Why Horses

Horses have survived for millennia by reading their environment with extraordinary precision. They sense what is real beneath what is presented. They pick up on the tension in your shoulders, the held breath, the unspoken grief, the conflict you may be carrying.

They don't respond to your resume, certificates, diplomas or your reputation. They respond to your nervous system, your body language, the interior weather you carry into the pasture. And they offer something rare in return: honest, nonjudgmental presence. No agenda. No fixing. Just a large, sensing, breathing creature standing quietly alongside you. And sometimes that is exactly what allows something true to surface.

Women who spend time with horses in this way often describe it as the first time in a long time they they have felt genuinely met and fully present. There’s no one evaluating, advising, expecting, or managing.

Something happens in the pasture that I can't fully explain.
I've watched it enough times now that I've stopped trying to explain it and started trusting instead.
- Julie

A woman arrives carrying something heavy. She may enter the pasture guarded, uncertain, performing. And then…something shifts. The horses don't ask her to be different. They simply respond to what's real. And in that honest, unhurried presence, she begins to remember something about herself she had forgotten. It just happens naturally.

Her Untamed Story is a one-on-one equine presence practice for women. It amounts to 3 sessions in the pasture, 3 integration conversations, aligned with one thread of your life (which we’ll formulate in the first session) followed with care and honesty.

Come as you are. The horses will meet you there.

What to Expect

Sessions take place entirely on the ground. We will walk, observe, and be present near the horses in the open pasture. Your guide and facilitator, me (Julie) holds the space with care, guides reflection, and helps you make meaning of what arises. We will ask for divine guidance as we start the session. Everything that happens around us during the session is information. Bird sounds, a soft rain, a chainsaw in the distance! Whatever God offers is potential information to become part of your current story.

Session One · Arrival
Come as you are.

You arrive at the farm and are welcomed to the land. We begin outside the pasture, observing the horses as they move freely, paying attention to what you notice, letting your body begin to settle. After a brief and grounded orientation to being safely near horses, we enter the pasture and simply be.

This first session is about arriving in your body, on this land, in honest contact with what you're actually carrying. The horses respond to what's there. Often, what surfaces surprises the women who come here. That surprise is the beginning.

Within the week following your first session, you and Julie will connect by phone or video. This is a 30 minute integration conversation to talk about what arose and carry it gently forward.

Session Two · Uncovering

You return to the pasture with the thread from your first session in hand. This time there is more familiarity, with the land, with the horses, with yourself in this space. The second session tends to go deeper more quickly.

What patterns are emerging? What is the horses' presence revealing about how you move through the area of life you brought here? What has shifted since you last stood in this field?

Your second integration call follows within the week.

Session Three · Returning
Carrying your story forward.

The third session is more about integration and forward movement. You've arrived, uncovered, and now you return again. What have you learned? What gets to stay in the pasture? What are you carrying home?

This final session often holds both grief and relief, clarity, and more to explore in the future. The grief around what we've been carrying unnecessarily, and the relief of setting it down. The horses are present for all of it.

Your third integration call closes the series. It honors what has unfolded and names what you're stepping into.

Fees

Her Untamed Story is offered on a community care model that makes this work accessible across different seasons of life.

The Untamed Story package is offered in three sessions with the horses + three integration calls.

Sliding scale follows:

$780 — This level supports your work and the work for someone who cannot afford it right now. Thank you for making that possible.

$580 — The suggested investment for those able to pay.

$380 — Available for those in a different season. Payment plans also available.

If you are a part of a recovery group and working through the 12 steps or something similar, please let me know. We have scholarships available to support your continued work here with the horses.

Begin Your Story

Send Julie a Message

Sessions are offered seasonally at Mountain Spring Farm in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina. Scheduling is personal and intentional. Please reach out to explore availability.

About Julie

I’ve worked with horses and people for 16 years with a variety of different trainings supporting that work (you can read more about that here). I am passionate about doing this type of practice and offering these services because, I like to say lightly, “I’ve seen too much.” I’ve been in awe at how sacred it is when people encounter something larger than themselves in the company of the land and its creatures.

Want to go deeper into spiritual formation and contemplative practice? Go to our Via Lumen area of the web site for more.