Welcome

Horses as Teachers is run by Rosie Withey, an experienced Riding Instructor and Coach who offers personal development workshops at her farm in the beautiful Mendip countryside just outside Bristol.

Rosie has ridden and worked with horses all her life, and successfully ran Hartley Wood Riding Centre in Clutton for 14 years. A fall from her horse in 2008 led her on a personal journey which started when she read Linda Kohanov’s book The Tao of Equus and recognised that she had spent much of her life suppressing her emotions and in particular her fear around certain horses. In 2009 Rosie travelled to Arizona to train in Equine Facilitated Learning and qualified as an Epona Approved Instructor in March 2010. www.taoofequus.com

Rosie has now integrated the Epona Approach^TM into her teaching and also into her life in general and runs regular workshops and one-to-one sessions for people interested in personal development, emotional agility and discovering their authentic self. She also offers Intuitive Riding Sessions on a freelance basis.

What can horses teach us?

Horses are totally authentic and will mirror our true feelings, intentions and behaviours. As a consequence they can teach us much about being true to ourselves, setting healthy boundaries and using emotions and physical sensations as information. Our workshops offer you an opportunity to ‘get out of your own way’ and connect with your true emotions. Having the time and space to tune into your true emotional state allows you to recognise and interpret the messages contained in your emotions, resulting in increased confidence, improved communication skills and the ability to set healthy personal boundaries.

Our personal development workshops require no previous experience with horses and involve simply being in their presence and working on the ground in a safe setting with an experienced facilitator. These sessions may or may not proceed to working on horseback. For more information, visit Personal Development Workshops.

How do horses help us do this?

Prey animals like horses use emotions as information. They live in the moment, and communicate and reflect our emotional state back to us without judgement. They don’t hold their own agenda – they interact with the person you are being right here, right now. They can detect false confidence, anger, anxiety and incongruent emotional states.

Horses as Teachers workshops allow you time to tune in and work out what this means for you and to discover the blocks, obstacles and places where you’re stuck. This insight might come to you during the workshop, or over the coming days, weeks or even months. You might be surprised by how, when and where these insights show up, but suddenly your mind will start making connections; you’ll recognise, recall or remember situations, communications and relationships and understand the meaning they hold for you and your personal growth.