who wants to be a leader in his or her own life, while uplifting the intelligence, empowerment and camaraderie of the herds we all run in—in our communities, careers, families, and friendships.”

The Connected Leader: Mastering the Power of the Herd with Linda Kohanov

• Date: June 8th and 9th, 2013
• Location: Tabula Rasa Ranch, Sebastopol, CA
• Cost: $890.00
• Early Registration Discount: $695.00 (before May 31)
• http://www.mearas.net/the-connected-leader-mastering-the-power-of-the-herd.html

This two-day experiential workshop with horses is limited to 10 people. Only four spaces left! This is a unique opportunity to experience Linda’s powerful approach to working with horses as teachers. (She rarely leaves her ranch in Arizona, where people travel from around the world to study with her and her specially trained herd.)

“I’m excited to be working with Julie Bridge, one of our Advanced Eponaquest Instructors who recently established the Tabula Rasa Ranch in Sebastapol, named after my beautiful horse who got me started in this work over twenty years ago. Julie’s horses have taught many people over the years, and I’m excited to finally work with her experienced herd.”

Coming soon, a list of events in Portland, Oregon.

Linda & Rasa
photo by Kevin Anderson

For the first time in five years, Linda Kohanov will go on tour this summer/fall, with booksignings, lectures, and workshops scheduled in Denver/Boulder, CO (May 27-31), San Francisco Bay Area (June 2-9), Portland, OR (June 11-18), Chicago, IL (early August), and Cleveland, OH (late-September), among other places. (Details for most of these events are still in the works, and will be released as they become firm.)

The tour kicks off later this month in the Denver-Boulder area as follows:

May 27: Horse Sense at Work: Harnessing the Power of the Herd (A one-day leadership workshop at Fifth Element Ranch, Loveland, CO) 10 am to 4 pm, $199, register at www.FifthElementRanch.com (303) 638-6997

May 28: Warriors in Transition (An introduction-demonstration on Eponaquest’s approach to horse-facilitated work for soldiers and their family members at Fifth Element Ranch) 10 am to noon, $30, register at www.FifthElementRanch.com

May 28: Booksigning at Boulder Bookstore (Linda will discuss her new book The Power of the Herd), 7:30 pm, vouchers to reserve a seat are $5 that can be used to purchase a book, contact www.boulderbookstore.net (303) 447-2074

May 31: Emotional Heroism: The Power Behind Nonviolence (A one-day lecture-demonstration workshop at the Healing with Horse Symposium) 10 am to noon, $199, register at www.healingwithhorse.com/Symposium.html (720)-284-8502

May 31: Equine Archetypes for Self Discovery: A Guided Journey to the Horse Power Within (A two-hour lecture and guided journey) 7 to 9 pm, $30 www.healingwithhorse.com/Symposium.html (720) 284-8502

“After more than four years working on The Power of the Herd, I’m exited to be going out into the world again, meeting with people and doing brief yet powerful workshops to introduce people to the latest work,” says Linda. “These one-day lecture-demonstration clinics will give you practical skills, allowing you take horse wisdom back to the human world immediately. (See complete workshops descriptions below.) In Colorado, I’m also happy to see that the sponsors for these events are working together, sharing business and publicity, and most importantly for participants, creating opportunities to attend several of these events at a reduced rate.”

Tara Pagoda, owner of Fifth Element Ranch, and Jennifer Oikle, Ph.D. who is running the Healing with Horse Symposium the weekend of May 31 to June 2, are offering participants the opportunity to attend both the May 27 Horse Sense at Work leadership workshop and the May 31 Emotional Heroism workshop for $100 off the cost of registering for each workshop separately. You can register for both workshops together at either of their websites. (The Healing with Horse Symposium will feature presentations throughout that weekend by a variety of other well-known facilitators in equine-facilitated therapy and experiential learning fields.)

“Tara is one of our experienced Eponaquest Instructors in Colorado,” Linda says. “Dr. Jenn Oikle has also been doing equine-faciliated work in the region, while making connections with professionals internationally that she featured in her recent Healing with Horse Teleconference. Thanks to Jenn’s expertise and enthusiasm, the interview she did with me for the teleconference series was one of the most fun, and informative, interviews I’ve done.”

Multi-Media

You can listen to the interview between Linda and Jenn on the Eponaquest Worldwide home page at http://eponaquest.com/ (A New Interview with Linda toward the bottom of the page).

For YouTube glimpse of Linda’s new book, the theme of her upcoming tour: http://youtu.be/WwJ0TiRkn60

In-Depth Descriptions of Linda’s Day-Long Colorado Workshops

Horse Sense at Work: Harnessing the Power of the Herd

May 27 at Fifth Element Ranch

Horse sense is “practical wisdom combined with gumption and intuition.” But it also describes the nonverbal interpersonal genius great riders develop through interacting with these powerful animals. Scientists have shown that even during human interpersonal interactions, only about 10 percent of communication is verbal. Someone with horse sense processes information coming from that elusive “other 90 percent,” while being able to calm, focus, and motivate others effectively.

People these days are more likely to talk about “leadership presence,” which is also primarily a nonverbal phenomenon. In her new book The Power of the Herd: A Nonpredatory Approach to Social Intelligence, Leadership, and Innovation, best-selling author Linda Kohanov shows that a surprisingly high number of history’s most successful leaders were accomplished riders, including Alexander the Great, the Buddha, Genghis Khan, Joan of Arc, George Washington, Katherine the Great, Andrew Jackson, Teddy Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Ronald Reagan. Regardless of policy and agenda, these people exhibited exceptional poise under pressure, clarity of intention, courage, conviction, and charisma. They motivated horses and people alike to transcend basic survival instincts and endure significant discomfort or uncertainty to face incredible odds in service to ambitious goals.

Through twenty years of intense research—and practical experience teaching people advanced human development skills through working with horses—Linda has isolated key emotional and social intelligence skills that great leaders previously obtained accidentally through a combination of talent and years spent on horseback. She and her specially-trained instructors worldwide have developed ways of helping people hone advanced nonverbal leadership skills through safe, non-riding horse activities.

Most recently, Linda has also perfected ways of teaching many of these skills indoors. The Twelve Power of the Herd Guiding Principles featured in her new book are immediately translatable to the workplace, home, school, church, and in political and social activism contexts where socially intelligent leaders must inspire others to work together toward a common goal, helping people move efficiently through conflict and build stellar teams of creative, empowered individuals.

In this one-day lecture-demonstration workshop, you will learn how to:

• Help others manage fear and anxiety in times of significant change or competition
• Recognize the antiquated, often unconscious power plays that people engage in regardless of culture, religion, nationality, or social status
• Respond powerfully–and more productively—to these “Stone Age Power Tools”
• Use your own body as a “sensing device” capable of reading others’ unspoken moods/concerns
• Use emotions as information in professional settings (without, ironically, discussing the emotions themselves)
• Turn “difficult conversations” into trust-building opportunities
• Set boundaries with aggressive, and passive aggressive, people in ways that create mutually respectful relationships
• Recognize and move beyond limiting behavior and thought patterns to achieve optimal performance

Emotional Heroism: The Power Behind Nonviolence

May 31 at the Healing with Horse Symposium

 

Let your heart feel for the affliction, and distress of everyone.

George Washington

…true nonviolence is impossible without the possession of unadulterated fearlessness.

Mahatma Gandhi

When another person makes you suffer, it is because he suffers deeply in himself, and his suffering is spilling over….Happiness and safety are not an individual matter.

Thich Nhat Hahn

Merlin & Spirit
photo by: Maureen Luikart

“Great deeds depend upon keeping your heart open through the 10,000 joys and 10,000 sorrows of life. To face tragedy, betrayal, and injustice with the compassion, creativity, bravery, endurance, and power necessary to effect change in the world, you must use challenging situations as opportunities to strengthen your heart.”

So writes bestselling author Linda Kohanov in her new book The Power of the Herd: A Nonpredatory Approach to Social Intelligence, Leadership and Innovation. During this one-day lecture-demonstration workshop, Linda will teach leadership, social intelligence, and conflict resolution skills that support nonviolence. She will also talk about how her adventures gentling Midnight Merlin, a violent, formerly abused stallion, helped her develop “emotional heroism,” which she defines as “power combined with compassion.”

“I realized in working with this traumatized, rage-filled animal that kindness, sympathy and understanding were not enough to transform the savage, wounded force that would come through him as he literally threatened my life on several occasions. I needed to tap a new form of power, one I wasn’t even sure existed at the time. In the process, I learned that power does not have to be harsh, exploitive, oppressive, or short-sighted if it is used correctly.”

She later realized that experiences with Merlin had parallels in the lives of innovative leaders around the world. Stories of George Washington, Alexander the Great, and Prince Siddhartha (who later became the Buddha), for instance, reveal that they were talented horsemen renowned for calming violent horses. Linda makes a strong case that their success motivating people to achieve ambitious goals stemmed from the courageous, acutely mindful, nonpredatory approach to power that horses continue to demand of exceptional trainers. She also shows how Washington, who was respected worldwide as one of the finest horse trainers in the colonies, incorporated emotional heroism with a nonpredatory approach to power to win the Revolutionary War.

Linda further explores how power, compassion, and leadership are developed in traditional herding cultures where “master herders” learn how to lead, care for, and live in harmony with large groups of potentially aggressive animals ten times the size of the average human. In one of these cultures, an ancient rite of passage becomes the model for how modern people can develop emotional heroism. In the process, workshop participants will learn specific strategies for preventing and transforming violence in their own communities, families, and the culture at large.

“No matter what’s happening around you,” Linda emphasizes, “this nonpredatory form of power allows you to deal efficiently with interpersonal challenges, helping you diffuse aggression and fear in others. Over time, the skills associated with emotional heroism help you ride life’s roller coaster with ease. An underlying sense of ‘deep peace’ emerges and strengthens. You find that you can let go of the stories that tie you to the injustices of the past. And you can fully enjoy the present, knowing that you are courageous, empowered, and agile enough to meet the future with the relaxed yet expanded awareness of a mature herd leader.”

This workshop is for leaders, teachers, parents, social workers, social activists, clergy, counselors, equine facilitators, and health care workers interested in new ways to reduce bullying and other verbal and nonverbal forms of violence in their schools, businesses and communities. Techniques for assisting soldiers returning from war and other people with post-traumatic stress disorder are also featured, making this workshop appropriate for spouses and other family members who seek to understand and support people who may act out violently in response to unresolved trauma.

The First Ever Eponaquest Riding Apprenticeship

Which Apprenticeship Program is Right for Me?

Announcing the First Eponaquest Riding Apprenticeship

As Linda Kohanov’s new book The Power of the Herd hits stores, bringing horse-inspired wisdom to human leaders, several Eponaquest faculty members have taken the lead in further developing the Eponaquest Apprenticeship Program to address specific needs and interests.

“It’s hard to believe that over the last ten years, we have held 23 apprenticeship classes with over 200 Eponaquest Instructors now operating on five continents,” Linda reports. “In the last four years, we further developed these in-depth facilitator trainings, creating separate apprenticeships for concentrations in personal development, leadership, and equine-facilitated psychotherapy. Thanks to Carol Roush and ML Gould, who have experienced considerable success bringing Eponaquest to Europe, we also have apprenticeships designed specifically to teach our approach to German and French speakers, with future plans for Dutch, Italian, and other non-English-speaking classes. With psychiatrist Nancy Coyne, MD, on our faculty, we also have an option for mental health professionals to learn tools for bringing horse-facilitated work to their clients. All of these apprenticeships focus on non-riding activities to teach human development skills.” (See the next section, “Which Apprenticeship is Right for Me?” for a quick overview of the various programs.)

“And this fall, we will finally be offering an apprenticeship for experienced equestrians who would specifically like to add a riding component to their practices, while becoming Eponaquest Instructors qualified to teach our unique approach to equine-facilitated learning. In this effort, I’m thrilled that our head trainer Shelley Rosenberg will be sharing the many original innovations she developed for riding and training horses with the Eponaquest approach in mind.”

Shelley Rosenberg & Laramie

Shelley Rosenberg has been riding since she was nine years old. She started showing American Quarter horses in western pleasure. She competed in show jumping, then landed in the field of competitive dressage. Shelley moved up the ladders of dressage in the early 1980′s, competing in the Olympic festival, and eventually becoming a certified judge.

In the late-1990s, Linda Kohanov became one of her riding students. “It was an honor to study with Shelley,” Linda says. “I knew I had started too late to ever reach her level of expertise in dressage. Even so, Shelley fully supported me in writing my first book The Tao of Equus, which was quite controversial at that time in discussing horses as sentient beings capable of teaching humans a thing or two. Shelley also became one of the founding members of Epona Equestrian Services in 1997. But the one thing I will be eternally grateful for was the way that she respected my dream of rehabilitating the formerly abused stallion Midnight Merlin to live with a herd and mate naturally. Everyone else thought I was crazy at the time. Shelley not only collaborated with me on this unpopular goal, she later went through the Eponaquest Apprenticeship herself, and began absorbing the leadership, personal development, mindfulness, and emotional/social intelligence skills we taught, translating them to riding and training contexts.”

Costa Rican Horse Trainer Juan Jose

A different way of competing was Shelley’s first change. She began riding in the Dr. Cook’s bit-less bridle at home, and only using the full bridle to compete in. From there, she moved to using just a ring around the horse’s neck, eventually doing all the upper level dressage movements with a mere string around her horses’ necks. During that time, Linda invited Shelley to become the ranch manager at a large farm in Sonoita, Arizona. It became her living laboratory. She worked stallions in the same round pen together, then two stallions and a mare together. She taught all of Kohanov’s school horses to go bridleless, with even the very most beginners on their backs.

Debbie Legg, Owner of Leaves & Lizards

Around 2009, Shelley began teaching these skills in clinics around the world, taking this work to Australia, Germany, England, and Ireland. Most recently, she has developed quite a following in Costa Rica, where they now use the ring or bit-less bridle at the country’s largest riding company, Leaves and Lizards. Emphasizing that the horse learns best with a “less is more” approach, Shelley rides one of the stable’s race-horse stallions bridle-less, with just the ring around his neck—with hundreds of other horses around him!

These days, Rosenberg competes for one reason: While she warms up in the dressage holding pen, she uses the bit-less bridle, only putting the bit in when she enters the show arena (bits are required). She merely hopes that one amateur will ask his or her trainer why Shelley can do this and still win, inspiring more people to try the bit-less bridle, a much kinder, softer way of training the competitive horse.

Allison Kraft & Artemis

“Shelley started my two youngest horses, Orion and Artemis, under saddle last year with the Dr. Cook’s bit-less bridle,” Linda says. “They love it. How do I know this? Well, they rush over to the fence when they hear Shelley’s truck, clearly excited, obviously looking forward to the adventure and connection they experience being ridden!”

“I see no need to ever put a bit in your horses mouth unless you are competing,” Shelley adds.

After many years of training horses and owners, this has become Shelley’s life’s passion: to show others that even their horses at home can go bit-less, and love riding all the more. She has written two books, My Horses, My Healers and Accessing Your Intuition. Most recently, her article “Build Self-Confidence with Emotional Agility” was featured in the April 2013 issue of Dressage Today magazine.

“I am so very excited about this program,” Shelley says. “Starting this has been a dream for both Linda and myself.” For more information on dates, requirements, and how to apply, see http://eponaquest.com/equine-facilitated-learning-riding-focused/.

Which Apprenticeship Is Right for Me?

As Eponaquest has grown, we have created apprenticeship programs to support facilitators with different interests, qualifications, and goals for employing horses in the work of human development.

Here’s a quick overview of the various apprenticeships and their orientations. (For the pre-requisites needed to qualify to apply, see http://eponaquest.com/apprenticeship/.)

Personal Development:

(Primary Instructor: Linda Kohanov) Teaches the Eponaquest Approach to equine-facilitated learning emphasizing safe, un-mounted activities with horses that facilitate self-reflection, self-mastery, relationship skills, and emotional and social intelligence skills that lead clients to greater self-confidence, creativity, personal empowerment, and satisfaction in life and work. Those who graduate from this program also receive the special designation of POH Instructor (Power of the Herd Instructor) as Linda prepares apprentices to teach the 12 Power of the Herd Guiding Principles introduced in her new book. “In this apprenticeship,” Linda says, “leadership is seen as an advanced form of personal development. After all, when your clients gain confidence in accessing their own creativity and vision, they must develop some leadership skills to manifest that vision.” http://eponaquest.com/apprenticeship/equine-facilitated-learning-personal-development-focus/

Leadership:

(Primary Instructor: Linda Kohanov) Teaches the Eponaquest Approach to equine-facilitated learning emphasizing safe, un-mounted activities with horses that facilitate leadership, team-building, assertiveness, and emotional and social intelligence skills essential to excelling at work, and in other contexts where leadership is a significant factor, such as social activism, community building, educational leadership, church leadership, etc. Those who graduate from the program also receive the special designation of POH Instructor, where apprentices learn how to teach the 12 Power of the Herd Guiding Principles, both at the barn through horse-facilitated activities, and in corporate contexts and phone consultations that further build these skills in purely human contexts. “In this apprenticeship,” Linda says, “some personal development skills are taught in the context helping leaders to recognize and move through personal blocks to success.” http://eponaquest.com/apprenticeship/equine-facilitated-learning-leadership-focus/

Riding:

Allison Kraft & Orion

(Primary Instructor: Shelley Rosenberg. Apprentices will spend the first five days with Linda Kohanov.) Teaches the Eponaquest Approach to equine-facilitated learning with an emphasis on mounted activities with horses. This apprenticeship is for experienced riders and horse trainers who have, or will acquire, safe, solid school horses for mounted work, and/or would like to teach people who have their own horses how to deepen their relationships with their own horses for showing or pleasure riding purposes. http://eponaquest.com/equine-facilitated-learning-riding-focused/

European Personal Development Apprenticeships:

(Primary Instructor: Carol Roush. The first week takes place in the U.S. with Linda Kohanov co-facilitating with Carol Roush. The second and third weeks take place in Germany, France, Holland, etc. where apprentices practice presenting in their native language.) Teaches the Eponaquest Approach to equine-facilitated learning emphasizing safe, un-mounted activities with horses that facilitate self-reflection, self-mastery, relationship skills, and emotional and social intelligence skills that lead clients to greater self-confidence, creativity, personal empowerment, and satisfaction in life and work. http://eponaquest.com/apprenticeship/equine-facilitated-learning-apprenticeships-europe/

Australian Personal Development Apprenticeship:

(Primary Instructors: Shelley Rosenberg and Nancy Coyne. The first week takes place in the U.S. with Linda Kohanov co-facilitating. The second and third weeks take place in Australia.) Teaches the Eponaquest Approach to equine-facilitated learning emphasizing safe, un-mounted activities with horses that facilitate self-reflection, self-mastery, relationship skills, and emotional and social intelligence skills that lead clients to greater self-confidence, creativity, personal empowerment, and satisfaction in life and work. (This apprenticeship is currently in progress. To express interest in joining a future Aussie apprenticeship, contact Shelley Rosenberg at: dressagecenter@theriver.com.)

Mental Health Professionals:

(Primary Instructor: Nancy Coyne, M.D. Apprentices will spend the first five days with Linda Kohanov.) This apprenticeship teaches counselors, social workers, psychiatrists, and other health professionals how to apply the Eponaquest Approach to the mental health field, using safe, un-mounted activities with horses to move through the effects of childhood abuse, adult post-traumatic stress disorder, and another challenges, helping their clients to gain the relationship, emotional and social intelligence skills to lead fulfilling, peaceful, empowered lives. (Contact Nancy Coyne, nancycoyne@me.com, for more information.)

Join Linda for the Healing with Horse Tele-Summit

Linda was recently interviewed about The Power of the Herd: A Nonpredatory Approach to Social Intelligence, Leadership, and Innovation for the 2013 Healing with Horse Tele-Summit: The first ever online gathering of over 30 experts in the EAL/EAP field.

During this month-long, equine-assisted extravaganza starting April 1, an exciting interview will be unveiled every day to share new ideas, activities, and inspiration to take your healing practice with horse to the next level.

Think of it like “continuing education” for the equine-assisted field, only it’s free and it’s from home! For practical information & inspiration you can use NOW, grab your space at the Tele-Summit here: http://www.healingwithhorse.com/.

Linda’s interview, which includes a discussion of principles from her new book and a guided meditation experience, will be live for 48 hours for free, beginning on April 1st. To listen in, go to to http://www.healingwithhorse.com/.

CD cover art by Kim McElroy

Over the last decade, people who have learned to dance with horses through a variety of workshops at Eponaquest have been requesting the music we’ve been using for this interspecies relationship-boosting practice. Finally, Linda Kohanov and her husband, composer Steve Roach have collected the most popular pieces used for horse dancing. This includes two pieces composed in memory of Eponaquest founding herd members Rasa and Noche.

You can order the CD at: http://www.steveroach.com/store/store.php?item=499

The music is also available in high resolution download at: http://steveroach.bandcamp.com/album/rasa-dance-the-music-of-connection

Those who attend the Rasa Dance workshop April 9 through 12 will receive a copy of the CD as a keepsake, and as a way to take the music home to dance with their own horses. There are still two spaces left in this upcoming workshop. For more information http://eponaquest.com/workshop-details/?event=558. To register, contact Sue Smades at info@eponaquest.com or 520-455-5908.

Friday March 15 at 7 p.m. in downtown Tucson

• Antigone Books
• 411 N. 4th Ave
• Tucson, AZ 85705
• 520-792-3715

Wednesday, March 20 at 7 p.m. in Tempe (near Phoenix)

• Changing Hands Bookstore
• 6428 S. McClintock Dr.
• Tempe, AZ 85283
• 480-730-0205

The Power of the Herd is written for more general audiences and has the potential to bring horse-inspired wisdom to a much wider public. Though many of the skills and studies featured are applicable to professional situations, this is not exclusively about corporate leadership. Four years in the making, the book instead emphasizes that leadership and social intelligence are advanced personal development skills—essential elements in social change, innovation, and violence prevention. As Linda asks in the introduction: “What might we accomplish if we finally understood how to be powerful, together?” And she offers twelve, very specific Power of the Herd Guiding Principles to show us how to bring nonpredatory wisdom and power into an intensely competitive, sometimes brutal human world, transforming the destructive habits of the last 5,000 years into a future where everyone’s talents are valued and everyone’s needs are met.

You can now order this book at www.amazon.com. If you enjoy it, please write a few lines on Amazon.com’s review section for this book. Many people have already called this Linda’s best book. We hope you enjoy it!

Another client, who asked for more specific information about what kind of leadership training this workshop involves, received this comment from Linda Kohanov:

“The Power of the Herd offers a new, emotionally and socially intelligent approach to leadership for anyone who finds him/herself in the position of inspiring and motivating others toward a common goal—while also tapping the unique talents and strengths of all the ‘herd members.’ In this sense, leadership can also be seen as an advanced personal development skill. People who have done enough personal growth work to find their own voice and access a vision need leadership skills to manifest that vision. And yet, most of us have grown up with the old dominance/submission, fear/intimidation models of leadership that seriously compromise creativity and team work.

“Learning how to lead effectively in the 21st century is a whole new ballgame. We are being asked to ‘grow up’ as a species. The Power of the Herd training teaches people four specific pitfalls to avoid: I call them the Stone Age Power Tools. What’s more, the workshop teaches 12 specific Guiding Principles that you can immediately put into use to become more effective in the world: at work, home, school, church, as well as in more innovative settings where vision and social activism are called for. These principles, which have been developed over the last 15 years through much research, trial and error, have changed my life and business significantly, and they have also proven effective in corporate, entrepreneurial, and educational contexts.”

Due to several apprenticeships and promotional efforts for her new book, this is the only Power of the Herd workshop Linda will be offering in Spring 2013. For more information, contact Sue Smades at info@eponaquest.com or 520-455-5908.

A Special Opportunity:

Merlin & Spirit
photo by: Maureen Luikart

Eponaquest founder Linda Kohanov will speak at the Tucson “Victory Over Violence” exhibition on Sunday, January 20 from 2 to 4 p.m. This free, multi-day event takes place at the University of Arizona Student Union Memorial Center from Saturday the 19th to Tuesday the 22nd. (For more information on the other guest speakers and scheduled activities: www.vovtucson.com )

Victory Over Violence (VOV) is a movement to help inspire young people throughout the world to identify and root out violence in their daily lives and their communities. The Tucson exhibition is co-sponsored by SGI-USA Tucson Youth and the U of A Buddhists for Peace.

Linda’s talk will shed further light on one of the principles she touched upon in her New Year’s Message sent last week. If you live near Tucson, it’s a great opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of a horse-inspired skill that Linda has found both life-changing and life-affirming in troubling times. Here’s an excerpt from the press release about her lecture:

Emotional Heroism: The Power Behind Nonviolence

“Great deeds depend upon keeping your heart open through the 10,000 joys and 10,000 sorrows of life. To face tragedy, betrayal, and injustice with the compassion, creativity, bravery, endurance, and power necessary to effect change in the world, you must use challenging situations as opportunities to strengthen your heart.”

So writes bestselling author Linda Kohanov in her upcoming book The Power of the Herd: A Nonpredatory Approach to Social Intelligence, Leadership and Innovation. At the Victory Over Violence exhibition, Linda will talk about how her adventures gentling a violent, formerly abused stallion helped her develop “emotional heroism,” experiences she later realized had parallels in the Buddha’s own early life: Stories of young Prince Siddhartha reveal that he was a talented horseman renowned for calming violent horses. Linda makes a strong case for the fact that many of the principles he later developed as the Buddha stem from the mindful, nonpredatory approach to power that horses continue to demand of exceptional trainers.

Linda will also show how emotional heroism is developed in traditional herding cultures where “master herders” learn how to lead, care for, and live in harmony with large groups of potentially aggressive animals ten times the size of the average human. In one of these cultures, an ancient rite of passage becomes the model for how modern people can develop emotional heroism, which Linda defines as “power combined with compassion.” In the process, you will learn specific strategies for preventing and transforming violence in your own communities, families, and the culture at large.

“No matter what’s happening around you,” Linda emphasizes, “this nonpredatory form of power allows you to deal efficiently with interpersonal challenges, helping you diffuse aggression and fear in others. Over time, the skills associated with emotional heroism help you ride life’s roller coaster with ease. An underlying sense of ‘deep peace’ emerges and strengthens. You find that you can let go of the stories that tie you to the injustices of the past. And you can fully enjoy the present, knowing that you are courageous, empowered, and agile enough to meet the future with the relaxed yet expanded awareness of a mature herd leader.”

For those of you who can’t attend this fast approaching event, developing the skills associated with Emotional Heroism will be a significant topic in two of Linda’s spring workshops. The Power of the Herd: Leadership for the 21st Century March 23-26, 2013 and Harnessing the Invisible: A Transformational Approach to Leadership, Innovation and Authentic Community Building May 3-6, 2013.

Linda’s schedule is very limited this year due to apprenticeships and promotional activities for her upcoming book. The two workshops listed above, along with Rasa Dance: The Energy of Connection April 9-12, 2013, represent the only three opportunities to do in-depth, horse-facilitated work with her this spring, and these workshops are likely to fill quickly. Even so, Linda wanted to offer a special discount for early registration to make it possible for people to attend at a lower tuition rate. Check the website listings on these workshops for more information, or contact Sue Smades at info@eponaquest.com or 520-455-5908.

Indigo Moon is taking on an important role in the Epona Herd and now teaching our human students.
Photo by Elysa Ginsburg

The growth of this movement in recent years has inspired a name change for our own organization. In the next month, Epona Equestrian Services is making the official transition from what was originally a regional collective of riders, trainers, educators and counselors, to Eponaquest Worldwide as we acknowledge the nearly 200 instructors who now teach our approach on five continents. The name change, in part, expresses the need to distinguish our instructors and our approach from other unrelated equestrian organizations that also use the name Epona, who is after all, a goddess, and cannot be trademarked. From now on, educators, riding instructors, and counselors who have graduated from our multi-week apprenticeship program and uphold our rigorous Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice will be known as “Eponaquest Instructors.”

Scientists Officially Declare Consciousness in Animals

When I acquired my first horse in the early 1990s, my goal was to retreat from the complexities of human existence, to ride off into the desert and find a little peace. I had no idea that these graceful beings had something else in mind as they expanded my view of life, love, and power—not just by opening my heart, but by strengthening it.

For some reason I had the nerve to talk about the profound shifts they were inspiring in me, though people weren’t always receptive. Even after my first book was published in 2001, I continued to encounter a great deal of skepticism, sneers and jeers from people who thought I was crazy to even entertain the notion that an animal could think and feel, let alone teach a human being anything worthwhile. Luckily, I also met increasing numbers of kindred spirits who encouraged me to keep sharing the stories of horses who were, without a doubt, changing people’s lives.

Finally, this summer, those of us “eccentric” enough to learn from horses and other animals received a boost from an unexpected source. On July 7, 2012, during the Francis Crick Memorial Conference held at the University of Cambridge, a prominent group of international scientists publically proclaimed that animals are more than instinctual bio-machines. Based on decades of physiological and behavioral experiments with multiple species, The Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness stated “unequivocally” that “non-human animals have the neuroanatomical, neurochemical, and neurophysiological substrates of consciousness states along with the capacity to exhibit intentional behaviors. Consequently, the weight of evidence indicates that humans are not unique in possessing the neurological substrates that generate consciousness.” The document, signed in the presence of Stephen Hawking no less, acknowledged that “neural networks aroused during affective states in humans are also critically important for generating emotional behaviors in animals.” This includes “all mammals and birds, and many other creatures, including octopuses.”

Accepting that other species can think, feel, and make intentional decisions is a game changer for everyone. This does not mean, however, that animals always share our perspectives or priorities. We’re lucky that they often don’t, especially in the case of highly social, nonpredatory animals like horses, who offer alternative approaches to power, collaboration, and freedom-through-relationship, lessons they’re currently teaching people through the fast-growing field of equine-facilitated learning.

Where Do We Go From Here?

Rasa & Merlin’s Granddaughter Artemis (Spirit’s Daughter)
Photo by Sue Smades

As we treat our horses as colleagues (rather than objects or naïve children), something even more interesting begins to happen: their capacity for consciousness strengthens and evolves. I’ve seen this in my own herd as the sons, daughters and grandchildren of my original herd members Rasa, Merlin, Comet, and Shadowfax come of age and develop their own unique talents as teachers. This new generation is braver and more gregarious, perhaps because they were not ripped away from their parents and siblings at six months, sold as commodities, and used as tools for some purely human agenda. Herd life with supportive, mature family members actually boosts their emotional development beyond anything I would have expected a mere decade ago. As a result, Spirit, Sage, Indigo Moon, Orion, and Artemis are fully capable of not just making decisions and expressing opinions; with careful training, they are learning to negotiate thoughtfully with their students and caretakers. This means, of course, that the human teachers of these intelligent, self-confident herd members must be more aware, considerate, creative, and empowered.

And so our consciousness, in turn, is evolving in response to these four-legged “indigo children.” A horse-inspired evolution of consciousness can be exciting, confusing, a bit scary, sometimes ecstatic, other times effortlessly joyful. There’s no doubt, however, that nurturing a sentient herd is a double-edge sword at times, requiring a hefty dose “emotional heroism,” a principle I discuss at length in my new book The Power of the Herd (coming soon). Emotional heroism is power combined with compassion. It allows us to keep our hearts open when we enter painful or threatening situations, allowing us to feel a kind of radical empathy for others, even as we may also have to hold strong boundaries with them or take action that is courageous and uncomfortable.

Losing an elderly horse, for instance, does not simply involve the personal loss of a “pet” or a lifelong friend. Other herd members exhibit grief and depression, which to me is more difficult than dealing with my own feelings. For a good three months after our beloved matriarch Rasa passed away in 2011, her second son Indigo Moon was despondent, lost, as if a part of him had died with her. Helping him to negotiate new herd relationships was heart-wrenching, though he did eventually come out of the ordeal with greater strength, poise, and confidence inspired by his own ability to transform that loss into wisdom.

Saying Goodbye

Recognizing that animals are conscious brings with it certain responsibilities, urging us to change the way we train them. When they seem confused or act resistant, helping them to understand the value of whatever we propose to teach them takes extra effort, as does encouraging them to collaborate with us, make choices, and compromise thoughtfully. (More on this to come in future newsletters.) Conscious relationship also involves addressing the horse’s emotional and social needs. One of the most uncomfortable needs for many human caretakers to address involves offering herd members the chance to prepare for death and to say goodbye.

Comet & Baby Orion
Photo by Sue Smades

In early 2012, the last member of our original herd, Comet’s Promise, had to be euthanized due to a painfully arthritic left front leg that was close to breaking. (Severe changes in her knee and cannon bone toward the end were related to a conformation weakness she was born with, exacerbated by the weight of two pregnancies. Various conventional and holistic strategies that kept her relatively sound for years were simply no longer working.)

Comet Stands Watch Over Sleeping Orion
Photo by Sue Smades

A feisty, naturally dominant mare, Comet lived with a variety of horses over the years, but she was by far calmest and most affectionate with her son Orion. As the arthritis worsened in her knee, her lower leg began to curve inward at an increasingly dangerous angle. She found it painful to trot, then walk, and finally merely to stand, but that didn’t stop her from standing over her big boy when he slept, as she had done when he was a foal—though increasingly, four-year-old Orion was the one towering over his mother as she lay down for longer and longer periods of time.

Still, Comet’s transition from this world wasn’t an emergency. Unlike previous herd members who were clearly suffering from severe colic or founder when they were euthanized, Comet would perk up several times a week and enjoy her life, though the bad days were clearly outnumbering the good ones.

This, I discovered, was the hardest part of being a human among horses: To love Comet deeply, while preparing to end her life, took more courage than I expected. It required an act of emotional heroism—and not just on my part as it turned out. Cards, emails, phone calls, or flowers would have been a much easier way to show support, and very much appreciated. I was therefore surprised and deeply grateful when several colleagues and close friends took this heart-wrenching journey with me. They are MY heroes.

During Comet’s final week, I spent time with her and her handsome big boy, sending them waves of love, sadness, and appreciation. I also invited her former human students, colleagues and teachers to stop by. Kathleen Ingram, co-founder of our apprenticeship program, was recovering from knee replacement surgery. Even so, she made extra effort to travel to the ranch, driven by one of our advanced Eponaquest Instructors, Eve Lee.

Eve, who is also an experienced shamanic practitioner, not only said goodbye to Comet in person, she journeyed intuitively with the mare shortly before and then again after her release from this world, sending support and gathering information on Comet’s transition. Kathleen, who had studied riding on Comet nearly a decade earlier, had facilitated many workshop sessions with the mare during her stellar years as an equine experiential learning horse.

As Kathleen limped toward the corral, carefully negotiating the rough ground with a cane, my colleague realized that she and Comet had something else in common: they were both dealing with serious, long-term injuries to their left legs, exacerbated by age and arthritis. “Since I couldn’t go in with the horses, I sat just outside Comet’s corral and talked with her,” Kathleen remembers. “I reminisced and told her how much I appreciated her. I also cried, not only because she was leaving us the next day, but because as a human, I could have surgery for something that she could not.” Knee replacements in people, after all, are only possible because a human can lay in bed for extended periods and begin to move around through a succession of wheel chairs, crutches, and canes. Everything else about Comet was perfect on that last cool winter day, but the pain was clearly wearing as her leg shook, threatening to buckle, despite the best medication we could give her.

A number of people who came to say goodbye also volunteered to be with Comet during her final moments the next morning, sending her love and reverence for a life well lived. I cannot thank these dear, courageous friends enough: Elysa Ginsburg, Mary-Louise Gould, Kathleen McGarry, Carol Roush, and Sue Smades stood with me as Shelley Rosenberg held Comet’s lead rope and Dr. Barbara Page administered a relaxing dose of anesthesia, followed by that last, most potent shot. Fifteen years earlier, Comet had been born at Shelley’s barn, at night, under the light of the Hale Bopp Comet, with the same veterinarian assisting. It was Dr. Page who had first noticed that this magical little filly was born with a comet-like blaze on her forehead, and it was Dr. Page who sent her back to the stars.

Indigo & Orion
Photo by Sue Smades

After Comet stopped breathing, we all spent some time with her. We then brought out Orion, Indigo Moon and Spirit to say their final goodbyes, as all three had been members of Comet’s herd at various points in her life. Orion gently caressed his mother’s face, tugging on her ear to try to get her to stand up. After she was buried and everyone left the property, he called out for hours. I did my best to cry for all of us.

Orion’s journey through the grief, however, was eased by Indigo Moon, who stood close by his younger half brother with a gentle, knowing gaze. Indi, after all, had been in the same position a year earlier when his mother passed away. And I realized that horses, like humans, learn and transform through loss as well as joy, developing compassion and emotional maturity through those very hardships we would most like to shield them from.

Another Goodbye

As it happens, we also lost one of our human herd members this year. Eponaquest Instructor Mimi Meriwether passed away in September after a long battle with cancer. Many of her fellow instructors comforted each other through the grief by sharing precious memories. The death of this vital, compassionate woman was so inconceivable to me that I was unable to write a more formal newsletter announcement last fall, mostly because I felt that summing up such a life in a few paragraphs could never do Mimi justice. But as the year came to a close, I wanted to acknowledge what a gift she was to so many people.

Timey & Mimi
Photo by Theresa Capozzola

I still feel so honored to have witnessed a truly masterful dance Mimi had with faculty member Mary-Louise Gould’s horse Timeless Trick. Their powerful, frenetic, graceful collaboration in 2004 ended in a moment of stillness, of prayer, captured in this photo by another Eponaquest Instructor present that day, Theresa Capozzola. This brief moment, frozen in time, is all the more significant to me now that both Timey and Mimi have left this world, flying free to other adventures of the soul.

In looking back on Mimi’s life, I’m grateful to Ireland-based advanced Eponaquest Instructor Yvonne Monahan who knew her best. According to Yvonne, Mimi began her own journey through the way of the horse when she became a member of a pony club based in Pebble Beach, California. On the backs of her two first horses The Quiet Man and Carnival Clown, she began a serious venture into competing internationally. Her sport of choice was three-day eventing. To follow this heart’s desire, she moved to England where the possibilities of competitive riding at a top level can more readily be realized. At this stage, her best horse was Indian Guide. She placed as leading lady rider at a top international event called Acshelswang in Germany. And with this success she went on to be placed on the long list for the Barcelona Olympic Games.

“Her life’s journey was also one of great faith with a special place in her heart for the Virgin Mary,” Yvonne reveals. “Amazingly it was through her connection to a Franciscan Priest from the Marian shrine of Medjugorje that her path with horses took another turn. This Priest, Fr. Svetozar, had been journeying in America when he happened to hear an interview about how horses were being used as facilitators in helping people with various problems. The interview touched him so much that he contacted Mimi to tell her to check out this new work with horses.

“The synchronicity of it all was that Mimi had recently purchased The Tao of Equus, and it was there sitting on her shelf unread. So she picked it up and started reading. She could not put it down. Before she even finished the book, she contacted Epona to see when the next workshop would be. It was soon, but also filled. Mimi was not one to let the grass grow under her feet so she asked to be put on a wait list, loaded up her car and headed for Tucson determined that she would be a part of the workshop. It was one of those life-changing moments for her.”

After the workshop, Mimi rang her good friend in Ireland to tell her all about it. “The excitement and wonder communicated on the phone line touched my very soul,” Yvonne remembers. “I thought this must really be something.”

And so Yvonne travelled across the Atlantic to see what the excitement was all about. Mimi arranged for Yvonne and four other friends to join her at an Eponaquest workshop held at Colorado’s Buffalo Woman Ranch, then owned by two advanced instructors: Robbie Nelson, who still runs the ranch, and Charlie McGuire, the first of our elder instructors who passed away (and perhaps, I like to think, was there to greet Mimi as she left this world for higher jumps and greener pastures).

“Mimi was always bringing people from one side of the world to the other,” Yvonne says. “It started when she would bring many, many friends and priests on pilgrimages and retreats to places like Italy, Turkey, Venezuela, Ireland and Medjugorje. She was the forerunner, the one who would check it all out before offering the experience to others. Now she was bringing others to experience the healing and spiritual side of horses. Her kindness and generosity knew no limits.”

I witnessed and experienced Mimi’s generosity first hand on numerous occasions. After graduating from the Eponaquest Apprenticeship Program herself, Mimi continued to provide scholarships for numerous friends to attend workshops by other Eponaquest Instructors over the years. She helped me to save my herd when I had to close Apache Springs Ranch during the economic crisis of 2008-9. And she was often the first to sign up for new workshops I was offering, most notably the July 2008 clinic Keeper of the Mysteries (now known as Black Horse Wisdom), in which horse-facilitated work is combined with creativity-boosting activities and intuitive journeying experiences.

The reason I bring this particular workshop up is that I’d like to close with something she wrote as a result of attending that event. In this regard, I’m grateful to Heather Taylor, another Eponaquest Instructor who attended that same clinic. In hearing about Mimi’s passing, Heather sent this amazing prose-poem that expresses Mimi’s soulful way of engaging with life’s mysteries—all the more poignant now that she herself has joined forces with THE Great Mystery.

Mimi’s left us far too soon, but during her time on this earth, she showed us how to keep our hearts open, to really listen, and to love without reservation. Ultimately, she encouraged us to let go of the habits and the “forms” that keep us from an expanded view of what life has to offer. Always positive, even in the midst of what would, from a more limited view, seem like an unfair, and most certainly debilitating, painful ordeal with the ovarian cancer that finally compelled her to let go of her own beautiful form, Mimi is another person whose emotional heroism continues to inspire me, especially as I read, and re-read, her life-affirming vision. I hope that this year, whenever I become impatient with earthly challenges, I will think of Mimi, and in her own words, “trust the dance of seen and unseen…shedding form fluidly.”

In one of her final emails to Yvonne, her closing words were “Live, love, and be happy.” In Mimi’s memory, may we all learn to ride the pace Spirit gives us….bridle-less.

MYSTERY PRAYER

by Mimi Meriwether
July 20, 2008

“How can I serve you best today?”

Spirit whispered: Can you Be Breeze with Eyes and Ears and Voice of Silence? (For that is what is most needed.)

“I have not met such a creature,” I replied, “but if you help I will try.”

Gather boy and horse, eagle and dove, saffron sari lady, whirling dervish, skipping stone, handkerchief, dancers: African, Indian and Balinese, and a Scot in kilts with bagpipes….That should do.

“Oh my! That’s quite a list. Where will I find all these, and will they come?”

Just sit quite still and close your eyes, pretend, and they will come when I call. Are you ready?

“I’m a bit confused; I’m not quite sure; perhaps tomorrow would be a better day.”

I need them NOW and you volunteered….

I need you to Be a little boy, 8. Now look up; see the Eagle? I need you to fly and See from Above. Now drop from the sky like a skipping stone: Activate the still waters below and push them over the brim. Good. Now flow down stream irrigating fields and breathe life into the parched land. A horse now, yes: Do take a drink for the journey is long and WE must deliver the handkerchief. A child has fallen, bind his arm little handkerchief. And oh, the woman crying at the altar rail: Quick, I need you to dry her tears. Spilt blood, little handkerchief, do absorb. Quick to the Ganges, do transform now. Saffron sari trimmed with gold for the young lady offering prayer. African drums beat, Indian feathers caress sacred smoke, and Balinese prayers dance, while Bagpipers, their mournful song laments another soul passing, another to be born.

“I am dizzy,” I cried, “I am but Me! It’s hard to morph so regularly, and I don’t understand at all.”

Oh little one, you are so much more than you can see. Leave behind the idea of form and let my Spirit breathe in thee. Dance with the rhythm spirit breathes. And leave all the rest to me.

“Spirit, I think I am cracking up, dizzy, with ideas too lofty for me. Let me just dream and morph while asleep and rest contented I am of service to THEE.”

MYSTERY PRAYER Part II

“How may I serve you today?”

Be Breeze with Ears and Eyes and Voice of Silence….

Attach no importance to form, no particular value.
Flow seamlessly as I direct you
in                out               through.

Let the Breath be your passage from one form to another and ride the In Between.
“Breeze All Ears,” Listen and Hear
“Breeze All Eyes,” Truly See
“Breeze All Feel,” Feel ALL

Ride the pace I give you Bridle-less
lightly flowing in and out of Being
Transform Seen and Unseen
Breeze, whispering new stories,
incorporate, incarnate, and release
Breathe what is coming into Being
though you do not see clearly yet
trust the dance of seen and unseen
visible and invisible
you are directed
form less
to be form
as I, to form bring
and loosen from form

Allow, little ones,
stepping in and shedding form fluidly
at my calling
Guides ever present breathing in and through
growing ever deeper into
One Breath
Temporary and Eternal
Form and Formless
Visible and Invisible
Breeze, Silently Voicing Way, Truth, and Life into Being
Now an Eagle, now Panther, Lion, Deer, Turtle, Dove,
Grazing Horse at rest, alone or as a herd,
swiftly covering ground or in stillness
All are messengers crossing lines drawn in men’s minds
(How they love to delineate, armoring “Self – Form”
Separate, eyes strain to see
Ears listen but do not hear
Castles built to honor and protect.)

Breeze calls and like the bird soul flies away
Empty castle where is your fire?

Spirit called from stillness to flight
Transformation…

Endless Breath Breathes in and out of form and formless, visible and invisible.
Re-member:
the Voice of Silence most eloquent
nourishing ALL with Presence.

Be as is.
Delight in form
out of form
formless
I will form.