Leadership Learning from the Ground Up
Leadership is Learned in the Doing
New Mindsets Come From New Experiences
New behaviors and mindsets do not happen 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.
Some things can't be virtual. Trust is one of them.
ALT Header: Real horses. Real Humans. Real-time Learning. Real Change.
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 living laboratory. As organization development practitioners and executive coaches, we are uniquely qualified to design experiences grounded in organizational strategy, so insights from the arena carry back to the workplace.
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.
This involves three essential capacities
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 ability to build genuine relationships with others. Connection is the foundation of trust and influence. It helps leaders strengthen collaboration, navigate conflict, and create the psychological safety people need to contribute honestly and fully.
Like any capacity, Presence, Focus, and Connection grow stronger with practice. Everything we do at Saddle Sojourns is designed to strengthen all three. Working on the ground with horses creates an immediate, memorable learning environment where leaders see their patterns, experiment with new choices, and practice what matters most in complex organizations.
The result: grounded leaders others choose to follow. They bring clarity, build genuine trust, recognize and grow the potential in their people, and rally them toward shared goals.
Three Paths to Grounded Leadership
Whether you’re developing individual leaders, strengthening a team, or guiding an organization through change, every engagement is designed around your goals, your people and the challenges they face.
Connected Teams
For intact teams, newly formed groups, and teams navigating change ready to work together with greater trust and clarity.
Organization Development
For leaders and organizations ready to turn insight into lasting change, with guidance from experienced OD practitioners.
Meet Our Team
Since 2004, Saddle Sojourns has brought together a blend of expertise that rarely share an arena: deep experience in organization development, behavioral science, and high performance coaching, and a lifetime of horsemanship. We design every experience around business results, and we translate every insight into change that lasts back at work.
TERRI EGAN PH.D.
Co-Founder, Organization Behavior Scholar and Leadership Expert
Terri helps leaders at every level gain fresh insights into how they show up, relate to others, and respond to challenges. As co-founder of Saddle Sojourns and the SyncUp Leadership Group (https://syncupleadership.com/), she draws on decades of teaching, consulting, and facilitation to create engaging learning experiences that help people strengthen their self-awareness, build meaningful relationships, and bring new perspectives to their work and lives.
HEIDI HELLY
Co-founder, Equine Specialist & Performance Coach
Heidi has spent a lifetime reading horses and the people who ride them. A two-time national champion endurance rider who has coached hundreds of riders, ages 2 to 82, she brings a rare gift for building trust, partnership, and quiet confidence, helping workshop participants discover what a horse can reveal about how they lead.
ALISA MARTIN
Organization Development Consultant & Facilitator
Alisa helps leaders and teams navigate large-scale change, aligning people, process, and technology so new ways of working take hold. Drawing on two decades in organization development, she has a gift for using metaphor and imagery to turn complex ideas into clear action.
In Good Company
A few of the remarkable clients we've had the privilege of working with
