Partners in the Pasture

In Fall of 2017, I was introduced to Shan Bengtson from Mane Gate Coaching. We are both certified EAGALA Practitioners living in Roberts, WI. The EAGALA model is a two person model-you need an Equine Specialist (ES) and a Mental Health Professional (MH). As Shan has said, it felt like the moon and stars aligned. She needed an MH (me!) and I needed an ES (her!), and to think we only live 1.5 miles from each other. We began working together, and after less than a year, it seemed that the right thing to do was to merge into one business. Stable Relations, LLC merged with Mane Gate Coaching, LLC, to become Mane Gate Coaching and Equine Empowered Connections!!

Describing what we do is difficult. It is something that is hard to understand until you experience it. Sometimes, when people have experiences out in the pasture with the horses, we can't even explain it. When I talk to people about what we do, I'm sure many of them think I am just some crazy "horse person" who simply sees what I want to see between horse and human. I can understand why they think that. It does sound a little "out there". I am an animal lover all around. I swerve to miss squirrels! I find being around animals therapeutic for myself. Petting my dogs and cats makes me feel calmer. I believe that my dogs know how I am feeling to a certain point. However, being at the barn, around horses is different somehow. More so than dogs or cats, or any other animal, horses truly do have "horse sense". A keen awareness of their environment and who or what is in it, at all times. An awareness of any discrepancy in that environment. They know. They know how you are truly feeling, even if you are really good at hiding your feelings. They know if you are being authentic. They respond. They respond to our energy. They don't judge. And...if we let them, they teach.