A Keene Woman Is Connecting People To Possibility Through Horse Power
/Jennifer Garland is a former city girl who has transformed her life—and others—in radical ways after moving from Toronto to Keene almost 14 years ago with her husband, Chris van den Berg, and two daughters.
By 2011, both of their daughters had left the nest and moved back to the city. But instead of downsizing, Jennifer and Chris upsized and purchased a farm. (Her husband Chris actually grew up on a farm and incidentally moved from Germany to Keene more than 40 years ago when his parents worked at what is the Otonabee Dairy Farm.)
Jennifer with her first horse, Sunny. Photo by Pat Marchen
Six months after purchasing their “dream farm”, Jennifer bought Sunny, her first horse. Little did she know then that that decision would be a game changer.
Sunny, who would earn the nickname “Sunny with a chance of Tornado”, had a well-developed sense of fear: "In order to work with him, I had to overcome my own fears and be fully present," she tells PTBOCanada. "I had to be aware of my own body language and the information I was conveying to him consciously or sub-consciously."
At the time, Jennifer was still working in Toronto as a Director of Communications for a national company and doing project work on the side as a self-employed communications consultant. But she found that her “barn time” with Sunny was great stress management.
Photo by Jennifer Garland
It was through this experience with Sunny that Jennifer could see the value of working with horses to gain self-knowledge and acquire skills that lead to greater self-awareness. "Given my corporate experience, I could see the benefits of using horses for team building and leadership development in the corporate world and in the medical community where my consulting work took me," she tells PTBOCanada.
So Jennifer changed her life direction. She enrolled in a facilitated equine experiential learning certification (FEEL) program and completed the program in 2013. FEEL is a leading edge modality for developing human potential. By engaging in ground work with horses in a controlled setting, you learn how your attitude, your body language and intent impacts your relationships and the world around you.
In March 2014 after 14 years, Jennifer walked away from her corporate role and made room to launch her new rural-based business called The Mane Intent. She and Chris built a new arena on their property and by November 2014, officially launched their business.
Their intent with The Mane Intent: to bring horses and humans together to explore new possibilities and experiences that get them out of their comfort zone and give clarity of voice to their leader within. To help participants discover ways to strengthen interpersonal connections, find connection and meaning in a busy, technically driven life; and unearth talents and live with a greater sense of direction and purpose.
What began with a horse named Sunny has now evolved to 8 full-sized horses, two mini-horses and a donkey who participate in their program.
Photo by Jennifer Garland
Among the diverse offerings for all age groups that has emerged out of this unique business includes a GIRL POWER and POSSIBILITY Workshop, which focuses as much on mental health and wellness as leadership.
"I am offering the leadership development program for girls because I know how much my own two daughters benefited from a variety of leadership development and experiential learning opportunities when they were growing up and I enjoy working with this age group," Jennifer tells PTBOCanada. "There is no previous horse experience required to participate and all work with the horses is done on the ground—in other words, no riding."
Photo by Jennifer Garland
"The overall program focus is about having participants recognize their own self-work and aims to help girls learn to stand their ground when needed," Jennifer tells PTBOCanada. "It's to practice self-care, and to know when to ask for help. It is our intention to provide a safe, fun and challenging environment in which the participants may learn and grow."
More specific goals through this experential learning include: to develop positive body image, self-confidence and personal awareness; develop communication and leadership skills; and deal with peer pressure and making empowered choices.
At a more profound level, it's to teach girls to believe in their potential and to realize anything is possible.
Photo by Jennifer Garland
Throughout the day of this workshop and workshops like it, participants will engage in a series of ground work exercises in partnership with the horse that ultimately uncover interpersonal and communication behaviours. How the horse(s) react to communication, behaviour and body language will provide an opportunity for self-reflection and discussion to identify opportunities for leadership and personal development.
The activities with the horses become a metaphor for what is happening in the participant’s life and provides a mirror to reflect back information about their personality style, interpersonal and coping skills, and communication ability.
Jennifer says Facilitated Equine Experiential Learning helps the participant explore their fears, build trust in themselves and others and develop their interpersonal skills in a supportive and non-threatening way away from their day-to-day environment.
These activities stretch people mentally, intellectually, emotionally and spiritually. Ultimately, they help people build personal resilience and connect to possibility.
Sunny
By now, you still might be asking: so why horses? Why has Jennifer chosen animals—and more specifically, horses—to help people empower themselves?
"Horses have their own perceptions and emotions, and can attune themselves to the presence and feelings of others," Jennifer tells PTBOCanada. "They live in the moment and they don’t have an agenda. Through their remarkable sensitivity, perceptiveness and intuition, our horses offer valuable feedback and information to our clients."
Sampson: The Gentle Giant—another of Jennifer's horses
Jennifer believes that horses teach us to appreciate the nonverbal as well as verbal messages that we give to others. Working in partnership with horses requires patience, gentleness, self-confidence, sensitivity, focus and keen awareness.
"Horses are large, but easily frightened, prey animals whose survival has depended on becoming exquisitely attuned to body language, innuendo and emotional tone, and to the position and movements of objects in their sensory fields," Jennifer says. "By reflecting back to us the signals and intents of which we aren’t even aware—much less aware that we are communicating outward—horses train us to notice at all times the information that we convey."
Miniature horse Misty, another of Jennifer's horses
Jennifer believes that horses encourage us to explore what’s possible in each of us. They are social animals with well-defined roles within their herds. They have distinct personalities, attitudes and moods. An approach that works with one horse doesn’t necessarily work with another.
She says we must win a horse’s respect on her own terms before imposing our own. Because horses react to the most subtle of human signals, they hold up a magnifying mirror to our styles and our behaviours. In this mirror, we see the image and path to our professional development and our personal growth.
"Horses, unlike humans, only know how to be authentic," Jennifer says, "and consequently, want their human partners to be this way as well. Horses will often act with people in ways to make them more authentic, such as encouraging expression of hidden anger (by pushing boundaries), hidden grief (by adopting a protective nature toward him/her), or hidden power (by responding willingly), and therefore more whole."
Chicago: Grateful, another of Jennifer's horses
