“The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions…The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme types. Between them there are shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature.” “The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant-first to make sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being served. The best test, and difficult to administer, is: Do those served grow as persons? Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And, what is the effect on the least privileged in society? Will they benefit or at least not be further deprived?“ — Robert K. Greenleaf

How does Servant-Leadership entrain with Horsemanship?

Think about it.

Read the sentence above, “Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants?”

The answer with humans is, probably.

The answer with regard to horses is … y.e.s.
Absolutely.
Unquestionably.
Without fail.

In the photo above you see two grays wither scratching. Mutual grooming. Nothing spectacular. Nothing to brag about BUT … what you DON’T see is that one of those horses is an ALPHA horse, through and through. Not a lead mare, not merely ‘high up in the social ranking of the herd’, but a TRUE “Alpha” in all pure definition of “Alpha Mare’.

That Alpha, at the time of the photo, was 28 years old. There was only one other horse in her lifetime whom she allowed to scratch her withers and mutually groom. He had passed 5 years prior to the taking of the photo. The other gray was a true “Servant-Leader” in all respects of the word. With the other horses and with his humans.

That Alpha had, at one time not long before, been labeled a ‘killer’.
She wanted NOTHING to do with humans.
A long story that won’t be repeated here but suffice to say that we had recommendations, multiple, to have her put down.
“Kill her before she kills someone!” was something that resounded in my head over and over again but … couldn’t do it.

And, thankfully we didn’t entertain that thought, either, for long.

That Alpha horse was, and still is, in the top 3 of “My Greatest Teachers”.

She taught ME how to be a ‘Servant-Leader”. She taught ME how to trust. She taught ME how to serve her needs, in mind, body AND spirit so that then she *could* teach me even more.

(She couldn’t teach me when I wasn’t listening. When I was too busy concentrating on being
“THE LEADER”.)

Through my being a “Servant-Leader” for her, she was able to work through her own issues with being a “Killer”. And then we, together, learned more and more about being Servant-Leaders.

She taught ME that I really didn’t want to be a “boss” mare. She taught ME that I really wanted to ‘serve’ my herd family so that they could shine and be the best at what they were and did. And in doing so, SHE began to shine … and she grew … and I grew ,,, so we BOTH could shine and  I could then become a true Servant-Leader for others to come after her.

You see, when we want to be bosses, when we want to be THE leaders all the time, then we lose. We become so focused on our ‘selves’ that we can’t see the true horse with us. In ALL his or her being and spirit. But if we step back and soften our eyes, soften our hearts and really LOOK at the horse with us we can then begin our Servant-Leadership and help bring that horse out to be HIS or HER best.

In doing this, we’ll shine, ourselves, right along with our horses.

But, by the time we realize and experience the amazing, sacred trust that is built between us, horse and human, then our own ‘shininess’ won’t matter.

It is then that we become true Servant-Leaders and true partners with our horses.

We actually become ‘servant first’ and in that become the horse’s trusted partner.

Think about it. Feel it. Try it on for size.

Let me know how you make out with it.