I am a planner girl through and through. This applies to all areas of my life including the horses until Meri taught me a lesson.
I walked out to work with Meri, my queen energy girl, fully intending to do a gentle connection exercise. I had a plan. A sequence. A vision for how the session should go.
But the moment I stepped into the paddock, Meri lifted her head, looked at me, and walked away.
Not far. Just enough to make it clear.
“Not like that,” she said without saying a word. “Slow down. Check yourself first.”
And honestly? She was right.
I had arrived with a subtle undercurrent of “let’s hurry up and do the thing.” A push. An agenda. A little bit of that old Laura who tries to stay in control when life feels big or uncertain.
Horses don’t respond to that energy. They don’t play the game. And that’s what I love most about them.
They choose.
Yes, they participate.
Yes, they partner with us.
But they do it from a place of agency and autonomy—not obedience.
That’s what makes horse medicine so potent. You’re not interacting with a tool. You’re in relationship with a sentient being who has a say.
Agency Isn’t a Horse Thing. It’s a Life Thing.
Later that day, as I was putting hay out for the herd, it hit me:
We don’t give ourselves the same agency we give the horses.
We override our bodies. We push past our truth. We say yes when everything inside says no.
We stay when our spirit wants to move. We force outcomes instead of feeling our way into them.
We become the handlers of our own lives – controlling, corralling, and directing ourselves the way we would never treat these animals we respect so deeply.
Horses remind me daily:
You’re allowed to choose.
You’re allowed to pause.
You’re allowed to take a few steps back until it feels right again.
They don’t apologize for needing space. They don’t justify their boundaries. They don’t shrink to make anyone comfortable.
They show up exactly as they are and expect us to meet them with the same honesty.
The Mirror We Don’t Expect (But Always Need)
When Meri chose to take those few steps back, she wasn’t rejecting me. She was reflecting me.
She was showing me where I had slipped into old patterns:
- trying to manage the moment
- prioritizing the plan over presence
- letting the “shoulds” run the show
- forgetting that connection isn’t something you force—it’s something you allow
It’s humbling how quickly horses reveal what we’ve become blind to. Not through judgment but through clarity.
Why This Matters for What I’m Creating in 2026
This is exactly why the Horse Medicine Experiences I’m opening in 2026 are designed the way they are.
They are not about fixing or about performing healing. They are not about forcing insight or breakthrough.
They are about choice.
The horses are never made to engage. Nothing is rushed or demanded.
You don’t come to “do the work.” You come to listen to your body, your truth, your timing.
The medicine doesn’t come from being led. It comes from being met.
And what I’ve seen again and again is this:
When women are finally given a space where nothing is required of them, something honest emerges. When no one is trying to manage them, they begin to trust themselves again. When agency is restored, clarity follows.
That’s the work.
Not transformation for transformation’s sake but remembering how to live from choice instead of conditioning.
An Early Invitation
If this story stirred something in you. If you felt yourself nodding when I talked about overriding your own truth. If part of you is quietly craving a different pace, a different way of listening.
I’m opening a small number of Horse Medicine Experiences for women who are ready to stop forcing their lives forward and start partnering with them instead.
No fixing. No performing. Just presence, agency, and the kind of clarity that only comes when you’re finally allowed to choose.
Photo by Julie Harris/Julie Harris Photography