Epona Equestrian Services' advanced events include innovative approaches to the equestrian arts, and human-development workshops exploring creativity, intuition, emotional fitness and authentic community-building skills.
Participation in an introductory-level workshop, either at Epona or with one of the Approved Instructors, is required before advanced work.
- July 15-21, 2008 — Keeper of the Mysteries: Equine Archetypes for Initiation and Transformation
- October 2-10, 2008 — The Sentient Herd
- November 8-11, 2008 — Charting Your Own Course
- November 19-24, 2008 — Rasa Dance: The Music of Connection
The Sentient Herd: The Epona Approach to Riding, Training, and Caring for Horses
October 2-10, 2008
Workshop tuition includes lodging and all meals on conference days.
$3,300 for a private room with a shared bath in the conference center. (Limit 6) SOLD OUT
$3,600 for a private room with a private bath in the historic ranch house. (Limit 2) SOLD OUT
Limit: 8 participants
Participants will check in on Thursday, October 2nd from 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. The workshop begins at 4:00 p.m. and dinner is served that night. The workshop ends with dinner on Thursday, October 9th. Check-out is Friday morning, October 10th, after continental breakfast.
Facilitators: Linda Kohanov, Shelley Rosenberg, Cathy Huddleston
This advanced workshop, for people who’ve previously attended an introductory Epona workshop, applies the Epona Approach principles (emotional fitness, mindfulness, and authentic interspecies community building skills) to working directly with horses, taking into consideration the physical, mental, emotional, relational, and spiritual dimensions of both species. The Sentient Herd combines the talents and expertise of Epona founder/author Linda Kohanov in collaboration with ranch manager Shelley Rosenberg and assistant ranch manager Cathy Huddleston. Shelley is a certified judge, author, Epona Advanced instructor, and founding trainer of Epona’s innovative stallion program. Her extensive experience includes training/competing in diverse styles from western performance to grand prix level dressage. Cathy is also an Epona Advanced Instructor with over 30 years' experience training and showing horses in western performance, hunter/jumper, and dressage events. Separately and together, all three trainers have pioneered relationship-based training methods for young horses and stallions, in addition to helping thousands of people with “problem horses” develop close, mutually empowering interspecies relationships.
Throughout this extended clinic participants will explore innovative ideas on herd dynamics, as well as the challenges of balancing holistic and conventional ideas on riding, relationship building, nutrition, hoof care, breeding, socializing stallions, training young horses, and creating barn/ranch environments where both species can thrive. Other topics include finding the right horse and/or trainer for your specific needs, and keeping your horses fresh and engaged no matter what your goals.
Daily yoga sessions and mindfulness techniques are combined with riding and training experiences, teaching participants how to more efficiently and enjoyably develop what cowboys have been known to call “feel,” in the saddle as well as on the ground. The Sentient Herd ultimately explores ways of more effectively collaborating with these remarkable animals, of finding that often elusive balance between setting boundaries and giving your equine partners choices, as well as listening to the needs of your own body and soul. The week-long class includes a day of integration for relaxation, reflection, hiking, herd observation, etc. (optional services include massage, trail riding, and more advanced lessons in various disciplines.)
We welcome new horse owners, people who are just getting back into riding/training, as well as accomplished riders and instructors in all disciplines. Since this clinic involves a number of different riding activities and lessons, reasonable levels of human fitness/soundness/physical endurance are required. Some previous riding, training, and/or horse handling experience is suggested.
Click here to read comments from attendees of the November, 2007 Sentient Herd workshop.
This class is limited to 8 participants and involves a brief application process to help us create a balanced group of people who can more naturally support and learn from each other, in addition to helping the clinicians choose activities that will best serve individual needs.
If you would like to attend this 8-day clinic, please send a letter of interest to rasa@theeponacenter.com briefly outlining your horse experience, your training/riding challenges and interests, your general fitness level, where/when you attended a previous Epona workshop, and your goals for attending The Sentient Herd. Don’t forget to include your contact information (email and phone number). General questions can be directed to the Epona office: 520-455-5908 or booking@theeponacenter.com.
Cancellation Policy: Cancellation up to 30 days prior to the event start date results in a refund of one-half the workshop tuition. There is no tuition refund for a cancellation 30 days or less before the event start date.
Keeper of the Mysteries: Equine Archetypes for Initiation and Transformation
July 15-21, 2008
Facilitator: Linda Kohanov
Workshop tuition includes lodging and all meals on conference days.
$2,500 for a private room with a shared bath in the conference center residence or historic ranch house.
Participants will check in on Tuesday, July 15th, from 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. The workshop starts at 4:00 p.m. and includes dinner that night. The workshop concludes with dinner on Sunday night, July 20th. Check-out is Monday morning after breakfast.
This new advanced workshop offers Linda Kohanov’s latest insights into the power of horses as agents of initiation and transformation. And it is fitting that it will be held during the week of the full moon in July. Equine archetypes such as Chiron, the centaur and wounded healer (card 34 in the new Way of the Horse guidebook), Demeter, the mare-headed goddess (card 35), the Twins (card 36), and Pegasus, the winged horse and companion of the Muses (card 38), will be brought to life throughout the week through guided meditations, expressive arts and myth-making activities, and evocative activities with the Epona herd, some taking place during the light of the full moon. Upon registration, all participants will receive an autographed copy of the Way of the Horse: Equine Archetypes for Self-Discovery book/horse wisdom card kit, which will serve as the creative text for this multi-faceted experience.
All participants must have attended a minimum two-day workshop or 16 hours of private lessons/intensives with an Epona Approved Instructor to be familiar with the Emotional Message Chart, the Nine Skills for Authentic Community Building, the Body Scan, and some reflective work with horses. Linda will do a brief interview with prospective participants. Send a brief email of interest with your name, mailing address, telephone number and best times to call to rasa@theeponacenter.com or call the booking office at 520-455-5908.
Cancellation Policy: Cancellation up to 30 days prior to the event start date results in a refund of one-half the workshop tuition. There is no tuition refund for a cancellation 30 days or less before the event start date.
Charting Your Own Course
November 8-11, 2008
Facilitators:
Kathleen Barry Ingram,
MA, Co-founder of the Epona Apprenticeship Program
Wren Breedlove,
Physical Therapist, Certified in Hypnotherapy and Cranial Therapy
Featured Presenter: Linda Kohanov, evening lecture
Workshop tuition includes lodging and all meals on conference days.
$1,600 for a private room with a shared bath in the conference center residence. (Limit 6)
$2,050.00 for a private room with a private bath in the historic ranch house. (Limit 2)
Participants will check in on Saturday, November 8th between 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. The workshop starts at 4:00 p.m. and dinner is included that night. The workshop ends at noon on Tuesday, November 11th. Check-out is after lunch.
This advanced intensive will emphasize:
- Interpersonal and intrapersonal dynamics and group process
- Advanced Body Awareness and Centering Techniques
- Body Wisdom: Yours and the Horse’s
- Energy Dynamics
- QiGong
- Finding your balance: Using your Body’s Wisdom as your Guide
- Choosing the rest of Your Life from Your Center
Individuals are expected to participate in all of this advanced study program’s activities and personal growth experiences. Each experience will build on the previous day’s learning with the opportunity to fully engage in the nine essential skills of authentic community building. This will be a collaborative, creative opportunity and the process will evolve according to the herd dynamics and needs of the horses and the people involved.
Kathleen and Wren will be assisted by Epona Approved Instructors and the Epona Herd. The maximum number accepted for this program is eight (8) participants. Large group experiences will include lectures and teaching. Some of the experiential activities will be in small groups.
Participants who attended this Advanced Intensive in 2007 said, “This was awesome, beyond my expectations, being in authentic community was a gift and a challenge; I felt held in the sacred space of possibility by the whole staff and the horses; I really began my life again by Charting My Own Course; I embraced my crone years with renewed enthusiasm.”
This is an advanced workshop for people who have previously explored the Epona Approach to emotional fitness and authentic community building skills, and conscious interactions with horses, through a private intensive or workshop with one of our Approved Instructors worldwide. You can find introductory workshops on this website. See Introductory Workshops at Epona or Introductory Workshops Worldwide.
For more information contact the Events Coordinator at 520-455-5908 or booking@theeponacenter.com.
To register online and pay by credit card, click here.
Cancellation Policy: Cancellation up to 30 days prior to the event start date results in a refund of one-half the workshop tuition. There is no tuition refund for a cancellation 30 days or less before the event start date.
Rasa Dance: The Music of Connection
November 19-24, 2008
Facilitators: Linda Kohanov and Steve Roach
Workshop tuition includes lodging and all meals on conference days.
$2,500 for a private room with a shared bath in the conference center residence or historic ranch house.
Participants will check in on Wednesday, November 19th, from 2:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. and receive dinner that night. The conference starts at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, and ends with dinner on Sunday night the 23rd. Check out is Monday morning after breakfast.
Join husband-wife team Linda Kohanov and Steve Roach for advanced retreat exploring authenticity in action. Through interactions with the Epona herd and awareness-expanding musical experiences, participants will learn to dance with horses, exercising the ability to improvise with the ever-changing rhythms of relationships—and life.
As Linda observes in her new book The Way of the Horse: Equine Archetypes for Self Discovery, “Horses spend a lot of time milling around in rarefied states of being, but they also connect through movement. They keep to the yin, but they definitely know the yang. The Way of the Horse can open our conditioned bodies and minds to a whole new world of sensory and extra-sensory awareness. To make it all worthwhile, however, we must ultimately live in this expanded universe, learning to act and feel, assert and respond, all at the same time. Dancing becomes the metaphor for leading without dominating, learning to follow someone else without losing your balance or your boundaries---and, at some point, upping the ante to fluidly trade leads in true partnership.”
This workshop, open to nine people, offers a special rate for couples or family members sharing the same room. Please contact the Epona office at 520-455-5908 or booking@theeponacenter.com for more information on this option.
“Throughout the animal kingdom,” Linda writes, “mating is often characterized as a dance. Cultivating relationship, it seems, is more art than science, the language of love more musical than verbal….In human relationships, however, we often become impatient with the natural rhythms of engagement. Yet if we treat our significant partnerships with the same sense of discovery and delight we experience with music, we might actually revel in the ebbs and flows, harmonies and dissonances of our daily improvisations.”
This is an advanced workshop for people who have previously explored the Epona Approach to emotional fitness and authentic community building skills, and conscious interactions with horses, through a private intensive or workshop with one of our Approved Instructors worldwide. (A special one-day tutorial on these basic skills is also available on Tuesday, November 18 for an additional charge. Contact the Epona office for details.)
Cancellation Policy: Cancellation up to 30 days prior to the event start date results in a refund of one-half the workshop tuition. There is no tuition refund for a cancellation 30 days or less before the event start date.
Epona Advanced Study Experience (EASE) 2008
March 31-April 6 & September 8-14, 2008
Tuition: $6480 (US dollars) for two weeks. Includes training, core materials, and three nutritious meals per program day.
Facilitated by Linda Kohanov
The EASE Program is an in-depth, two-part exploration of the Way of the Horse led by Linda Kohanov. Sixteen (16) carefully chosen individuals will meet for a week late March and early April and a week in September at the Epona Center in Sonoita, Arizona.
Provided there are enough qualified EASE participants interested in becoming Epona Approved Instructors, a three-week Fast Track Apprenticeship Training program will be scheduled for them in 2009.
Prior to acceptance, applicants are required to complete at least one workshop with Linda or an Epona: Way of the Horse introductory level workshop offered by an Epona Approved Instructor. Please see the listings on the Introductory at Epona and Introductory Worldwide pages for qualifying programs. Direct experience of this work gives applicants and Epona instructors and staff a clearer sense of whether or not the level of mutual commitment required in this program is a viable undertaking for interested parties.
Preference will be given to participants who resonate deeply with the Epona Approach, who have understood and begun integrating in their personal lives the information taught in the Emotional Message Chart, the False Self/Authentic Self metaphor, and the insights gleaned from their own personal reflective round pen experiences at an Epona workshop.
The EASE program will further define and integrate the Nine Essential Skills for Authentic Community Building through reflective, active, and mounted work with horses and group process work with their two-legged herd members. (Based on the current Epona herd composition, maximum rider weight limit for mounted work is 210 pounds.)
The sixteen (16) individuals accepted into the program will be divided into four groups of four people. Each group will be assigned a facilitator who will act as a guide and advisor both at Epona and during the four months leading up to the second meeting in September. (Group facilitators are Epona Approved Instructors who have successfully completed the apprenticeship program and are actively engaged in their own practice of assisting individuals through the way of the horse.)
Participants will gain knowledge and experience in:
- Advanced Reflective Round-pen Work
- Qi Gong
- Active Round Pen Work
- Wu Wei
- Horse Dancing
- Intuitive Communication
- Consensual Leadership Techniques
- Reflective Trail Riding
- Equine Energy Work
SELECTION PROCESS:
Please take the time to thoughtfully answer the following questions and return your application as an attached Microsoft Word document to Mary-Louise at ml@theeponacenter.com.
Applicants will receive email notification as to whether or not they passed the paper-screening phase. Phone interviews for those passing will then be scheduled. The application process will continue until the program is full and a waiting list is established.
There is an $80 application processing fee. To pay online by credit card or for check payment instructions, click here. Be sure to select the EASE Application Fee category.
APPLICATION FORMAT:
Date application and include name, address, phone number, and email address.
- What was your initial experience with Epona? Indicate nature of experience (workshop, private sessions, or an intensive), the name(s) of facilitator(s) and of workshop(s), and dates.
- How has your initial experience with Epona influenced your life?
- How has this influenced your relationship with your horses?
- Which of the Epona concepts or activities were difficult to integrate when you returned home? For example, the concept of emotion as information, authentic community building skills, and the false self/authentic self metaphor.
- Which of the concepts were most useful?
- What area of interest appeals to you most during the year of the advanced study program?
- A significant emphasis in the EASE program will be on building authentic interspecies communities. Do you feel ready to participate in an intensive group experience which will require you to be able to sit with uncomfortable emotions, identify your own triggers, and hold the sacred space of possibility for others to allow them to move through their own process?
- Describe the role that intuitive insights and/or shamanic states of consciousness play in your life.
- Have you participated in a therapeutic group before? If so, how would you characterize your experience?
- Are you currently working with a counselor or spiritual advisor?
- If not, do you readily have access to a counselor or spiritual advisor?
- What is your current horse experience and do you have access to horses to work with throughout the study year?
- Please indicate if you have a desire to continue with Epona as an apprentice through the three-week Fast Track program the year following EASE.
- Do you have an idea or a desire to integrate this experience with your career or life’s work?
For more information contact booking@theeponacenter.com or 520-455-5908.