Respite Sessions

There’s a particular sort of ingenuity that happens when your nervous system is on high alert and there’s no choice but to take action. Once my internal system had moved from freeze to forward motion when the world locked down in the early days of COVID, it became obvious that most people, including myself, needed some space to get outside of their immediate surroundings, to get OUTSIDE in general. Outside with horses was just a bonus.

Rising from calamity, the Respite Session was born.

But Respite Sessions soon took on a life of their own. Creating non-riding sessions in a public riding school offered a sort of allowance that had been lacking up to that point. Respites permitted people, permitted the farm, to take a step back from the traditional obligation of a “riding lesson.”

We finally had the space to do what we should have been doing all along — groundwork.

And we weren’t doing groundwork because of bad weather or lameness in a horse. We weren’t doing it because the other plans for the session went sideways. As the entire world descended into collective COVID hell, we found respite with the horses because they offered us relief — as horses have been offering us all along, but we’re usually too busy to find it.

Today, Respite Sessions at Bramblewood Stables take many different shapes. For some clients, we may stand under a shady tree and brush a horse while the person talks about their week, or we find our way back to a sense of hope and longing that connects to our earliest memories of horses.

For others, we explore classical in-hand work and lunging as a way to better understand our horse’s physiology, building the horse up to greater strength and comfort one muscle at a time.

We might go for a walk with our horse in the woods.

We might stand in the barn and learn basic bodywork techniques that help the horse release stored tension.

We might use Respites as a way to introduce someone to horses for the first time or get them back into the flow of handling if they’ve been away from horses for a long time.

No matter what we’re doing in a Respite Session, the horse wins.

Respites allow us space to drop agendas, let go of control, and address the needs of the horse in the present moment. These sessions are shaped by the power of our hearts and not the rigid confines of our egos.

Respites give humans a chance to show up dressed in their very best selves. And if they haven’t felt at home in that skin for a while, the sessions are curated as a means to help them find their way back.

That’s our Respite Sessions in a nutshell. I have clients who begin working with us in these sessions and remain in Respites indefinitely. I have some who augment Respites with coaching. Others experience a Respite and sign up for a riding lesson. Many go back and forth between the three types of sessions.

As I consult other barns that are either changing or starting up a riding program, Respite Sessions are a design I preach. Few other options fit within the structure of a traditional, public riding center that align so well with my moral and ethical core.

Respite Sessions are a win for the humans, but most importantly — the horses. And they’re the whole reason we’re seeking barns out in the first place.

-Kim Carter