From keynote speeches on The Evolution of Leadership at The Hague and to the Canadian Government, to demonstrations at prison systems and PTSD symposiums, Chris Irwin delivers an evolutionary message. Well-grounded and thought-provoking; his presentations are deeply moving emotional experiences for audiences of all ages and all walks of life.
Chris Irwin: Horseman, Author, Personal Coach, Motivational Speaker
WHY CHRIS IRWIN
A Canadian working in the United States during the early stages of his career, Chris discovered how to communicate with America’s Wild Horses, transforming the primal and volatile nature of numerous “Mustangs” into 18 U.S. National Champions in riding and driving competitions. His effective and unique methodology then led Chris to become a leading coach and trainer-of trainers in the international horse industry from North America to Europe and the UK. But it was the lessons of the wild horses that spurred Chris to his greatest insights into emotional intelligence, leadership and learning how to learn. If he could bring out the best in a vulnerable prey animal hard-wired to either fight or flight, couldn’t we do that for ourselves, and for each other?
This was the inspiration for Chris’ writing of two best-selling books, Horses Don’t Lie and Dancing With Your Dark Horse, personal odysseys of how and why “horse sense” benefits human potential. His “new psychology” made him a pioneer in the emerging industry of horses being catalysts for personal growth and positive change in therapeutic, academic, corporate team-building and personal coaching programs – a unique and evolutionary approach to team building, mentoring and leadership.
Now, as a cutting edge personal coach, Chris inspires and facilitates his students in learning how to discover and harness their inner horsepower in his Equine Assisted Personal Development (EAPD) workshops. Chris has been a consultant to numerous colleges and universities in developing advanced equine sciences and equestrian curriculum and has recently designed and developed for the University of Guelph the first university accredited Equine Assisted Leadership program in Canada.
Chris has presented demonstrations and presentations at The Hague in The Netherlands and for the Canadian Government in Alberta. He has given hands-on workshops with horses to evolve teaching skills with educators in Canada and the United States, provided mentoring for disadvantaged youth, parenting skills, counselling and therapeutic programs, and worked with the prison system and PTSD healing modalities. The scope and impact of Chris’ message on horse sense is reaching far beyond the borders of the horse industry.
Whether he is facilitating EAPD workshops for the general public at his Riversong Ranch in Alberta, Canada, or at venues throughout North America and Europe, or delivering corporate team building and leadership workshops with horses or keynote speeches from a podium, Chris Irwin is guaranteed to provide thought provoking, highly intensive and deeply moving emotional experiences for people of all ages from all walks of life. As the Toronto Star wrote: “Chris Irwin is a man on a mission – to change the way we communicate with each other; one horse at a time.”
WHY HORSES
“The best thing for the inside of a man is the outside of a horse.” – Winston Churchill
“What horses need to hear from us is what many of us would like to hear from ourselves, and each other. They need us to have a calm, focused assurance. They need us to be consistent. They need us to be assertive yet non-threatening. They need us to be both strong and compassionate. In short, horses need us to be our best selves.” – Chris Irwin
Psychologists estimate that authentic communication between people is at least 80% body language.
During presentations and demonstrations, audiences watch spellbound as participants are safely-guided into hands-on experiences with horses. What they all discover, participant and spectator alike, is that the body has a mind of its own – that while our mind may be saying one thing, our body may be doing another – the incongruity of which is rarely conscious, but the less-than-desired outcome understandable nonetheless.
This is just one example of how horses reveal true intent. In a fun, even humorous way, a horse will show us that how we are is really who we are – that actions do indeed speak louder than words. Rather than being bored by talk in a conference room, interaction with the horses is real and engaging. Any anxieties or fears about these strong, powerful animals are immediately replaced by curiosity as we learn to understand the psyche of a prey animal and come to see the big, bad world through their beautiful brown eyes.
As Chris and his team of certified trainers coach participants in developing moment to moment conscious awareness for their body language, “miracles” happen and the horses “magically” change their behavior from bad to good, from distracted to focused, from excited to calm, from defiant to humble, frightened to confident. The positive effect on the participant is palpable. In short, every participant in every EAPD experience, bar none, realizes and OWNS for themselves that as they become more aware of and accountable for their own body language and behavior, they are able to lead and change their relationship with the horse for the better. And if it works with the horses, why wouldn’t it work with themselves and others? The light bulb goes on and shifts happen.
The EAPD work with horses is a true paradigm shift – a visceral experience in developing congruency between our hearts intentions, our minds agenda and the hidden feelings we emote with our body language. It is an empowering reality check for any and all participants and spectators from all walks of life, encouraging corporate managers and leaders to go beyond the traditional self-help clichés. The horses catalyze a realization that yes, we can evolve and grow into greater awareness for mentoring a model of win-win relationships – that rather than simply talk about them, we can make real and lasting changes for the better.
HOW HORSE SENSE WORKS
EAPD participants gain much more then a newfound ability to intellectually understand and think like a vulnerable prey animal – like a horse. People literally “feel” the change – a visceral shift towards balance in their primal being – their animal or emotional intelligence. They discover for themselves that their counter-intuitive body language lessons with horses have, in fact, been a total body, mind and spirit exercise in resolving the conflict and mistrust inherent in the animal world: softening the rough edges and making our peace with the push-pull polarity of predator and prey, with the human condition and with ourselves.
This then is the silver lining: that we have both an inner predator and an inner prey – that humans are both wolf and horse in one body. From this self-realization, participants come to understand that it has too often been their unconscious mind directing the body language behavior that emotes and communicates in the language of either predator or prey. Depending upon the situation and the circumstance, we can now, with newfound awareness, choose which is most appropriate for the best of all concerned.
The cornerstone of EAPD, as Teddy Roosevelt and, later, Barak Obama have both said, is “the buck stops here.” As participants develop increasing self-awareness for their body language as a leader for the horse, they are literally learning to “walk the talk” of balanced leadership that is not perceived as either predator or prey, but rather as a mentor and facilitator who is a shepherd to his or her flock who look to them for benevolent guidance. Equine assisted personal development with Chris Irwin is much more than mere talk or metaphors. Horse Sense is for leaders who are ready to balance the proverbial Lion with the Lamb.