Come spend a miraculous week in the heart Colorado’s Rocky Mountains, in a week of intensive, experiential time focused around our amazing healing and teaching friend – the Horse.
We have accommodations available to suit different people’s different tastes. You can either choose rooms in a large hotel with a hot tub and sauna, or a local bed and breakfast – whatever suits you best.
Amid the forests and the fields, you will come to know horses in new and exciting ways. Using practices like Meditation with Horses, Equine Assisted Therapy, Yoga on Horseback, and Therapeutic Riding in conjunction with different disciplines, principals and theories, you will also come to know yourself in a whole different way, and learn techniques to take home with you, that can change your life forever.
Every day includes healthy and delicious breakfasts, lunches and dinners, and you even have the option of our staff completely taking over your nutritional intake for the week, in order to further enhance your level of participation. Each morning after breakfast, you begin your day by meditating with the rescue horses at Mountain Valley Horse Rescue.
You arrive Sunday night, to some snacks and appetizers after your travels. There is plenty of time to unpack, and get comfortable, readying for a good night’s sleep, in preparation of the amazing week ahead.
Monday morning marks the introduction to your daily meditation practice of Meditating with the Rescue Horses. Just as you will for the rest of the week, shortly after breakfast, you will meet the rest of your group for one of a variety of meditation experiences focusing on the horses with whom you will be spending your week.
Your first day is spent with your feet on the ground at the Rescue – including a lecture and meditation on Healing with Animals, as well as experiencing more animal healing – in the form of group Equine Assisted Therapy exercises and a Destination Rescue experience filling the day. Although on Day 1 your time is not spent on the back of a horse, starting with your morning meditation, the horses will be your teachers and guiding your experience all along the way.
As Day 2 begins, after breakfast, you’ll be hopping atop a horse immediately following your Morning Rescue Meditation. But have you ever before spent time practicing Yoga on Horseback? If not, today will mark your introduction to this fine activity, but it won’t be the last time you participate during your time in the mountains. After lunch, your morning meditations will take new form as you bring them into the arena, and experience some easy going Mounted Meditation and Therapeutic Riding for the remainder of the afternoon.
On Day 3 we move into more traditional structures, with a morning filled with Western riding lessons. Following lunch, your group will return to the Rescue to spend some more time being of service to the rescue horses – with activities like cleaning pastures, moving hay, and grooming and feeding the horses. What night on the ranch would be complete without a country bar-b-que with live music and dancing?
We switch it up a bit on Day 4, as we practice the finer points of balance on horseback. In the morning you change tack for an English saddle, and by the afternoon, you and your horse will be fancy free – and you’ll be riding bareback like a pro!
Friday is a day of culmination, on our Bringing It All Together Ride. We start out with an integrative form of Yoga on Horseback, and set out on the trail! Along the way, learn not only about your horse and your riding, but also your surroundings, as your guide shares stories about local plants used by Native Americans for food, medicine, and parts of daily life. After your ride, you will participate in one final Meditation with the Rescue Horses.
Saturday morning you will find a lavish continental breakfast awaiting you, lending ample time and energy for a comfortable, leisurely departure.