Before we begin we all agree to:

TRY IT ON: Be willing to “try on” new ideas, or ways of doing things

that might not be what you prefer or are familiar with.

PRACTICE SELF FOCUS: Attend to and speak about your own experiences

and responses.

REFRAIN FROM BLAMING OR SHAMING YOURSELF & OTHERS:

Practice giving HELPFUL feedback.

MOVE UP / MOVE BACK: Encourage full participation by all present.

Take note of who is speaking and who is not.

PRACTICE MINDFUL LISTENING: Try to avoid planning what you’ll say

as you listen to others. Be willing to be surprised, to learn something new.

Listen with your whole self.

CONFIDENTIALITY: Take home learnings but don’t identify anyone

other than yourself, now or later. If you want to follow up with anyone regarding

something they said in this session, ask first and respect their wishes.

RIGHT To PASS: You can say “I pass” if you don’t wish to speak.

5-week self-awareness program

** We do not provide therapy – this program might bring up emotions or feelings

that need to be addressed and we encourage you to seek professional help to facilitate this.

1-hour sessions

(max 4 adults)

Week 1 SAFETY

Welcome to Triple H Farm

Facilities – where they are and use of

Few rules

·         Don’t enter into the arena or any paddocks without staff.

·         Don’t feed the horses without staff permission

·         Try to be on time to sessions

·         Wear appropriate clothing especially footwear

Gather around the firepit area (fire will be lit in winer) a relaxing space to sit and soak in the quiet of the farm and time to reflect on the next 5 weeks

·         Talk about safety – what it means to us and what it means to the group

·         Come up with a safety agreement for the group

·         Include grounding and centering – listen, feel and see – (lyre birds)

·         Use a few words to describe how we are feeling today

·         Talk about safety for the horse

·         Talk about safety around the horse- how to approach the horse how to interact with the horse and how to handle safely

(15- 20 mins)

ACTIVITY

* Have a few herd horses in the arena

·         Talk about how horses interact with each other

·         Warning signs that horse give off to each other (& us)

·         Ears – positioning and meaning

·         Eyes – how horses see – blind spots

·         Body positioning and language – observe and comment on what interactions are taking place.

·         How horses feel safe in a group (herd animals)– do we or are we the opposite?

·         Horses need to feel connected – we have the same need to feel connected – who to? Who is really important to us and makes us feel safe in that connection

·         If time permits bring one or two horses out and work on safety around the horse

·         Be observant of feelings and energy while working with the horse

·         Are we outside of our comfort zone and if so, how can we make ourselves feel safer

·         If we feel safe and comfortable – enjoy some grooming with the horse and centering and grounding while in that space with our horse

(30 ins)

REGROUP AND CONNECT

·         Discuss how we are feeling

·         What did you learn about horses today?

·         What does it mean to keep yourself and others safe here at the farm (physically and emotionally)?

·         What are some of the most important things you can do to keep yourself safe around horses?

·         Did you learn anything today that you can take away and start applying in daily life

(15 mins)

Week 2 NERVOUS SYSTEM AWARENESS

** We do not provide therapy – this program might bring up emotions or feelings

that need to be addressed and we encourage you to seek professional help to facilitate this.

Welcome to Triple H Farm

Reminder of facilities – where they are and use of

Few rules

·         Don’t enter into the arena or any paddocks without staff.

·         Don’t feed the horses without staff permission

·         Try to be on time to sessions

·         Wear appropriate clothing especially footwear

Gather around the firepit area (fire will be lit in winer) a relaxing space to sit and soak in the quiet of the farm and time to reflect on the next 4 weeks

·         Go through the safety agreement for the group (from last week)

·         Grounding and centering – listen, feel and see – (lyre birds)

·         Use a few words to describe how we are feeling today

·         Introduce the Polyvagal Chart

·         Discuss this and where we feel on that chart at this present moment

·         Introduce the idea of the horses and how they react in the moment and can return to that comfort zone quite quickly (in the herd)

·         Go over last week’s discussion on how we can observe the horse and recognize from those signs where they are in their nervous system

·         Talk about “embracing the pause” and how that will fit in with today’s session

(15 mins)

ACTIVITY

·         One horse in the round yard

·         Everyone will individually be in the round yard with the horse (if they feel comfortable doing so)

·         Others will observe the interaction

·         The facilitator will give instructions for the person in the round yard

·         We want to observe how the energy of the person in the round yard affects the horse

·         Observation of how the horse responds to the person initially

·         The facilitator may ask the person to change their energy and see how the horse responds

·         People outside the round yard will be asked to give feedback before the next person steps in

·         There is no right or wrong answer just observation of our energy and how the horse responds

(30 min)

REGROUP AND CONNECT

·         Discuss how we are feeling

·         What did you learn about horses today?

·         What did we learn about our nervous system

·         What did we learn about the horse’s nervous system and how is it similar to ours

·         Did you learn anything today that you can take away and start applying in daily life

(15 mins)

Week 3 BOUNDARIES

** We do not provide therapy – this program might bring up emotions or feelings

that need to be addressed and we encourage you to seek professional help to facilitate this.

Welcome to Triple H Farm

Facilities – where they are and use of

Few rules

·         Don’t enter into the arena or any paddocks without staff.

·         Don’t feed the horses without staff permission

·         Try to be on time to sessions

·         Wear appropriate clothing especially footwear

Gather around the firepit area (fire will be lit in winer) a relaxing space to sit and soak in the quiet of the farm and time to reflect on the next 3 weeks

·         Safety agreement

·         Grounding and centering – listen, feel and see – (lyre birds)

·         Use a few words to describe how we are feeling today

·         Talk about boundaries – what they mean to you and what it means to the group

·         Talk about boundaries for the horse – personal space bubble

·         How do the horses set boundaries?

·         Review this idea of boundaries

ACTIVITY

·         We will show how to put on a headstall and lead rope

·         Instructions will be given on how to lead the horses

·         We will talk about our personal space bubble

·         We will talk about the horses’ personal space bubble

·         With ours and the horses personal space bubble in mind we will begin leading the horse around the arena

·         We will be aware of our nervous system regulation – how are we feeling?

·         We will stop and observe our horse – how are they feeling?

·         Is there any invading of personal space – if we do it to the horse what is the right energy to have and the correct way to make our horse feel safe and be an enjoyable experience

(30 mins)

REGROUP AND CONNECT

·         Discuss how we are feeling

·         What did you learn about horses today?

·         What did we learn about our personal space?

·         What did we learn about the horse’s personal space and how is it similar to ours

·         Did you learn anything today that you can take away and start applying in daily life

(15 mins)

Week 4 EMBRACING FUN

** We do not provide therapy – this program might bring up emotions or feelings

that need to be addressed and we encourage you to seek professional help to facilitate this.

Welcome to Triple H Farm

Facilities – where they are and use of

Few rules

·         Don’t enter into the arena or any paddocks without staff.

·         Don’t feed the horses without staff permission

·         Try to be on time to sessions

·         Wear appropriate clothing especially footwear

Gather around the firepit area (fire will be lit in winer) a relaxing space to sit and soak in the quiet of the farm and time to reflect on the next 3 weeks

·         Safety agreement

·         Grounding and centering – listen, feel and see – (lyre birds)

·         Use a few words to describe how we are feeling today

·         Talk about fun – what it means to us and how to we do it

·         How often do we “embrace the pause” and delight in something

·         Do horses have fun – if so, discuss how we believe they show this

·         Agree to let down any barriers today to embrace the fun in the moment

(15 mins)

ACTIVITY

·         2- 3 horses will join us today

·         We will work at liberty

·         Encourage the horses to have fun

·         Join in with that fun using the liberty techniques as instructed

(30 mins)

REGROUP AND CONNECT

·         Discuss how we are feeling

·         What did you learn about horses today?

·         What did we learn about having fun

·         Did we leave the horses today with a fun experience

·         Did you learn anything today that you can take away and start applying in daily life

(15 mins)

Week 5 REVISIT

** We do not provide therapy – this program might bring up emotions or feelings

that need to be addressed and we encourage you to seek professional help to facilitate this.

Welcome to Triple H Farm

Facilities – where they are and use of

Few rules

·         Don’t enter into the arena or any paddocks without staff.

·         Don’t feed the horses without staff permission

·         Try to be on time to sessions

·         Wear appropriate clothing especially footwear

Gather around the firepit area (fire will be lit in winer) a relaxing space to sit and soak in the quiet of the farm and time to reflect on the next 3 weeks

·         Safety agreement

·         Grounding and centering – listen, feel and see – (lyre birds)

·         Use a few words to describe how we are feeling today

·         Discuss what we have learned over the last 4 weeks

·         Safety

·         Nervous System

·         Boundaries

·         Fun

·         Decide as a group what we want to work on with the horses today

(15 mins)

ACTIVITY

·         2- 3 horses will join us today

·         We will work with the horses

·         We can revisit safety

·         We can revisit nervous system regulation

·         We can have fun

(30 mins)

REGROUP AND CONNECT

·         Discuss how we are feeling

·         What did you learn about horses today?

·         What did we learn over the last 5 weeks

·         Did you learn anything from the last 5 weeks that you can take away and start applying in daily life

(15 mins)