{"id":5047,"date":"2025-03-17T19:31:32","date_gmt":"2025-03-17T19:31:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/honors\/?p=5047"},"modified":"2025-03-17T19:31:32","modified_gmt":"2025-03-17T19:31:32","slug":"kathwari-honors-students-enhance-their-soft-skills-in-the-leadership-through-horsemanship-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/honors\/2025\/03\/17\/kathwari-honors-students-enhance-their-soft-skills-in-the-leadership-through-horsemanship-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Kathwari Honors Students Enhance Their Soft Skills in the Leadership through Horsemanship Program"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

3\/17\/2025<\/p>\n

On March 1st, the Kathwari Honors Program partnered with Pegasus Therapeutic Riding to create the Leadership through Horsemanship Program. Enrolled students travelled to Brewster, NY to learn what exactly horses can teach people about one another and ourselves, further cultivating our Honors Students\u2019 leadership skills.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Students started their day by learning how to safely interact with the horses by understanding their body language. As the program progressed, students learned how to brush the horses, give them heart hugs, and eventually, lead them in movements (walks, walk-halts, halt-walks, and trots). Each task required effective communication and trust between the horse and student.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Across the board, students\u2019 favorite part of the Leadership through Horsemanship Program was receiving the opportunity to be present and mindful, which is often a challenge when taking part in a rigorous Honors Program. Sarah Fayad, a senior English major, shared that one of her favorite parts about Leadership through Horsemanship was how well it met her expectations: \u201cI expected the program to be very mindfulness-based with an emphasis on body language and education on how horses can teach us that. We did this in ways that were interactive and meaningful. I also learned from the horses that I never would have expected: to consistently set boundaries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many students expressed how memorable the program was, not just in its unique nature, but also how uncomfortable it was to be vulnerable in this way. Standing in silence, brushing a large and majestic animal, alone with one\u2019s own thoughts, feelings, and actions, left to consider how we impact animals and humans alike. \u201cIt was the right kind of challenging,\u201d one student said. \u201cOur instructors were kind and encouraging; it was nice to feel like I wasn\u2019t failing just because I didn\u2019t immediately succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

When asked about his most surprising moment during the program, first-year Management Information Systems (MIS) student Nick Young said, \u201cDoing the \u2018heart hug\u2019 with a very large, initially intimidating, horse was so cool. I never got the chance before to pet a horse, and it surprised me how soft their coats are. Hugging the and feeling the warmth and the strength of him was an incredible experience that allowed me to trust a creature that could crush me in a second and have him also trust me back enough during our hug.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\" \"\"<\/p>\n

In relation to how Leadership through Horsemanship will contribute to students\u2019 academic, personal, and professional lives, junior Business Management student Malcolm McKenzie couldn\u2019t have said it more succinctly: \u201cLeadership comes from calm and connectivity. A leader needs to show direction and stamina directly proportionate to the mission and vision. Horsemanship prepares the undergraduate for just that and more. If one can master how to communicate effectively with a horse, one can master being in front of an audience presenting information effectively.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nick spoke more to how the program will benefit his MIS studies: \u201cIt gives me motivation to aim as high as possible. I\u2019m going to keep my GPA up because WCSU is working just as hard to help students like me succeed\u00a0through\u00a0their Honors Program. In terms of my major, I think it\u2019s vital to have the nonverbal communication skills and mindfulness attitude that being around horses requires while being a leader of people. Part of the business mindset is to learn people skills and to keep an engaged, interested, and calm attitude. A horse can sense if your heart rate is high and your blood pressure is up, and if you try to hide it, they will think you’re a predator. Humans also pick up on nonverbal communication, and knowing how to adapt to that energy is really important in the business, tech, and finance worlds.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Sarah appreciated the opportunity to wholistically re-evaluate her understanding of communication and leadership. \u201cA huge part of the experience was navigating this difficult new task and allowing yourself to be vulnerable,\u201d she explained, \u201cespecially when I didn\u2019t understand something. I was very grateful for the advice from Sophia and Liz (the instructors) because I knew they would help me understand the horses better. From the horses, I learned to accept my feelings as they are! Also, horses live moment to moment. I hope to apply this lesson to my life and help myself stop dwelling on things that have happened in the past. That is absolutely the biggest takeaway for me, as these negative thought cycles are detrimental to my well-being and mood!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Thank you to the generosity of Pegasus for spending a day with our Kathwari Honors Students to help them utilize the tools they already have within themselves to facilitate a sense of well-being, to be present, and authentically connect with themselves and the world around them. Thank you also to the generosity of Mr. Kathwari and the Kathwari Honors Program for financially supporting these leaders-in-the-making so they could enjoy this life-changing experience!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

3\/17\/2025 On March 1st, the Kathwari Honors Program partnered with Pegasus Therapeutic Riding to create the Leadership through Horsemanship Program. Enrolled students travelled to Brewster, NY to learn what exactly horses can teach people about one another and ourselves, further …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":391,"featured_media":5048,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-success-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/honors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/honors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/honors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/honors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/391"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/honors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5047"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/honors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5047\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/honors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/honors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/honors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/honors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}