Claudia Lalloz: Coaching with horses
In this first section of Horses we interview CLAUDIA LALLOZ , Awarded in 2023 by the Unesco Center with the Order of Humanitarian Merit, for her contribution to the Culture of Peace and Human Rights.
A Master Certified Coach (MCC,ICF), Master Practitioner (EMCC) and Executive Mentor Coach. Specialized in High Performance Teams, Neuromanagement and Emotional and Body Intelligence applied to Business. Bachelor of Arts (UCA).
He directs Coaching and Mentoring programs in America and Europe.
Author of the book “The Alchemy of Questions” and CEO of Grupo Santalá, a training, education and consulting company with offices in Buenos Aires, Madrid and Miami.
Introduction and Background
1. How did you get started in the world of horse coaching?
I discovered the world of Coaching with Horses in Argentina, almost 20 years ago, when I was invited to participate with other coaches in a Coaching with Horses day. That day there were more than 50 of us and we worked on the team's challenges. I remember that they asked me to choose between several elements to bring one of the horses and I chose a bridle. Obviously I could never put it on because it was the most difficult to put on. Then Silvia González Campos, the coach with whom I started in this world, said to me: Do you realize that you chose the most difficult element? What relationship do you see between what you just did and your life? And that had a high impact for me. She always chose great challenges for me, things that were complex and that interaction with the horses allowed me to realize how powerful that way of doing coaching was. So from that moment until today, horses are part of my way of observing myself and helping others to see how we make decisions in life.
2. What is your training and experience in the area of psychology and working with horses?
To work with horse-assisted coaching you do not need to be a psychologist, as they are two different professions and each has its own methodology and scope. Professional coaches do not get involved in mental health issues or in people's past, but rather we work with healthy aspects and help them design their future.
I have 25 years in the world of professional Coaching and I am a Master Certified Coach of the International Coaching Federation (ICF) and Master Practitioner of the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC).
I trained as a Coach specializing in Equine Coaching and I work collaboratively at my school teaching this discipline to those who want to be Professional Coaches and also taking it to organizations.
3. How did your interest in combining working with horses with coaching and therapy arise?
As a professional coach, I am always open to learning, so progressively, I learned to see the power that each exercise we do with coaching with horses has to enhance our levels of awareness about our way of being, feeling and doing. The more I practiced it, the more effective it became for me, so much so that at one point in my professional life they were intertwined not only to work with people individually but to strengthen the work teams of companies.
Methods and Techniques
1. What are the basic principles of your coaching approach with horses?
From my perspective, when we carry out Coaching practices with Horses, there are at least five basic principles:
The principle of internal coherence: in order to be able to interact with them, we need to connect with our internal coherence, that is, harmonize and balance mind, body and emotion, feel one with them and allow ourselves to flow. Unlike horses, people sometimes make decisions in life that are not in line with our internal coherence and that ends up causing us pain.
The principle of coherence is the cornerstone that supports our transformational process and is the main door to contact with the sensitive and perceptive world of this animal.
Another essential principle is that of Freedom. When we interact with horses, they are still as free as they were before we arrived at their place. If this were not the case, the horses would not allow us to enter their living space and become part of their herd. Freedom is in principle non-negotiable for them and is revealed to us with such clarity that if it is put at risk, contact with any member of the herd disappears.
A third principle that is evident in this professional practice is that of authenticity. Horses express what they feel, they show their emotions, their personality without pretending, they do not need masks or facades. That is why in the interaction if this principle is lacking, they move away with total naturalness. How many times are people not authentic for fear of what others will say! How many times do we live by appearances because we are ashamed to show our spaces of vulnerability!
The fourth principle is that of individual and collective security: as prey animals, nothing that puts them at risk or represents a risk for them will enter their vital space. When faced with potential danger, horses flee, they do not wait to see what happens. And this applies to the herd as a whole. They have social behaviours, meaning that they are there to protect each other and are always attentive to what is happening around them. Here we must ask ourselves how many times we leave ourselves unprotected individually or put people around us at risk or, conversely, how many times others put our safety at risk.
The fifth principle that we can find in this human-horse interaction is their ability to enjoy the present. Everything is present, a state of full attention, focus on what is happening and connection with the enjoyment of life. They play when they find the slightest opportunity to do so, they give themselves over to what their own instinct calls them because all of nature is at their feet. I think that in this regard, we have a lot to learn.
2. How do you use horses in your coaching sessions?
In a coaching session, the horses are in their natural environment, free, interacting with each other, attentive to our arrival, and we progressively move forward to come into contact with them.
In these practices, the exercises are on foot, meaning we do not need to know how to ride a horse. We do not ride, since what we want to observe is the progressive interconnection between the objectives we set ourselves and the way to approach and achieve them.
The dynamics range from the simplest to the most complex and can be individual, in pairs or in groups.
3. What are some of the techniques and exercises you use with your clients and horses?
I work on various techniques that challenge confidence, personal power and the emotional world. Different scenarios are drawn up with some difficulties that participants must overcome. The idea is to be able to see how these are resolved and, in turn, how each person designs these obstacles on the ground.
We also do exercises that allow us to observe the different leadership styles and ways of communicating. The complexity proposed is closely related to the participant's level of responsibility and the challenges they must face on a daily basis.
Benefits and Results
1. What are some of the benefits your clients have experienced from working with horses in your equine coaching sessions?
The benefits that my clients have managed to experience have been multiple: from daring to make radical decisions such as changing countries, beyond the fears that had invaded them for years and prevented them from moving forward, to learning to design a conversation with people on the team with whom they found it difficult to get up the courage to talk.
The benefits are always related to daring to move towards your own dreams, listening to yourself and standing in the place in life you deserve.
The experience of connecting with the emotional world, and doing so without masks, is truly high-impact.
2. How do your clients measure success after participating in your horse coaching programs?
In Coaching, success is always measured by the results our clients obtain, by what they are capable of doing after a session. And since this is systemic, what happened in a meeting may have ended as an event but it continues to provoke changes in a transformational process.
It is common for someone who has experienced success in Coaching with horses to continue requesting sessions to help them face new challenges.
3. What are some of the most notable results you have seen in your clients throughout your career as an equine coach?
I could mention many but I will mention just two, which occurred in different contexts and countries:
One in Colombia, where a businessman who loved horses and grew up with them, hired me for a business workshop with Coaching with Horses and when he entered the space where the exercise was being done, the whole herd fled and left him alone. The businessman burst into tears because what was happening caused him deep pain. At that moment I intervened to align him, work on his breathing and connect with his inner coherence. Minutes later - which I must admit seemed eternal to those who were there - the herd began to return and approach him wanting to caress him. The tears of many of those who were there were very deep and heartfelt. When we later took that situation to Coaching, this businessman was able to recognize how every time he entered his company, people felt tense and avoided him. Exactly the same type of behavior that the herd had had at that decisive moment for him.
Challenges and Lessons Learned
1. What are some of the most common challenges you face when working with horses and clients in your coaching and therapy sessions?
The most common challenges people come to work with are usually related to decision making and pending conversations. The horse shows them in that context what mental or emotional impediment they are having to achieve that goal.
We also work on topics related to personal power, daring, moving forward in life, trusting in ourselves.
When companies arrive, what is most evident is the need for conscious, respectful and human leadership. The way leaders communicate important decisions and the achievement of business objectives.
Organizations also bring to these sessions the need to align teams. The joint challenges we propose to them reveal the real situation that the teams are going through.
When someone in a team doubts either their leaders, their colleagues or the possibility of achieving what the organization proposes, the challenges we present to them are not achieved because that doubt is perceived by the horse and it shows them that they are not yet united. The distrust of one of the members affects the results, therefore, after the disappointment of not having successfully achieved the challenges posed, we begin to explore and reflect on what they were feeling while “pretending they were going to achieve it”. From there, a team coaching space is generated that allows them to reflect and review what until that moment was silently hindering the results.
2. How do you handle difficult or challenging situations that arise during your coaching sessions with horses?
First of all, we have to keep in mind that what is difficult or challenging depends on the client's perspective. As a coach, I am committed to these challenges and I ask the client why they think this situation is difficult for them, what emotions are being put into play and how their life can change as a result of this or that decision.
In this sense, my way of intervening is by trusting in three axes: the power of my client, my own as a coach, and that of the profession itself, which respectfully accompanies challenging whatever needs to be faced.
3. What are some of the most important lessons you have learned throughout your career as a horse coach?
What I have learned most in my career as a coach compared to what horses have taught me is to be humble and to naturally accept the different circumstances of life.
I have also connected with appreciation and enjoyment because when we interact with horses, the wonders that are often hidden deep within our being are revealed to us.
Tips and Recommendations
1. What advice would you give to someone who is considering working with a coach who uses horses in their sessions?
Let them trust and surrender to the process. Let what is going to happen surpass what they have experienced until then and let themselves be overcome by wonder, just like children do.
2. What are some of the most important qualities or characteristics you should look for when selecting a coach who works with horses?
Lovingness, humility, the ability to challenge oneself without judging and the desire to enjoy whatever happens. Coaches who work with horses love nature, we respect it and we feel part of it.
3. What resources or tools would you recommend to someone who is interested in learning more about coaching with horses?
Let him experience it first and surround himself with trained professionals who adhere to international standards that guarantee ethical behavior.
And, of course, you can contact us and request an experiential workshop to take your first steps.
Contact
Claudia Lalloz +1(786) 849 1891
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