What is Equine-Assisted Mindfulness?
Equine-Assisted Mindfulness at Loveland Grove blends somatic movement, breath-work, energy awareness, and mindful presence; all grounded in the intuitive, healing nature of horses. Sessions take place in the round pen, known as The Circle, and along our wooded trails, offering a sanctuary where breath, movement, and stillness come together in rhythm with the horse and the land.
This is not just a calming experience - it is a scientifically supported and evidence-backed, trauma-informed practice designed to regulate the nervous system, support emotional wellness, and reconnect you to your body in a safe, embodied way.
What makes this approach different?
This work is rooted in research. Our sessions draw from evidence-based modalities in:
𖤓 Somatic therapy
𖤓 Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR)
𖤓 Polyvagal theory and nervous system regulation
Belle, our steady and intuitive mare, and Bunny, our curious and gentle mini gelding, play an active role in this process. Their presence invites honesty, softness, and grounded awareness. Through their body language and energy, they teach you how to tune in, listen, and respond - not only to them, but to yourself.
How This Work Can Benefit You
This work supports your body and mind in ways that are real, trackable, and long-lasting. Every session is designed to gently regulate and restore your nervous system. Here are a few core areas this approach supports:
Nervous System Regulation
In the presence of a calm horse, your body begins to co-regulate. You may feel your breathing slow, your muscles relax, your awareness sharpen. That’s not a coincidence - it’s your nervous system responding to safety and presence. Through breath, movement, and grounded attention, you learn how to come out of stress cycles like fight, flight, freeze, or fawn, and into a state of calm clarity.
This work helps build resilience, so you can handle life’s pressures without shutting down or burning out.
Nature-Based Restoration
The land matters too. These sessions happen outside - in The Circle or on forested trails - where wind, sun, birds, and trees become part of the healing process. Nature itself is a nervous system regulator. It grounds, calms, and helps shift our perspective.
Moving in rhythm with a horse through the woods… that’s a different kind of medicine. One you don’t forget.
Breath & Bodywork
You’ll be guided through gentle breathwork and somatic exercises designed to bring awareness to your body and energy. You’ll learn how to notice tension, shift your breath, and access grounding tools you can use any time you feel overwhelmed, disconnected, or dysregulated.
This isn't about “fixing” anything… it’s about building a deeper relationship with your own body and learning how to care for yourself from the inside out.
Mindfulness
Mindfulness isn’t just sitting still. In these sessions, mindfulness is practiced in motion: walking with a horse, noticing your breath, paying attention to body cues and energy shifts. You’ll learn to be where your feet are; not in your past, not in your future, but right here.
This practice teaches you how to listen… to yourself, to others, and to the quiet wisdom that lives beneath the noise.
While not psychotherapy, this work is meant to complement therapeutic care. It supports many of the same goals; nervous system regulation, trauma recovery, and emotional integration, but approaches them through the body first. For people who struggle to connect with traditional talk therapy, or who feel stuck trying to explain their experience in words, this kind of somatic, horse-led work offers another way in. It helps you reconnect to yourself through breath, movement, and presence, not performance or pressure.
Every session is held with safety, consent, and compassion at the center. We move at your pace. You’re never asked to push through or share more than you want to. The horses respond honestly and without judgment, helping you notice how you show up - and offering you the chance to try something new. It’s in that quiet space, grounded in relationship and rhythm, where the real shifts begin. This isn’t about fixing or forcing. It’s about remembering what calm feels like - and trusting it again.
Is it Therapy?
What are the session offerings?
We offer both solo and small group sessions, each guided by the steady, intuitive presence of Belle and the gentle curiosity of Bunny. Solo sessions provide a quiet, one-on-one space to explore breath, movement, and mindfulness with personalized guidance, allowing you to slow down and reconnect at your own pace. Whether you need nervous system relief or simply a moment of stillness, these sessions meet you where you are.
Small group sessions foster shared connection and empathy, inviting participants to move together with the horses and each other in a safe, non-judgmental environment. Here, the horses help hold space for mutual regulation and honest presence. In both formats, there’s no pressure to perform - just an open invitation to be present and responsive, letting the horses lead the way.
Never been around horses?
You don’t need experience with horses, or even comfort around them, to benefit from this work.
In fact, many people who come here have never touched a horse before. Some have fears, hesitations, or uncertainty. That’s okay. These sessions are slow, intentional, and consent-based — for you and the horses. You’ll never be pushed to do anything you’re not ready for. Just being in the presence of a horse, noticing your breath, and learning to regulate your own energy is enough to begin.
This is not about horsemanship or riding. This is about re-learning how to be in your body, feel your breath, and come into the present moment - with a horse as your mirror and guide. No previous experience needed. Just willingness.
“before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.
after enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.”
— Zen Proverb
What will you walk away with?
You won’t leave a session at Loveland Grove with a checklist or a fix. You’ll leave with something deeper: a felt sense of calm. A clearer understanding of what your body has been trying to say. A quiet kind of confidence that comes from being truly present - with yourself, and with a horse who notices everything and asks for nothing but honesty in return.
You may find your breath slows. Your shoulders drop. You might notice how you carry tension, or where your thoughts tend to go when you’re asked to pause. You’ll start to recognize the moments when you disconnect and begin learning how to come back. To your breath. Your body. The ground beneath you.
Every session is different. But most people leave feeling more grounded, more aware, and more connected - not only to the horse, but to themselves. The tools you’ll explore here - mindfulness, somatic awareness, breath, energy - are things you can carry into the rest of your life. In relationships. In work. In stress. In healing. You don’t just feel better for the hour. You learn how to meet yourself differently in every hour that follows