Shanelle on Leadership

As the alpha female in the stable, I am delighted to welcome you to the very first issue of the official newsletter of Renewal Ranch, AZ. That’s my picture on the masthead, by the way. All of the horses here at Renewal Ranch, AZ are kicking up our heels to have the opportunity to share our observations and insights about leadership, teaming, and communication skills. We will also keep you up to date on all of the latest news from the ranch and upcoming activities and events. 

I have several roles here at the ranch. First, as the alpha female, it is my job to be the leader of the herd. Sometimes this involves “reining in” the young ones. My second role is as head coach. In this capacity I work as a trainer/coach with the humans who visit the ranch. I try to get them to relax and have fun, but I also try to teach them some important things about communication, about working effectively as part of the herd (I think you call it a “team”), and about leadership. My third role is to be eye-candy for the humans and the other horses to enjoy. As you can readily see from my photo, this comes quite naturally and is very easy to accomplish, especially when my mane and tail are coiffed for some special occasion. 

(Please forgive me if I seem to be boasting, but I happen to think my daughter is growing up to be a real stunner! Just visit the website [http://www.renewalranchaz.com/RenewalRanch, Arizona, Our Coaches] to see her baby pictures.)

I really like humans. I think you are all absolutely fascinating! Working with you, as a trainer or a coach, is always fun and interesting, although it can be challenging at times. As much as I hate to have to say it, some of you just don’t know how to lead effectively and some of you don’t communicate as effectively as you might. Here’s a story that will help you understand what I mean.

Training at Renewal Ranch is always done from the ground. Clients don’t ride horses. One of the training exercises we use is called an “obstacle course.” In case you’ve never seen one of these things, an obstacle course is made by putting a bunch of stuff all over the arena. Some of the obstacles are barrels or bales of straw; some are barriers or even hula hoops. The point of this training exercise is for the human to lead a horse through the obstacle course. 

The rules of the game are very clear: humans must lead horses through the obstacle course. Horses are not allowed to lead humans through it. Here’s a picture of what I mean.

This is Razzle Dazzle as two humans are about to try to lead her through the obstacle course. And this is probably a good time to be perfectly clear about something: none of us is stupid. We can see the trail we are supposed to follow. We can also step over some of the stuff or jump over it; but the game is for us to do exactly what the humans actually lead us to do. And this is where the game becomes interesting.

There is usually a lead rope (or two) attached to my bridle, and a human attached to the other end of it. (Be sure to see what Razzle has to say about what happens where there are two ropes attached to two people) The game is played by the human leading the horse through the obstacle course to a reward. 

One day a very nice lady came to training. She talked to me a lot. She explained what we were being asked to do. She explained why we were going to do the exercise. She even explained how we were going to get from the first gate to the end of the obstacle course. Yes, horses understand human talk! 

Then she said, “Okay, let’s go.” And she dropped the lead rope and took off toward the other end of the arena. This is not how the game is supposed to be played. So I just stood there. Do you know that she didn’t realize I wasn’t following her until she got to the other end of the arena and turned around? Fortunately, she was pretty quick and she figured out what was wrong. So she came back and picked up the rope, asked me if I was ready to go, and started leading me through the obstacle course. After we were about a third of the way to the other end of the course, she dropped the rope and kept walking. Do you know what I did? I stopped. When she got to the end of the course again, she turned around and seemed surprised that I was still back where she dropped the rope trying to put a hula hoop over my head. So she came back and led me to the end of the obstacle course. 

There are some important things humans can learn from this experience about leadership: 

First, if you are in charge, you have to lead or I don’t get to the end of the course with you. It’s that simple. This becomes a little more complicated with other people, especially if they don’t know the rules of the game. This is especially true in a business setting.
 
Second, if the person who is supposed to be the leader doesn’t lead, nobody knows where they are supposed to go or how to get there. Just imagine what would happen if you put all five horses in the arena together with five different paths through the obstacle course at feeding time – we might all go off in a different direction, following whatever path looks like the shortest route to the stable. Believe me, we would get something to eat, but it might not be what you intended for us to eat.

Third, if you are the leader and you drop the rope (stop leading), nothing happens – I’m just going to stand there. If you are trying to get people to do something, you can’t just tell them about it and drop the lead rope. You have to stick with it, hold on to the rope, and lead them to where you want them to go.

Fourth, if you only lead part of the way to the goal, and then you drop the rope, it can be more confusing than if you didn’t lead at all. You see, once you lead a horse into the middle of an obstacle course and then stop leading, the horse doesn’t know whether to stand still, go back to the beginning, or try to keep going to the end.

It’s been nice whinnying with you; but it’s time for me to get back to work.

Happy Trails.

Shanelle