Grounded Leadership for Uncertain Times
Who We Are, What We Do
Leadership Learning from the Ground Up
New behavior and mindsets do not change through ideas alone. Saddle Sojourns crafts ground-based (non-riding) experiences where horse and human facilitators help leaders and teams practice three essential capacities: Presence, Focus, and Connection — the foundational abilities needed to build trust and lead with clarity and agility in complex environments.
These are not soft skills. They are the conditions that help leaders regulate themselves, read the room, communicate clearly, build trust, and respond more wisely in uncertain and complex situations. And they grow through meaningful experiences that help people see themselves, try new behaviors, and receive immediate feedback.
The horse provides that feedback. Skilled facilitators help translate it into practical insight. Participants leave with a deeper understanding of how their presence, focus and connection shape the people and systems around them.
Founded in 2004, we were among the first to recognize and leverage the enhanced sensitivities of horses to provide in the moment feedback in a field test environment. As organization development practitioners and executive coaches--who also happen to be expert equestrians--we are uniquely qualified to
In complex environments, leadership depends on more than strategy or expertise. Leaders need the ability to steady themselves, focus attention, build trust, and adapt in real time. In our experience, this boils down to three essential capabilities:
Presence - the ability to notice what is happening inside yourself and around you in real time. Presence helps leaders regulate themselves under pressure, listen more deeply, notice what is not being said, and respond rather than react.
Focus - the ability to direct attention with clarity and intention. Focus helps leaders communicate priorities, make better decisions, reduce noise, and create conditions where teams know where to place their energy.
Connection - the foundation of trust and influence, connection helps leaders build trust, strengthen collaboration, navigate conflict, and create the psychological safety needed for people to contribute honestly and fully.
Our work focuses on increasing these capacities. Working with horses from the ground creates an immediate, memorable learning environment where leaders can see their patterns, experiment with new choices, and strengthen the capacities that matter most in complex organizational life.
The result is leaders who can inspire trust, ignite potential, and mobilize action in others.
WHY HORSES?
The days of viewing the environment as an object to be conquered are gone. Rather than challenging rivers or rocks, we invite you to enter into a partnership with a living, fast-moving, powerful force. A horse’s survival depends on its ability to respond accurately to minute changes in its environment and the behaviors of those around it. They can tell us much about ourselves and what we communicate to others—intentionally or not. Likewise, the dynamic environments we live in call for leaders and teams that can work together with uncommon connection, agility, communication and commitment—the hallmarks of a healthy herd. Horses have been some of our greatest teachers. We invite you to make them yours.
HOW IT WORKS
Working with horses in a series of non-riding exercises, participants face individual and team challenges that provide natural opportunities for analyzing leadership and followership, highlighting communication, collaboration, conflict, decision-making and problem-solving patterns. Supported by feedback and insights from facilitators and equine partners, participants experiment, adapt and learn in real-time, paving the way for sustained change in the workplace.
CUSTOM DESIGNED WORKSHOPS FOR:
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Organizations seeking a leadership development program for senior and mid-level managers
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Leaders looking to build and maximize team collaboration, purpose, and performance
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Individuals wishing to enhance their personal and professional effectiveness through increased self-awareness and strategic thinking
Workshops of any length can be designed but are generally 1-3 days and often include preparatory team meetings, assessments, and post-workshop follow-up.
"In our company, a horse's behavior reveals more about who we are than who they are."
Melissa Sovey-Nelson
CONTACT US
San Diego, CA.