I need to tell you about Spunky
This is 11-year-old me and the dear, sweet, Spunky.
Spunky lived in a straight stall. She was too small to see over the door. Her stall was dark. They asked me to exercise her, to help with her behavior in the lesson program.
I know I kicked her too hard sometimes. I also loved her.
I also had no control over her living conditions. And I didn't know what else she needed. I was praised for her improvements.
I used to call this my "horse trauma"—looking back and seeing the pain that so many horses I loved endured while me and others didn't know better.
But this isn't "horse trauma."
Spunky didn't traumatize me. The people who controlled these conditions did. This is trauma inflicted by people. It primarily impacts the horses. But we were impacted too.
And so there remains a space in my heart where I grieve for her. Where I still send love to her. Where, if I need to, I apologize to her.
Where I envision her in a field with her friends and forage and clean water, a soft place to lay down and sunshine. Where I remember our aligned good times together.
A place where I derive motivation to do better in her honor. And in the honor of many horses whose life experiences were like hers.
If this resonates with you, you're not alone.
Our Transformative Grief Group for Horse Folk Unlearning Traditional Horsemanship is for you. This is a space where we hold both the love and the grief. Where we acknowledge what we didn't know then, and commit to doing better now. Where we practice self-compassion and self-forgiveness. Where we honor the horses who taught us, even through their suffering.
This is our chance to heal together, to learn together, and to create the future our younger selves wish had existed for the horses we loved.
Group Details
🗓 February–July 2026 (meeting dates on website)
💻 Live virtual sessions (90 minutes each, once per month)
📕 Resource Library
👥 Limited to 15 participants to support depth and connection
Investment: $480 (early bird pricing) | $600 (regular pricing starts tomorrow night 2/7!)
The time to join is now. Early bird pricing of $480 ends tomorrow night 2/7—after that, the investment increases to $600. If you've been feeling the pull to process this grief, to find your people, and to step into a new way of being with horses, don't wait.
Transformative Grief Group Description
Beginning February 22, 2026 | Facilitated by Dr. Rebecca Cohen, Psychologist.
Many horse people experience grief while unlearning harmful or traditional horsemanship practices—grief for horses, for past choices, for professional identity, and for relationships or communities that may shift along the way. This grief is often quiet and isolating, even when the commitment to change is deeply intentional.
Beginning February 2026, I will facilitate a six-month peer grief support group for horse professionals who are navigating this process and want a supportive, thoughtful space to reflect and connect.
The group will meet once per month for a 90-minute live virtual session over six months. It offers a nonjudgmental, trauma-informed environment to explore grief, guilt, shame, anger, tenderness, and meaning-making—while centering accountability, self-compassion, and the wellbeing of both humans and horses.
This is a peer support and grief-processing group, not skills training or clinical therapy.
All funds go directly to Stable Grounds Therapeutic Farm Sanctuary to support ongoing programming.
Registration
If this offering resonates with you, please register using the link below. Spaces are filled on a first-come basis and registration will close once the group reaches capacity.
Support This Work
If you're not able to participate in the group but would like to support this work, you're warmly invited to make a donation to Stable Grounds Therapeutic Farm Sanctuary. Contributions help sustain our ongoing programming and make community-centered, values-aligned offerings like this possible.
This group is for horse folk who are willing to engage honestly, listen with care and confidentiality, and hold complexity as part of ethical growth.
You do not have to carry this grief alone—community can be part of the work.
The connection between slowing down to meet the horses and creating space to process our grief? They're the same practice.
When the world is spinning fast and our bones are buzzing, we need places to clear and connect. We need to slow ourselves down enough to perceive what we're actually feeling, to hear what needs tending.
The horses taught me this. And now I'm holding space for others to experience it too.
Whether you join this group, take those deep breaths in the cold air, or find your own way to slow down and tune in—please know that you don't have to speed through this alone. There is room to pause. There is room to grieve what needs grieving as we work together to bring forth what is new.
I'm here. The horses are here. And when you're ready, this community is here.
With care,
Dr. Rebecca Cohen & the SGS Team