Frequently AskedQuestions

No. Most people who come here have never handled a horse, and nothing in the work assumes you have. The herd does not care what you know about them. They respond to how you carry yourself, which is a thing you already have with you.

No. All of it happens on the ground, alongside the horses rather than on them. That is what makes the work legible: standing next to a twelve-hundred-pound animal, your posture and your breathing become information you can actually read.

It is both, and the difference is worth being exact about. Equine assisted learning is experiential work on communication, relational patterns, leadership and presence under pressure.

It is not psychotherapy, and it is what corporate & private groups and institutions are booking.

Equine assisted therapy sessions are also experiential. Private, couples, and group or treatment center sessions are guided by Certified Shakti Ranch EAL Facilitators.

Graduates are Shakti Ranch Certified EAL Facilitators. That is a qualification to integrate horses into work you are already trained and licensed to do. It is not a license to practice psychotherapy, and it does not stand in for one. The two-part path is taught by Rose Mary Riggs, Emma Barnosky, PhD, SEP, and Angela Schellenberg.

Yes, and it is a large part of what happens here. Before this, Rose Mary spent her career as a change management analyst at Accenture advising Fortune 500 companies, so the room you are coming from is one she has worked in. Corporate programs are built around your team rather than run off a shelf. Executive off-sites, leadership development and team work all sit here.

Bring that with you. Nerves are not a problem to get past before the work starts; they are usually where it starts. Horses read tension accurately and without judgement, which means a nervous first ten minutes tends to be the most useful ten minutes of the day. Nobody is pushed toward an animal they are not ready to stand near.

Most sessions run ninety minutes, and horse time tends to run long. The introductory session with Rose Mary runs three hours, the children’s session fifty minutes, and the larger group workshop two hours; the rate card gives each one. Closed-toe shoes you do not mind getting dirty, long pants, and a hat with a brim, because there is very little shade in the round pen. Bring water and a snack.

In the hills above Malibu, California, at Shakti Ranch. The canyon cools fast after four, so the late afternoon is both the best light and the reason for the extra layer. Get directions.