Cowboy-core has dominated recent travel trends, with travelers living out Yellowstone fantasies via horseback-riding holidays and ranch escapes across the American West and beyond. But now, a quieter evolution is unfolding with the rise of out-of-saddle retreats led by horse-whispering women in closer-to-home pastures and further afield. These equestrian retreats are not about galloping into the sunset, but grounding into stillness with telepathy, breathwork, somatic awareness, and meditative herd immersion.

Part wellness stay, part spiritual recalibration, these equine-first escapes encourage guests to connect with horses, nature, and ultimately themselves by matching the animal’s nervous system in moments of shared calm. It’s the next frontier of equine travel: prioritizing communion over command while moving away from the language and methodology of ‘breaking’ a horse. For women especially, this shift feels deeply symbolic. In these grounding—and grounded—spaces, strength comes not from mastery but mutuality, and healing happens side-by-side.

Accessible to non-riders and seasoned equestrians alike, these experiences might be less physically demanding than days on end spent in the saddle, yet have the potential to be profoundly restorative, reframing the horse not as a vehicle of adventure, but as a mirror for emotional attunement. If that sounds intriguing, read on for a peek into the new wave of equestrian retreats where the exploration is more inward-looking than outward-bound.

Sterrekopje Farm, South Africa

Photo: Inge Prins

Tucked into the foothills of the Franschhoek Valley, Sterrekopje Farm is where regenerative farming, ancestral rituals, and rewilding find common ground. Among its olive groves and stone courtyards lives a small herd of three beloved geldings: two young Appaloosas, Leo and Kana, and a wise Percheron named Asher. “They’re very special horses with big personalities,” says resident horse whisperer Hayley Jade, who guides the herd with quiet intuition. In a serendipitous twist, she first met Leo and Kana only after arriving at Sterrekopje, unaware she’d once worked at the Namibian farm where they were born. “I think as humans, we share an ancient and spiritual connection with horses,” she reflects, “and my approach is to nurture that bond not just through riding, but from the ground.”

Photo: Elsa Young

Photo: Elsa Young

Twice a week, Jade leads horse meditation, a gentle morning practice during which guests simply sit in stillness among the herd. The horses are free to join or wander away, creating what she calls “a setting where connection happens without asking anything in return.” These equine encounters form a natural extension of Sterrekopje’s Wise Women retreats—immersive gatherings rooted in cyclical living, creative restoration, and the reclamation of embodied wisdom, which reflect the holistic outlook of founders and couple, Nicole Boekhoorn and Fleur Huijskens. Many of the ingredients used in The Bathhouse’s treatments are grown on the farm, the manor house’s original kitchen now acts as an apothecary to mix teas, tinctures and oils, while cacao ceremonies, full moon celebrations, and chakra-balancing take place across the Yoga Yurt, Soul Shed, and Atelier to provide a complete reset.

Miraval Arizona Resort & Spa, Tucson

Miraval Arizona

Photo: Courtesy of Miraval Arizona Resort & Spa

Celebrating its 30th anniversary this year with a Trust the Journey equine immersion weekend at the end of November 2025, Miraval Arizona Resort & Spa remains a pioneer of modern wellbeing—a 400-acre desert sanctuary where the Santa Catalina Mountains form a rugged and restful backdrop. At the heart of its offering is the Equine Experience at Purple Sage Ranch, a defining part of Miraval’s story since the beginning. Here, guests step into the arena not to ride, but to communicate and collaborate. “Listening to horses is as much about learning to hear ourselves more deeply as it is about them,” says equine program manager Lucinda Vette, who approaches each guided session as a practice in awareness and mutual trust. The horses are given complete freedom—to approach, to retreat, to express themselves naturally—allowing genuine connection to emerge through presence rather than direction.

Through mindful groundwork, creative exercises, and intuitive sessions such as Spirit of the Horse and Connection Over Perfection, participants become attuned to the subtle, non-verbal cues before them. A signature tool in this dialogue is The Way of the Horse Equine Oracle Cards, a divinatory deck used during equine workshops to deepen intuition, translate symbolic messages, and support inner clarity. “Spending time with horses on the ground without tools of restraint, can cultivate a deep connection based on authenticity and internal resources,” Vette explains. “By dropping the reins and learning to rely on subtle energy and intention, guests are invited to turn inward to find the presence and authentic emotional vulnerability needed to interact with a fully empowered, free-roaming horse.”

Nihi Sumba, Indonesia

NIHI Sumba

Photo: Courtesy of Nihi Sumba

On a remote Indonesian island where wild horses still roam golden beaches, Nihi Sumba has long been known as a place where nature and spirit move as one. Now, the resort’s equine program—Equine Healing at Nihi, founded by Carol Sharpe—is nurturing a more intuitive bond. “The evolution of the horse–human relationship is nothing short of profound,” says Sharpe. “For centuries, horses carried our physical weight. Yet the tribal ancients understood them differently, as carriers of the spirit.” What began with two small native ponies brought to the resort 12 years ago has grown into a holistic wellness practice rooted in empathy and energy awareness.

At Nihi’s clifftop spa sanctuary, the first of its kind to keep horses on-site around the clock for wellness purposes, guests are invited to slow down and explore the unseen dialogue between human and horse. In 2026, Nihi will introduce Telepathic Communication with Horses, a groundbreaking new retreat guided by Sharpe where impressions—colors, sensations, words—emerge as energetic exchanges with the horses. “Telepathy is a skill well-practiced in the animal world but less so in humans,” Sharpe explains. “When people begin to trust it, they discover an entirely new way of connecting, both with the horses and with themselves.” The results have been quietly extraordinary: guests describing emotional breakthroughs, couples finding renewed harmony, families discovering a shared calm. Both mystical and measurable, the sessions reflect what science has begun to affirm: reduced cortisol, balanced heart rhythms, and the felt sense of coherence that comes from standing in resonance with another being.

The Lodge at Blue Sky, Auberge Collection, Utah

The Lodge at Blue Sky

Photo: Richard Schultz / Courtesy of Auberge Collection

High in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah, The Lodge at Blue Sky, Auberge Collection, offers a kind of equine connection that feels both soulful and emotionally replenishing. Under the guidance of owner and lifelong horsewoman Barb Phillips, the resort’s equine experiences—which include Wisdom of the Horse, Healing Power of Horses, and Rescue Horse Rehabilitation—reflect a philosophy anchored to empathy, mindfulness, and trust. At Saving Gracie Equine Healing Foundation, the nonprofit founded by Phillips on the property, guests can witness equine diagnostic and therapeutic tools in action. The rescued and retired horses here are given individualized care (including nutrition, circulation therapy, and gentle groundwork) designed to rebuild both body and trust. “Every rescue horse I’ve met has had trauma,” says Phillips. “They never forget, but they will forgive. Getting them to trust me is all about it being their idea—never forced.”

Photo: Courtesy of Auberge Collection

Photo: Read McKendree / Courtesy of Auberge Collection

This same ethos of patience and presence shapes the resort’s signature programs. Wisdom of the Horse pairs guided breathwork with energetic exercises to help guests tune into the animals’ natural rhythms, while Healing Power of Horses offers families and groups a space to reconnect through the art of natural horsemanship. “When you open your heart completely to them,” Phillips reflects, “they give you insight into yourself—into the feelings you usually keep hidden.” More than a luxury ranch experience, Blue Sky’s equine program is a considered balance of human and horse, earth and empathy, care and reciprocity. “If more people took the time to really know horses,” Phillips says, “and not just use them as tools, the world would be a much kinder place.”

Riding Wild, Worldwide

For those still called to the saddle, Riding Wild is a nonprofit, trauma-informed collective founded by certified Equine Guided Empowerment facilitator, Aniela Gottwald. These accessible, women-led equine retreats around the globe provide a more mindful way to ride, with upcoming itineraries stretching from Iceland to South Africa. Each experience is designed as a dialogue between movement, nature, and the body’s innate intelligence, combining saddle time with breathwork, yoga, and somatic healing. “Horses speak directly to the nervous system,” says Gottwald. “They don’t respond to words—they respond to what’s real in your body. When your breath deepens, they relax. When you’re tense, they notice. For women conditioned to override intuition, that kind of feedback is transformative.”

In California’s Eastern Sierra, Taren Maroun, a somatic trauma and attachment therapist, guides riders through the ancestral lands of the wild mustang. Her integrative sessions weave ceremonial breathwork, shadow alchemy, and equine-guided somatic reprogramming into the experience. “Horses live fully in their bodies, fully in the present,” she explains. “When we allow ourselves to do the same, regulation and reconnection follow. These journeys become less about time away and more about a profound return to embodiment.”

This November, Candice Webster is set to co-host the collective’s first five-day Horse Healing Safari in South Africa’s Plettenberg Bay. “Horses carry a wisdom that transcends words,” she says, “connecting us to the earth’s energy, her rhythms, and the rhythms of our own hearts. They have been sacred companions in rituals, ceremonies, and transformative journeys—helping healers channel energy, restore balance, and awaken the soul.” Included within the itinerary, based at Belle Balance Bush Hideout, is a healing ceremony with Webster and her herd. Within this sacred space, the herd’s intuitive energy reflects each participant’s truth, helping to regulate the nervous system, dissolve barriers to the heart, and encourage deep release.

Committed to inclusion and reciprocity, Riding Wild also provides full sponsorships for local Indigenous women in the regions where it rides, fostering relationships that honor lineage, land, and future collaboration.

The Reflective Horse, UK, US, and Online

The Reflective Horse’s Cassandra Ogier.

Photo: Taren Maroun

For those longing to connect more deeply with horses—even from afar—The Reflective Horse offers pathways of exploration that span the US, UK, and Europe with immersive retreats, private sessions, and the Embodied Horsewomanship online course, which brings this exchange of energy into the digital realm. Each experience is guided, as founder Cassandra Ogier describes, “by the wisdom of the horse and the invitation to return to what is most natural within ourselves.” At its heart lies a research-backed reorientation from dominance to dialogue to achieve a more aligned awareness.

“My work explores the relational field between human and horse as a mirror for our own inner landscape,” Ogier explains. “Embodied Horsewomanship invites a return to presence, to the body as a source of wisdom and the subtle, somatic dialogue that unfolds when we meet horses in their natural state.” Much of this philosophy draws inspiration from the herd’s innate intelligence, and particularly, the lead mare—the calm, grounded direction-setter whose authority stems not from force, but from coherence and embodied trust. In the presence of horses, Ogier says, “we begin to harmonize with their nervous system.”

What follows is a masterclass in how to inhabit the body, soften energy, and listen through presence. Healing occurs not as something the horse does to us, but as something awakened through us: a gentle homecoming to the body, breath, and rhythm that connects all living things.