Year of the Horse: Where Coaching Becomes Movement

Running Toward What Is Calling You by Pamela Weeden, senior executive coach

As Chinese New Year marks the arrival of the Year of the Horse, it offers a natural pause to reflect on momentum, movement and what may be ready to step forward  something I was reminded of recently while watching my puppy, Marley, run.

Here is a photograph of Marley, my five-month-old Cavapoo puppy, running back to me after I’ve recalled him.

We were on a woodland walk on a wintry day. The ground slick with mud, the air sharp enough to wake the skin, everything stripped back to essentials. Marley was having the time of his life; running free, soaking up the smells, sounds and textures of the world. His paws barely touching the ground, his ears flying, his eyes full of quiet certainty that this moment is exactly where he is meant to be.

There is no hesitation in him. No self-doubt. No checking whether he is doing it ‘right’. There is simply movement, curiosity and joy.

Watching Marley run feels like a reminder of how growth begins. Not with strategy. Not with polish. But with permission.

• Permission to explore.
• Permission to get muddy.
• Permission to move before certainty arrives.

Creativity Begins Before Confidence

In coaching, people often arrive believing they need confidence before they can move. Confidence before they speak. Confidence before they create. Confidence before they lead.

Yet what I witness again and again — with Academy learners, senior leaders and coaches alike — is the reverse.

Confidence does not precede movement; it follows it.

Like Marley, most of us build confidence by running, not by standing still thinking about running. We build it by responding to what is alive in front of us, rather than waiting until everything feels certain or safe.

For a Senior Leader apprentice, this might be contributing to a strategic discussion before feeling fully formed.
For a coach, it may be trusting silence.
For a manager, applying learning immediately rather than perfecting it first.

Creativity and leadership both emerge through contact — with curiosity, with experimentation, with the willingness to step before seeing the whole path.

Coaching, at its best, offers permission. Not answers.

Coaching as a Landscape for Movement

I often think of coaching as a landscape rather than a process; a landscape where people are invited to move more freely, to test ideas, to shed old constraints and trust their own momentum.

Like a deep winter walk, coaching can feel bracing at first. Skin stings. Eyes water. There is a temptation to retreat to what is familiar and controlled.

Yet with space and support, something shifts. Stuckness softens. Energy returns. Movement begins.

Not because the terrain suddenly becomes easy, but because the person becomes more connected to themselves. More attuned to what they need. More willing to move without guarantees.

This is where coaching differs from problem-solving. The aim is not to tidy uncertainty, but to help someone stay present within it long enough for something new to form.

Winter, Discomfort, and the Value of Staying

Winter strips things back. It reveals what is essential. In nature, winter is not a failure of growth; it is a necessary phase of it. Hidden in soil and bare branches are possibilities we cannot yet see.

In coaching, many people arrive in a kind of internal winter. A role no longer fits. A way of leading feels tight. An identity that once served them has quietly become too small.

This brings me to the turning of the wheel through the lens of the Chinese zodiac.

The Year of the Snake: Shedding What No Longer Fits

The Snake is associated with shedding skins; releasing identities, habits and narratives that have become too small.

Over the past year, I have seen many leaders and learners in this process. Letting go of roles they have outgrown. Releasing ways of leading that no longer align. Quietly rewriting stories about who they thought they had to be.

Shedding is rarely comfortable. It can involve grief, uncertainty and exposure. When an old skin comes away, what is revealed underneath can feel tender.

In coaching, this space cannot be rushed. The work is not about immediately replacing what has been lost, but about honouring the shedding. Staying present long enough for something new to begin to take shape.

The Year of the Horse: Embodied Momentum

Where the Snake sheds, the Horse moves.

The Horse symbolises power, freedom, stamina and forward motion. It does not inch along cautiously, constantly checking behind. It moves with strength and direction.

What feels important here is that the Horse’s momentum is not forced. It is embodied.

After shedding comes movement that feels natural rather than effortful. Action that arises from alignment rather than obligation.

Marley, mid-run, captures this beautifully. His body, attention and intention are moving in the same direction. There is no fragmentation in him.

Many leaders stall at this point. They have done the difficult work of letting go, yet hesitate to move forward. Not because they lack capability, but because they are waiting for certainty. Waiting to feel fully ready.

The Horse invites a different question:

What if readiness is something you discover by moving?

Reflective Questions for the Year Ahead

As we step forward, these questions feel especially alive:

• What has already fallen away?

• What are you no longer carrying that once defined you?

• Where are you still standing still out of habit rather than choice?

And just as importantly:

• What is now free to rise?

• What wants to move — faster, bolder, more joyfully?

• Which part of you is ready to run?

For Academy learners, perhaps it is the part of you ready to contribute more visibly.
For coaches, perhaps it is the part willing to trust embodied wisdom over overthinking.

Choosing to Run

Marley, loving the cold air and open ground, reminds me that growth does not come from control. It comes from connection — to curiosity, to strength, to the quiet pull of what is calling us forward.

For some, this may mean speaking first in the meeting.
For others, submitting the proposal.
Applying for the role.
Having the braver conversation.
Coaching differently.

Not because you feel fully ready.

But because movement builds readiness.

Trust the ground beneath you.
Feel your strength.
And run toward what is calling you.

Movement will meet you there.

Final Thoughts!

As we move into the Year of the Horse, consider one practical action you can take that applies your learning in a visible way. Confidence develops through doing, not waiting for certainty. If you want to strengthen your ability to lead with clarity, ask better questions and support others’ development, our coaching and mentoring programmes provide structured frameworks, supervised practice and recognised accreditation to build those skills with confidence.