Coach & Horses

Written by Tracey Adebowale-Jones Thursday, 10 January 2019

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Local resident Tracey Adebowale-Jones, who has a passion for bringing about positive change to people's lives, talks about coaching people and co-coaching with horses.

"Anything that is appropriate in the moment to help a person move from A to B is coaching." J Blakey and I Day in Challenging Coaching (2012).

Coaching can be considered to be a conversation between two people, a coach and a coachee, structured in such a way as to move people outside of their comfort zone and towards their goal; structured through the use of models, language and approach. It is a learning tool designed to enable individuals to improve a situation identified by themselves and for which they need support to change.

Coaching is a process through which we can find the solution to the questions we sometimes do not even know we are going to ask! "By engaging with a coach, we can begin to focus on what is really important to us and begin to shape what we need to do to align with that," said Julie Starr in The Coaching Manual.

The word coaching literally means to transport someone from one place to another. We coach each other informally when we talk about our lives to our friends and family but the formal coach differs from these everyday interactions in that the models used create a space in which challenges can be made that are more goal orientated than simply the mutual sharing of daily thoughts.

Coaching can be offered as a short-term result focused intervention; it can focus on career goals, relationship goals, attitudes and behaviours as well as spiritual, health and wellbeing development. Alongside this, coaching is used for managing stress and anxiety, dealing with anger and becoming more assertive.

The process of coaching allows individuals, couples and groups to move towards a goal set by themselves, at a pace they set and within a relationship where they experience being truly listened to.

One method of coaching is the increasingly popular co-coaching with horses, also known as equine-facilitated coaching. This adds the dimension of the horse to the traditional world of coaching, and the coaching session can be accelerated. The horse is only capable of providing honest reflections back to the coachee and provides visual feedback that shows the coachee how their psychological and physiological state may be a part of any dynamic they are trying to understand or change. Equine-facilitated coaching is a powerful catalyst for change and works with other interventions such as cognitive behavioural coaching and mindfulness. In particular, it is a valuable tool for building resilience and confidence in young people who require additional support with the management of their emotions.

For more information on coaching and equine coaching, call 07968 823 798 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

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