I had an interesting experience over the weekend in Redding, CA. I drove up on Friday to pick up our last Arabian mare to come home. While I was there Friday I went to a TSC store to pick up grain. We had shopped in that store the first weekend there and purchased a few supplies for the trip home with the new “girls”. The staff in that store had been very friendly and helpful and their prices were better than what we could find here at home, so we thought why not buy our grain while we’re there!

I pulled up in the truck and trailer and ran through the rain to make my purchase and here’s where things got interesting. The store manager, TSC Bill, asked what I was doing in Redding. I recited the above information except for the Arabian part. He continued to be friendly and asked what kind of horses they were that we’d purchased. I shared ”Arabians” and the look on his face, his body language and tone changed as he said simply “Oh” and turned and walked away…. Quite clearly he was not impressed!

How many times do we do this to our customers and clients? He was very clearly offended or just not impressed that we would drive 11 hours to purchase Arabians. Maybe he’s had a bad experience with an Arabian, maybe one hurt him, he saw one behave in a dangerous way or simply has heard people talk badly of the breed… I actually don’t know and quite frankly it doesn’t matter. The reality is that that one interaction changed my experience and impression of his store! Will I go back to that store? That’s a good question since I don’t live in that community, however, I can’t say that I won’t be back through there and I don’t know that I would stop. I expect I would seek out a different solution to my needs at this point.

You see, TSC is a company that serves farm, livestock and horse owners. It’s not only an American Quarter Horse store; it’s for ALL horse owners. So my point is that his personal prejudice affected his company and the customer’s experience! How often does this happen? I suspect many of us have had an experience like this. We may have let it slide or not returned to do business with the store, either way; we probably shared the story and had an impact on that business.

So what if the shoe was on the other foot? What if it were OUR business that was affected? What if TSC Bill worked for us and un-intentionally ran off a customer who’d just spent several hundred dollars in purchases? How do we create an accepting and understanding culture from top to bottom with our staff?

It’s all about communication and that doesn’t just mean the words that come out of our mouths. Actually, that’s the least of it. Remember- 55% is body language, 38% tone and 7% is words. That’s huge! So when we set ourselves and our employees up to be the best they can be, remember this story and the value of WHOLE BODY communication and how it really works!

May all your client interactions be as positive for them as they are for you!

Cathy Huddleston

Home for the new Arabian mares! The challenge-U retreat site!

]]> http://challenge-u.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=163 http://challenge-u.com/blog/?p=152 http://challenge-u.com/blog/?p=152#comments Sun, 14 Feb 2010 18:38:05 +0000 http://challenge-u.com/blog/?p=152

I had the privilege of meeting a very special person last weekend. A woman who has bred, raised and shown Arabians the last 30 or so years. We went to look at her horses to purchase some mares to join our herd and in the process discovered an amazing woman with an amazing husband and fascinating story.

We discovered that life is about perspectives. This matriarch has Parkinson’s disease and it has slowed her down, physically NOT mentally. I don’t know that I’ve ever met such a pistol! Her husband has health related issues too and quite frankly, that’s what led to parting with these family members. After two days we discovered how much this woman had touched the lives of many horses and many people; we even met a client that happens to help look after the horses and quite clearly was there the first day to make sure WE weren’t there to take advantage of this wonderful couple.

This experience got me to thinking… about Legacy. What is a legacy? When we pulled out of their driveway with 3 mares and one more to go back for, I realized what the meaning is…

We all create, grow, build, teach, develop and/or bring to fruition many things in our lives. When the time comes that we transition on and leave this body behind the only thing we leave behind is our legacy. It can be a legacy of sorrow, abuse, neglect or laughter, knowledge, love just to name a very few. This woman’s legacy is her passion and creativity with her horses. She will leave a stamp on history with the specific horses that she has bred for; kind, flashy, smart, athletic, loving and powerful horses. They are a part of her legacy and the really cool thing about legacies is that they can be carried on by more than just family. WE have the privilege and honor to be carrying on this legacy and adding our touch to it.

I wish for each of us the opportunity to leave a powerful and positive legacy behind! I know that through conscious effort we can transform our legacy in to anything we would like. 100 years from now I hope my legacy speaks to the impact that I have had on people’s lives in a powerfully positive way! (I wouldn’t mind if they remembered my horses too.)

May your Legacy become conscious and clear and NOT be an afterthought in this lifetime!

Cathy Huddleston

Meet Glory-Day VR, Melancholy and Gypsy Rose VR. 3 of our new mares and soon to be teaching horses.

]]> http://challenge-u.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=152 http://challenge-u.com/blog/?p=146 http://challenge-u.com/blog/?p=146#comments Fri, 05 Feb 2010 19:42:04 +0000 http://challenge-u.com/blog/?p=146 He’s a “Cribber” is a statement I’ve heard my entire life with horses and it translates in to “that horse has a horrible habit/behavior issue and it makes him/her a liability.  That’s a horse that will ruin the rest of your horses, destroy property and is essentially better off not existing”.

I have to say that as a child I didn’t know what else to believe and never really “bought in” to that belief system entirely.  Now days I have a diferent perception…

We have a “Cribber”.  His story is significant… In a previous life (younger years) he was a show horse and showed at the national level VERY successfully.  He’s been in the Rose Bowl Parade and for a time, everyone who followed his event knew his name.  Pretty cool, right?  Well the stress that went along with that caused him to find a coping mechanism and THAT”S how he began “cribbing”.  All that information, his accomplshments, his perceived misbehavior - is NOT who he is.

I think, quite simply, that we are not what we do.  There’s so much more to each one of us. None of us are our behaviors.  We are not just bipolar, depressed, a single parent, over the hill; we, like this horse, are so much more!  These things that we define ourselves and others by are a drop in the bucket of who each of us are…

Our “Cribber” is actually an amazing being and teacher.  He brings to the table his life experiences, how he dealt with sucess, performed at a high level for others, gave 110% to humans, thrived under stress and found a coping mechanism to help “get through” it all.  When he interacts with clients he brings to the ring an innate knowing, loving and teaching energy that is always in/for their highest good.  He gives us the gift of acceptance of self and an understanding that we are not our behaviors’ we are ALL so much more and have so much more to offer…

By the way, he’s chosen more than any other teaching horse here - not bad for a “Cribber”!

Cathy Huddleston

Meet Beau, a 16 year old Quarter Horse and Master Teacher…

As we sat outside of the round pen this weekend an interesting question was asked of me… Is this stallion really proud?

I’d like to share what I heard myself say-

“No, He’s simply confident in who HE is. He is comfortable in his masculinity, his purpose and his role in life. He is here to be a teacher, a partner with me his “human” and to procreate his genetic line. There is no driving force in his world that asks him to be MORE feminine, MORE in touch with anything or WEAR different MASKS in different environments. He is asked quite simply and respectfully to BE himself. “

The response I heard from the other human present was quite interesting… wouldn’t life be EASIER and BETTER if WE could do the same. Our relationships: work, personal and family, would certainly benefit as would our WORLD.

So thank you to the Universe and the horses for such profound learning…

Cathy

Meet our Horse of a Different Color…

Tarrens Amigo a 12 year old registered Paint Stallion and Teaching Horse.

I had a conversation with one of my Teachers yesterday… He shared with me something that really hit home… and I quote “Listen…. AND hear with your heart”.

I pondered this with a great big AHHAAA! I soooo get it, in life we seem to think that by listening we’re actually doing something. In reality, often times, we are simply listening enough to formulate what we want to say back in order to… be right, sound smart, have the last word, etc. etc…

With this statement by my “Krishna” I discovered something important, shocking I know. That listening is about hearing and truly listening occurs in our body, our heart, more than our ears. The gift of “hearing” what someone is sharing with us is truly a gift. It’s a moment in our lives where we experience connection, with ourselves and another sentient being. Pretty cool huh!

I wish for you today the gift of Krishna’s sharing, to not just listen but HEAR, and hear clearly with your heart!

Cathy

Meet “Krishna” – 6 year old Thoroughbred facilitator at Challenge-U

Challenge U, LLC is an experiential education based company that has been in business in Southern California since 1996.   Challenge U specializes in personal and professional team and leadership development programs via experiential formats. The experiential formats include The Extraordinary Team using the ropes course, The Samurai Game® and the DiSC® Learning Instrument, as well as customized programs.  Founder/Owner Andi Burgis is excited to announce the addition of Equine Experiential Learning, or EEL.

Andi started her horse career with Morgan horses in Pennsylvania then moved to Scottsdale, Arizona and began working for Lasma Arabians. She continued her horse focus in a variety of roles for several other large Arabian horse operations until 1986. In 1986 her second son came along and it was time for a change, so she left the horse world behind to raise a family.  When Andi recognized the importance of the horses as another component of the learning formats she wanted to bring to clients, she found the Epona approach to be the right fit to her already existing philosophy.  The Epona Approach was developed by Linda Kohanov, Author of “The Tao of Equus”, and Kathleen Barry-Ingram, therapist.  These women were pioneers in the development of EEL as we know it today.

Sampson and Andi

The Epona Approach focuses on the horses as equal facilitators in the education based process of EEL.  The horses, because of their innate ability to sense emotion and incongruence at extremely high levels, utilize emotions simply as information. They then model the ability to be present in the moment, making them living, breathing, sentient “biofeedback machines”.

Andi, who is an Epona Approved Facilitator, has assembled a skilled and intuitive EEL team by bringing in Cathy Huddleston and Wendy LeRoy. Cathy is an advanced Epona Approved Facilitator who taught at the Epona Center and has been a professional horse trainer, riding instructor, relationship coach and lifelong horse lover. Wendy is an Epona Approved Facilitator who is also a life-long horse enthusiast and licensed counselor.  These three women, who bring over 80 years of combined horse experience, are a part of a much larger team that includes 12 horses who are trained in this field of work and bring to the table a diverse background in experiences, genders and breeds.

One question often asked is “Why Horses?”  Domesticated horses retain the thought and behavior patterns of their nomadic ancestors.  Interacting with these animals on their own terms encourages a fluidity of human thought, emotion, and behavior that sedentary twenty-first-century life makes difficult.  Horses also model the strengths of what are often referred to as “feminine values”; cooperation over competition, relationship over territory, responsiveness over strategy, emotion and intuition over logic, process over goal, and the creative approach to life that these qualities engender. The result of all of this is amazing formats designed to benefit humans through the teachings of the horses.

The basic EEL format is available in one day to five day workshops that consist of ground activities with horses.  These formats do not include any horseback riding and are appropriate for people with or without horse experience.  There are also formats available for equestrians, beginner through advanced, that help riders better understand and grow their relationships with their own horses through EEL.  These focuses include, but are not limited to, better communication and understanding of the horse-human relationship, learning how to create a like language on the horse’s terms, and learning how to understand and embrace fear simply as information after experiencing any kind of fear based experience with one’s horse.  The facilities provide the ability for equestrians to bring their horses with them. Or, one of Challenge-U’s highly qualified facilitators can travel to you and your horse at your location.

Challenge U would like to invite you to come and check out one of their programs at their new 12 acre retreat site in beautiful Fallbrook, CA.  Please go to the website at www.Challenge-U.com or call Andi Burgis in the Challenge U office at (760) 535-3052 for more information on any of these programs.  Please mention you heard about Challenge U on the So Cal Equestrian Directory and receive 10% off of your first workshop in EEL at Challenge U.

We are pleased to announce that Sampson is doing well post surgery. Sampson, our star equine facilitator,   came down with a major sinus infection as a result of a complication from a tooth removal. He was taken to the San Luis Rey Equine Hospital, an interesting task for a 2200 pound being! Sampson was an angel and cooperated well with Dr. Cannon and Dr. Richardson. The doctors performed a surgical procedure on Sampson’s face in order to clean out the infection and install a drain and Sampson was able to come home the same day of the procedure. Unfortunately, the drain installed was not doing the trick, and Sampson had to be taken back to the vet for a little extra help. Again, Dr. Richardson and Dr. Cannon jumped into action to solve the problem and were able to get his healing moving in the right direction. After a week of dealing with the infection and vet visits, Sampson is feeling much better and recuperating well!

Sampson recovering from his surgery

A quote from Keith (my son)  after he had his session with Beau, a 16 year old world Champion Quarter horse who is now living out his retirement with us ,” In order to lead you must have somewhere to go”. Beau helped him recognize  this insight at a very timely place in his life.

And my Mom said “You made me feel that I have value and it is up to me to take full advantage of all the blessings in my life.”

See the picture of Mom with Tate below! (and Cathy, one of our amazing facilitators!)

To horses and growth!

Andi

Last week we held the first Equine Experiential Learning workshop at the new Challenge U property! Being the first event held at the new property, a lot of preparation went into making the day run as smoothly as possible. We were all very excited to see the end result come out so successfully. We had a great turnout, with participants coming for both the purposes of professional and personal development.

The workshop, called Horse Wisdom in Leadership: Communication - The Other 90%,  was a leadership focused format. While it’s commonly recognized that only 10% of communication is verbal, in our culture, we’ve virtually become mesmerized by words as our social and educational systems teach us to dissociate from the body, the environment, and the subtle nuances of nonverbal communication. This one day introductory workshop included skills for accessing that “other 90%” with the help of the horses, exercising the non-verbal communication, assertiveness, emotional fitness, and relationship skills essential to leadership - as managers, innovators, entrepreneurs, educators, parents and mentors of the next generation.

Sampson teaching participants the skills involved in clear communication.

Below is a testimonial from one of the workshop attendees:

“IT WAS THE MOST VALUABLE LESSONS I EVER HAVE GOTTEN ON MISS-COMMUNICATIONS. Trust your gut and do this training! It may save your marriage or save a client or save you from having to fire an employee. I strongly strongly strongly recommend this workshop if you are a manager or if you depend on your communication skills to make a living.”

We are excited to announce that we have added more dates to the calendar and are runnig specials now! The next Horse Wisdom in Leadership workshop is coming up this Thursday, June 25th, 2009. For more information or to register, please visit http://challenge-u.com/events.html.

This is Baylee, Andi’s assistant, writing today. I am writing today to share some exciting news with all of you. Last month we closed escrow on a beautiful property in Fallbrook, California (North County San Diego). The property has 12 gorgeous acres and will become the Challenge U retreat center and main Equine Experiential Learning facility. A Challenge U retreat center has long been a vision of Andi’s, and we are all so excited to be involved as her dream comes true!

We’ve all been very busy these past few weeks. Before we could move the Challenge U operation into the new facility, we had to do some cleaning and painting. We had many volunteers come to our aid and help with the process. BIG thanks to our volunteers!

David painting the new house

We were able to begin moving in to the new place this past week. The office has been moved and is in the process of getting settled. It’s really coming together quickly.

Perhaps the most exciting part of the new property is the space for the horses to live. The horses arrived at the new property on Saturday, May 30th. Andi has finally been able to wake up in the morning and see her horses first thing, which she loves. We cannot wait for you all to meet the horses and take part in our Equine Experiential Learning programs! We have already set dates for EEL workshops in June (visit our events page for more information on upcoming EEL workshops). Below are some pictures of Andi’s horses moving in and getting settled at their new home.

Unloading Krishna at his new home

Stryker (left) and Sampson (right) at the new property

We are so grateful to all of you for being on this journey with Andi and Challenge U. We have big plans for the new Challenge U property and we can’t wait to share it with you! Please check back soon for more updates on the new Challenge U property!