There’s something disarming about working through business coaching exercises with horses watching from only yards away.
A small group of us from our local networking gorup, Border 2 Border Business Connections recently spent a morning a couple weeks ago with our client Happy Hooves Wellness for one of Owner & Coach Crystal Birchmeier’s team sessions — a relatively new program she offers geared around overcoming chosen professional individual or team obstacles.
Crystal runs her sessions from an indoor equestrian arena in Washtenaw County, a few miles south and west of downtown Dexter — whiteboard, horses, and all. The topics on our group’s board weren’t unfamiliar: follow-through, consistency, imposter syndrome, task inhibition, burnout, work/wellness balance. Any business owner would recognize and likely identify in some way with every item on the list.
What differed from usual coaching sessions most was the environment. There’s no hiding behind your laptop or defaulting to meeting-room autopilot when you’re in a barn. The setting has a way of cutting through the noise and making the conversation feel real in a way that four walls and a projector rarely manage.
Crystal is a natural at this. She gets you comfortable quickly, and it becomes clear within the first few minutes that Happy Hooves is more than a business to her — the horses are family. Our paired horse Comet, for his part, made a strong impression on by myself and my colleague Scott.
The session itself was thoughtful, practical, and personal in the best way. Crystal has built something at Happy Hooves that’s genuinely unique: equine-immersed business coaching.
Happy Hooves is also a Hierank client — Crystal trusts us with her banners, business cards, magnets, shirts, and more. So there’s something satisfying about showing up not just as a vendor, but as a participating client.
It made for a good reminder that the best client relationships aren’t just transactional, and that we can work together, in parallel, to enhance each others’ experiences too.
If you’re a business owner, team leader, or professional who’s been eyeing something different for your next group experience — or if you’re navigating one of those seasons where burnout is closer than you’d like to admit — Crystal’s coaching programs at Happy Hooves are worth a look. She also offers therapy and numerous programs to help kids focus or adults unwind.
As part of Border 2 Border Business Connections, mornings like this one are a glimpse of what the community does beyond the weekly meeting. We’re a group of Washtenaw County professionals who take networking seriously but not stiffly — and every now and then, we even end up in a barn.
Explore Crystal’s coaching, therapy, and wellness programs at hhooves.com
Learn more about Border 2 Border Business Connections — or join us on a Wednesday morning — at border2border.biz
