Straight from the horse's mouth

In fact, the horseís eyes, brain and natural instincts are more the heart of the matter for Evolutionary Training; an innovative team based at Ingliston Equestrian Centre in Inverclyde.

Evolutionary Training teaches people management and motivational skills to people with little or no equine experience through the use of ìnatural horsemanshipî.

Alison Noble, Training Director at Evolutionary Training, said, ìHorses give open, honest feedback with no hidden agendas or couching. A horse is unbiased towards social standing or professional position, which can be particularly useful when training senior personnel who may be used to commanding automatic respect.

ìWe encourage people to re-consider how they can be more effective managers through revisiting their non-verbal communication skills. We use interaction with horses to explore these issues as horses are herd animals who react to body language, tone of voice and force of personality instead of words.

ìTo a huge extent, the same is also true of colleagues and our techniques allow clients to explore these issues without the distorting effects of human interaction and compensatory behaviour.î

Evolutionary Training launched in November 2007 and uses the newly refurbished arenas and new conference facilities at Ingliston Equestrian Centre to deliver high quality training to clients from a wide range of sectors, including manufacturing, healthcare, teaching and financial services.

Courses include one and two day leadership or personal effectiveness programmes for small groups of up to eight participants. Specially trained horses who respond to ìnatural horsemanshipî (ie non-verbal signals), take part in simple exercises such as influencing the horse to move away or follow.

Alison Noble adds, ìIt is very often a revelation to participants just how important their body language and eye contact can be, and in group discussion sessions afterwards, we help them to explore the subtler aspects of communication and motivationî.

Alison Noble of Evolutionary Training continues;

ìMost people who come on our courses have little or no experience of horses. But even for those who do, natural horsemanship remains a challenge. Our training is not about how to command horses, or people. Itís how to get people to work better with you to deliver what you want to achieve.

ìCosts for Evolutionary Trainingís courses are comparative with ìmainstreamî training but add a whole new dimension to the arts of persuasion, motivation and team building.î

Ian Maxwell, General Manager of training venue Ingliston Equestrian Centre in Bishopton added, ìItís been a revelation to me to see how battle-hardened business types find ways to get back to the basics of communication which they take for granted in their daily life. Itís great to watch how people react differently to horses, then hone their communication skills through the direct feedback the animals give.

ìEven those of us who have been around horses for years can learn much with Alison and her team as facilitators.î