Many years ago when his first book “Horses Don’t Lie” was published Chris was asked in a television interview how he does his magic with horses and he replied, “I don’t do magic with horses, the horses have done magic with me.” Now, more then a decade later, the book is a horse industry classic.

Chris is at the forefront of an international “horse sense for human potential” movement. During the last few years his 4 day EAPD1 and EAPD 2 courses have become wildly popular as personal growth workshops and aside from his many keynote speaking engagements on leadership Chris has also recently developed an equine assisted leadership program with the University of Guelph which is the first university accredited equine assisted program in Canada.

Chris has pioneered his own evolutionary approach to the innovative field of equine work originally known as EAP, or Equine-Assisted Psychotherapy. EAP saw round pens replace couches as horses were introduced into therapy sessions to catalyze the human psyche into facilitating emotional healing. Chris’ version of this field, which he has named EAPD or Equine-Assisted Personal Development, applies to all walks of life, including corporate leadership, sports psychology, parenting, teaching, and many others.

Rather than using the horse as a therapeutic tool to elicit emotions, Chris’s work involves the horse directly as a teacher. A horse’s respect, trust, focus and willingness is only earned when a human learns to balance their predator-based behaviors with the horse’s prey-based behaviors. What a horse needs to see in the one it willingly elects as its leader, be it horse or human, is the same character traits we want to see in ourselves. Learning to be the better horse translates literally, not just metaphorically, into becoming a better person.

In its sixth year, Chris will be offering both EAPD I and EAPD II workshops, as well as a men’s workshop at Riversong Ranch in 2011. His highly-acclaimed second book, Dancing With Your Dark Horse, champions his personal odyssey of EAPD. It has initiated a flood of interest in how the lessons of the horse teach humans to tame the dark horse that lives within us resulting in happier, healthier more balanced lives.

Dates and details for a variety of EAPD events this year are posted on the events calender. Leadership workshops, certification sessions, personal empowerment retreats, and disadvantaged youth programs are all planned.