L I V E

Communication Skills 101: ConversationsWith A Horse Whisperer

A B O U T U S

Ordinary People brings you our hand-picked collection

of ideas and stories that may be one person's way of life

but another person's inspiration.

N E V E R M I S S A P O S T !

S U B S C R I B E N O W .

Email Address

A B O U T F E A T U R E D W R I T E R S S T O C K I S T S P R O J E C T S

L I V E E X P L O R E C R E A T E P E O P L E R E C I P E S

 

Andrew Froggatt, aka “The Horse Whisperer”, has a quiet con�dence that can only come from years of

experience dealing with troubled horses. From teaching racehorses who fear the starting gates how to

break out, to training a child’s pet how to handle a rider, Andrew has a presence about him that allows him

to cut through barriers. However, horse whispering is more than just “�xing” problem horses. Andrew and

his team have been using horses for leadership training in New Zealand for a few years with startling

success. Now, partnering with Sarah Schubert from New Voice, a Singapore based leadership training

company, their talents are going to be put to use in Singapore for the �rst time.

We met up with Andrew, Sam and Daughter, Tilly at The Singapore Polo Club along with Leadership Coach,

Sarah Schubert to talk about their upcoming joint program Walk The Talk leadership training workshop. I

was particularly keen to discover more about this workshop because, like a lot of people, I have a healthy

S U B S C R I B E

Search …

C A T E G O R I E S

F O L L O W U S O N T W I T T E R

A L S O O N I N S T A G R A M

Be the first of your friends to like this

ordinarypeople.ink208 likes

Like Page Share

respect and admiration for horses. Growing up riding and caring for my family’s own horses in the UK, I

have also experienced my fair share of falls along the way and was intrigued to learn of how these beautiful

creatures could help facilitate a leadership training.

Andrew and Sam operate Lead The Way in Queenstown, New Zealand. With the help of horses, they

facilitate training aimed at teaching communication, relationship management and leadership skills. For

the last 20 years, Andrew has worked with a wide range of clients from the SPCA Troubled Horses and

Teens program to Steven Hanson, the All Blacks Rugby Coach. One particular heart-warming outcome was

with a 16-year-old autistic boy who had never spoken before. After working with Andrew and the horses, he

started talking for the �rst time.

Sam’s passion for horses began as a small child. She joined the UK Pony Club and also being a talented

athlete, competed at district level for Eventing and Tetrathlon (Riding, running, swimming and shooting).

During a year out before University Sam had the opportunity for more hands-on-training and handling at

an Olympic level event yard. Since then Sam has developed training and experience in leadership,

teamwork, commitment and management skills, �rst with the British Army’s Ocer Training Corps and

then took it a step further by completing the 6-week-basic-training course at the Royal Military Academy

Sandhurst with �ying colours. Together they formed Lead The Way.

Lead The Way’s reputation has grown such that the leadership courses are now being run within corporate

frameworks all over New Zealand, producing great results. It was on one of her visits to New Zealand that

Sarah from New Voice, who has been coaching and facilitating for close to 20 years, with 10 of those years in

Singapore, met Andrew and recognized that this form of training would be unique to South East Asia.

 

ordinarypeople.ink

Live

Explore

 

If you’ve ever attended or witnessed any transformational coaching workshops, you’ll probably agree that

when it comes to self-discovery and improvement for anyone (especially managers and experienced

employees) it is not uncommon to be met with an air of “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks” or

indi�erence.

This is why Walk the Talk was such a refreshing approach to leadership training to me. I feel like it is safe to

say that there’s always room for self-re�ection, whatever stage you’re at with your career or ‘evolution’. This

is mostly because, in life, we regularly meet people who, perhaps, are not exactly like us. They may have

di�erent views and need a di�erent pair of listening ears to be understood.

Create

T O P P O S T S

 

If you’ve ever attended or witnessed any transformational coaching workshops, you’ll probably agree that

when it comes to self-discovery and improvement for anyone (especially managers and experienced

employees) it is not uncommon to be met with an air of “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks” or

indi�erence.

This is why Walk the Talk was such a refreshing approach to leadership training to me. I feel like it is safe to

say that there’s always room for self-re�ection, whatever stage you’re at with your career or ‘evolution’. This

is mostly because, in life, we regularly meet people who, perhaps, are not exactly like us. They may have

di�erent views and need a di�erent pair of listening ears to be understood.

Create

T O P P O S T S

If you’re open to considering this, then it’s easy to see that our communication styles need to be adapted

depending on who we have in front of us. In practice, though, our ability to morph and respond depending

on who we are talking to can be a challenge. Personalities get in the way and we stop hearing what the other

person is actually saying. Let’s be honest, unless someone regularly holds a mirror up to our behavior and

we are open to viewing that re�ection, we won’t always have the well-honed skills necessary to view

ourselves with complete objectivity and use that in how we deal with other people.

One of the amusingly positive reasons why working with horses provides such on-the-spot clarity is that,

unlike humans, horses have little reason to hide how they really feel about you. No matter how hard you try

to win them over with your charming (or so you thought) powers of persuasion and dazzling personality, it

won’t work if they don’t respect you, and respect is a funny thing. With horses, as it is with humans, it often

needs to be with mutual respect for a positive relationship to �ourish.

 

T A G S

Artist Burgers Café chicken rice

children Co�ee cushion Dairy-free

Design Explore Fashion

Fermented Foods Getaway Gut

Health handmade Healthy helper

Home Birth Singapore Hong Kong

hotels housekeeper Latte Live

Foods London maid makeNutrition paper paper�ower Peony Pets

Places Pregnancy Probiotic recipe

Recipes Restaurant Sauerkraut

Singapore sustainability

travel Vegan Vegetarian wash

Wellness

 

As Andrew explained, “anything less than authentic, unaggressive con�dence and good nature will most

likely be met with a snort, a whinny and a trot in the other direction.” As a participator in the Walk the Talk

workshops, you are taught ways to read the subtle signs of submission, acceptance and compliance in the

horse. Self-propulsion, however, virtuous and well intended will get you nowhere without your listening

ears.

Another reason why this type of training appeals to me is because the results are immediate. It’s not a

theoretical course in a classroom that leaves you with a head full of knowledge but no real experience. The

Walk The Talk leadership training program provides hands-on-experience and starts to pathe the way for

new thinking take shape, and overtime, new behaviours.

C O N T A C T

Email: hello@ordinarypeople.ink

 

As Andrew explained, “anything less than authentic, unaggressive con�dence and good nature will most

likely be met with a snort, a whinny and a trot in the other direction.” As a participator in the Walk the Talk

workshops, you are taught ways to read the subtle signs of submission, acceptance and compliance in the

horse. Self-propulsion, however, virtuous and well intended will get you nowhere without your listening

ears.

Another reason why this type of training appeals to me is because the results are immediate. It’s not a

theoretical course in a classroom that leaves you with a head full of knowledge but no real experience. The

Walk The Talk leadership training program provides hands-on-experience and starts to pathe the way for

new thinking take shape, and overtime, new behaviours.

C O N T A C T

Email: hello@ordinarypeople.ink

Once you have begun to unravel the skills for e�ective communication in this type of setting (and with non-

biased or judgmental horses), the theory is that you can use these skills in pretty much all areas of your life.

If you take these skills away from the workshop and actively practice them, you may develop an even

greater awareness by forcing yourself to pause between thought, emotion and reaction. Added to this is the

sense of achievement and con�dence you achieve from gaining the respect of such an elegant creature.

Something not to be sni�ed at!

Walk the Talk’s next session will be held on the 25 & 26 July 2016 at the exclusive Singapore Polo Club.

For more information on course details:

New Voice 

9 Battery Road, Singapore, 049910

Tel: +65 9789 0802

Lead The Way

P R E V I O U S P O S T N E X T P O S T

Tel: Andrew: +64 27 271 1548 | Sam: +64 21 901 891  

General Email: contact@lead-the-way.co.nz

W R I T T E N B Y

S A R A H S H A W

C o - F o u n d e r o f O r d i n a r y P e o p l e | F a c e b o o k : B o u n d l e s s S i n g a p o r e

| 0 2 / 0 7 / 2 0 1 6

  S U B S C R I B E T O O R D I N A R Y P E O P L E

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive

noti�cations of new posts by email.

Email Address

S U B S C R I B E

C O P Y R I G H T © 2 0 1 6 O R D I N A R Y P E O P L E . I N K . A L L V I E W S E X P R E S S E D A R E T H O S E O F T H E A U T H O R S .