How coaching can help

By Your Horse

Rider Advice

03 February 2011 17:02

Our life coach Christine Worthington is a qualified coach and a licensed NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) practitioner and advanced EFT (emotional freedom technique) practitioner. She works with individuals and organisations on personal and professional development programmes and also works with riders away from their horse to help them achieve their equine goals. Christine has been riding since childhood and ran a livery yard with her husband for 11 years. She now is a Parelli level 3 student, working with her Irish Draught x TB mare Lizzie, who she also competes at TREC.

“Horsey clients aren’t that different to my other coaching clients, it comes down to self belief, having a go and having a plan of how you’re going to get there,” says Christine. “I do, of course, have a bit of empathy – I’m a rider and I’m very aware of the time pressures involved in trying to fit horses into our busy lives. But the technique of coaching is still the same – unravelling where you currently are, what it is you want to do, what is getting in the way, and identifying and enabling actions to make it happen.

“Coaching is confidential the client has to feel that they can be honest and open, and we have to build a mutual trust and rapport. That’s where the coach relationship comes in – if you’ve told somebody that you’re going to do something, it’s a promise not just to yourself but to someone else, too.”