Trustee & Board Development Through Horse-Led Experience

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Trustee & Board Development Through Experience

At Eat Sleep Ride, we deliver trustee and board development through immersive, horse-led experiences designed around how groups actually function — not how they say they do.

Our sessions take place on an off-grid, solar-powered community site and follow a deliberate structure that supports safety, clarity, and meaningful learning.

The day begins with arrival and orientation in the yard, allowing trustees to settle and arrive properly before any formal work begins. From there, participants move into the stables with the horses present but not worked. This phase focuses on grounding, boundaries, and embodied awareness — noticing breath, posture, tension, and what shifts when nothing is being demanded. This is not relaxation; it is attunement.

Participants are then guided to carry this awareness into action through a transition into the arena. Horses are already positioned within the space, and two lines of poles clearly mark a start and end point.

The core exercise is simple and demanding:
as a group, trustees must move from one set of poles to the other, together as one.
No leader is appointed. No one can be left behind. Horses are not to be worked.

What shows up quickly and honestly includes:

  • who steps off first

  • who waits or hesitates

  • how direction emerges

  • how pressure is held, avoided, or absorbed

  • how leadership shifts when responsibility is shared

The horses respond directly to clarity, tension, and coherence, making invisible group dynamics visible without blame or performance.

The learning is anchored with reflection, including the question:
“What do I carry in this herd?”
and closes by naming what trustees hold — and what they do not need to hold alone.

Alongside the training itself, we provide the full holding for the day: space, food, and fire by the yurt (fuelled using biofuel bricks made from our horses’ waste), as well as a clear trustee resource so participants understand the purpose and flow of the work.

This approach supports boards, trustees, and CEOs to strengthen shared leadership, trust, decision-making, and responsibility — particularly during periods of growth or change — while directly supporting our charitable work with young people and communities.

Please visit our HERD Dynamics at Eat Sleep Ride to learn more or send an email to danielle@eatsleeprides.org