Horses and yoga…they naturally go together! That’s why I was excited when I found this yoga and horse riding retreat!

If you’re familiar with horses at all, you know the healing power they hold. Their gentleness, their quiet ability to just stand and BE while we spill out our emotions while brushing them. They are good listeners, with no negative feedback and no judgment. Horses are naturally intuitive and sensitive to their handler’s moods.

If you were lucky, as I was, and had horses as a teenager, you know well how they heal all teenage hurts. I remember having bad days at school and going out to the barn to groom my horse. I’d groom her for hours, telling her about my day and the wrongs that had been done to me – real or imagined. I had one horse, a mare, who was my first Heart Horse. On a warm summer evening, we’d spend hours, me on her bareback, staring at the stars, she undoubtedly snoozing, just content being together.

Horse Therapy

The therapeutic use of horses goes back to ancient Greece. In fact, Hippocrates wrote a chapter on “natural exercise”, which talks about horse riding as being a healthy exercise. Mercurialis, a physician and philosopher from Italy, made references to the physical benefits of horse riding in his publication in 1569, as did Tissot, a physician and early physiologist of France in his publication in 1780.

Over the years horse therapy has helped thousands of people with physical ailments such as polio and cerebral palsy, but even more prominently with PTSD, Autism, substance abuse, and many other challenging situations and disorders. Here’s an article with much more information if you want to delve deeper into this: Equine-Assisted Therapy: Physical and Emotional Benefits.

Yoga

If you’ve been out from under a rock anytime in the past 30 or so years, you’ve heard of how this ancient art has become an extremely popular form of exercise and relaxation. In fact, between 2012 and 2016, practice of yoga by Americans has increased by 50%! And the number of “over 50s” practicing yoga has tripled over the last four years.

The benefits of yoga include stress relief, increased flexibility, lessening of back and other aches and pains, and generally a good form of exercise, since it is easier on your knees and other joints than, say, kickboxing.

Yoga is also an excellent way to get fit to ride horses! Here’s an article on Getting Fit for Your Horse Riding Holiday

Horse and Yoga Retreat

This awesome yoga and horse riding retreat brings these two ancient mindfulness arts together beautifully. They are both forms of physical activity that can be tailored to fit the individual, and they both reduce stress levels and open your heart!  The Equine Therapy and Yoga Retreat is held in the beautiful Sierra Nevada Foothills only hours away from LA, San Francisco, Sacramento, and Reno/Tahoe.

This horse and yoga retreat is 5 days, and the cost includes food, lodging, and all retreat activities. PLUS, you are staying at a homestead that includes 100 wooded acres, and 10 miles of hiking, with a creek and a waterfall!

The accommodations for this yoga and horse riding retreat, The Forest Homestead at the Yuba River Retreat, is spacious and well-appointed, with 7 bedrooms, 4 indoor bathrooms, a separate bathhouse, 2 living spaces, and a game room. It is a uniquely organic property, with bamboo floors and window blinds, organic sheets and towels, and natural personal care products. 

The Instructors

Jocelyn’s day job is being a home birth midwife in Los Angeles. She grew up in the suburbs and her parents wouldn’t buy her a pony so she settled for Girl Scout camp to get her horse fix.

Years later she signed up for horseback riding lessons in LA and learned Heart Centered Horsemanship in Nevada County. Jocelyn found that being around horses was grounding and anxiety-eliminating in a way that other historically effective therapies couldn’t quite match. She found that she didn’t even have to ride to feel the benefits of this informal “horse therapy” –  groundwork, barn maintenance, and grooming had the same effect. 

Katherine first started yoga at 11 years of age, and when she was 17, she signed up for her first teacher training with Santa Monica Yoga. Under the careful instruction of Nancy Goodstein, Kyra Haglund, and Shari Friedrechsen, she completed 200 hours and began to teach.

Katherine is based in Los Angeles, California and offers in-home private yoga, in-office yoga, and meditation as well as yoga retreats locally and abroad.  Her style of vinyasa class organizes the anatomy and the breath-led movement toward a peak pose through sequencing that builds and expands. Each class offers includes hands-on adjustments (with your permission), breathwork and meditation.

Warm, friendly and immensely intuitive is a good start in describing Skip Bertuzzi, and only scratches the surface. Skip is now in his 11th year running ranches aimed at the healing and growth of ‘humans’ through heart-centered horsemanship. While Skip is a horse trainer, he also loves working with people.  He works to implement a safe, relaxed, enjoyable, and educational environment with loads of encouragement. 

Skip will instruct you on how to accomplish the artful riding skills of connecting with yourself and the horse, mutual respect, and the ability to recognize and identify signs that horses give and how they communicate.  One method on Skip’s path to balance is to have you ride bareback. Without the saddle, you must surrender to the horse’s movement helping you become one with the horse. 

There is a magical transformation happening as you surrender to the horse. As you harmonize with the horse’s movement, your confidence and creativity will be given freedom. This process will help you move into the “now” and can be applied to your everyday life.

You can read more about these awesome instructors, the other people involved, and the horses on their page Equine Therapy and Yoga Retreats.

Since this is their introductory retreat, pricing will never be as low as it is now. Space is limited, and so hurry up and sign up!