Introduction to Horse Sound Baths
After telling me to close my eyes, the voice instructs me to notice the sounds around me. I hear the drone of Tibetan bowls mixing with an insect chorus, scattered yawns and what sounds like a flowing brook. Upon opening my eyes, I discover the ‘brook’ is, in actuality, a horse releasing a powerful stream of urine.
The Healing Equine Ranch
Kiki Ebsen is the owner of the Healing Equine Ranch in the Santa Monica mountains.
(Jennifer McCord / For The Times)
The, uh, water feature is thanks to August, a stallion. He’s one of five horses who have joined a group of about 16 attendees for Horses and Healing: Finding Strength After The Fires, a day-long workshop located on a ranch in the Santa Monica Mountains. The guests and I are seated on blanketed chairs, in-the-round inside a horse paddock. It’s part of a semi-regular session that the ranch’s owner Kiki Ebsen runs free of charge exclusively to those who lost their homes in the January fires.
The Sound Bath Experience
That little restroom break is August’s first contribution to the only sound bath I’ve ever had to sign a waiver for (I read and understood that horses could seriously injure me). The white-and-brown animal stands fish-eyed and proud beside Ebsen, who wears a subtly glamorous ensemble of bell-bottom jeans, dark V-neck tee, and tortoiseshell Prada sunglasses.
Meanwhile, Alison Ungaro, founder of the wellness non-profit UThrive Wellness, conducts the sound bath, gently circling the bowls with a mallet and intermittently hitting a small gong, while Ebsen guides her horses into the enclosure. As the animals churn the earth with their large hooves, nudge the participants and try to chew the blankets, numerous guests, including our photographer, begin to cry.
The Benefits of Horse Healing
“Everything here is done with heart and soul,” one of the participants, who has been to several of these sound baths, later tells me, tears in her eyes, “nothing has been as healing for me as the horse community here.”
Two participants are successfully lulled to sleep as horses walk around the sound bath circle.
(Jennifer McCord / For The Times)
In the past few months, right after the January fires, families who have lost everything in the widespread devastation have gathered here, at The Healing Equine Ranch, a horse-healing retreat nestled in the Santa Monica mountains and run by Ebsen. The daughter of legendary actor Buddy Ebsen, as well as a musician on the side, Ebsen has been teaching thousands to rein in the healing powers of the horse through experiential learning with her ten-strong herd. Workshops and retreats here typically range anywhere from $70 to $2,000, and encompass new-age activities like the sound bath I experienced and horse grooming through a neuro-somatic lens.
The Concept of NEIGH
Ebsen’s offerings combine yoga-informed mindfulness, breathwork, somatic meditation and something she refers to as “natural horsemanship,” a term that originated in the US in the mid-80s to refer to a broad range of non-abusive horse handling techniques. She refers to this blend as ‘NEIGH’ (Natural Equine Interactive Growth and Healing). Through co-regulating with the horses, the client should end the session in what Ebsen calls a rest-digest state.
“There’s ‘flight and flight’, which is anxiety, and ‘rest and digest’, which is feeling, you know, pretty good,” she told me on my first visit to the ranch, a few weeks before the sound bath. The hills and trees were almost neon green after several days of heavy rainfall, the horses especially sluggish.
The Science Behind Horse Healing
The fenced-off horses drift towards the sound of Alison Ungaro’s singing bowls.
(Jennifer McCord / For The Times)
Healing with horses is a time-honored tradition. Inmate horse programs help incarcerated populations process their trauma. Riding schools specifically designed for children with special needs aim to improve motor skills and coordination. Laying with horses was even featured as a bonding activity during more than one date on The Bachelor. For those seeking alternative therapies, numerous studies have found that the warm and sociable nature of horses has successfully facilitated psychological and physical repair, allowing humans to co-regulate alongside them and move past trauma responses.
The Role of Sound Therapy
Ebsen’s model, however, deviates from your usual equine-assisted physical and psychotherapy. Instead, she draws upon indigenous wisdom and yogic philosophies to focus on how horses can aid with nervous system regulation. According to Ebsen, the advantages of horse healing are supposedly amplified when paired with sound therapy, a practice that uses targeted sound frequencies, like those in singing bowls, to encourage relaxation.
Since horses are prey animals, they have evolved to respond to the subtlest of aural stimuli. When placed within the context of a sound bath, as I experienced firsthand, the horses are physically drawn toward the ringing vibrations, becoming visibly soothed, and seem to invite the same feeling of calm and deep attunement in humans.
Other Offerings at the Ranch
Ebsen also conducts breathwork and yoga workshops throughout the year. ‘Horse-Connections Breath’ invites guests to participate in mindful breathing exercises with the horses and is offered at $100. The ‘Yoga, Hiking, Horses’ package, priced at $75, includes a mindful hike through Ebsen’s expansive meadows, culminating in a guided meditation and yoga session in the presence of the horses.
Personal Experience with Horse Healing
Ebsen says her practice is very effective for people with PTSD, which is something I’ve carried with me since my sexual assault as a teenager. I’m also generally quite spiritually reserved (in other words, British), so I wasn’t sure the horses would help much. I was skeptical even. Still, as a L.A. resident for the past two years, I’ve already had my fair share of sound baths. Why not throw a horse or two in there? I was willing to try anything.
As the bowls rang through the paddock, it felt as though the trees, horses and guests were breathing as one. During the hour-long process, wherein Ebsen gradually filtered more and more horses in, most of the guests committed to having their eyes shut the entire time, seemingly undisturbed by the increasing number of horses who were trying to nibble at the cymbal in the center of the ring. I couldn’t help but laugh as August — the jokester of the herd — almost managed to knock over the instrument, filling the calm air with a jarring crash.
The Bond Between Humans and Horses
A woman opens up her palms for Rose, the lead mare.
(Jennifer McCord / For The Times)
The energy shifted when Rose, the lead mare, entered the ring. She trailed in slowly, solemnly, heading straight for a visually impaired guest. Rose lingered there for almost the entirety of the session, nudging her guest’s outstretched hand.
“That’s how they greet,” Ebsen told me a few weeks before, “their whiskers send signals straight up to their brain which tells them all about your smell, your hormones, everything.”
Conclusion
On the ranch, horses often become metaphors for our complicated human emotions. “Horses think through energy and pictures,” said Ebsen, meaning they communicate through pure expression, one unfiltered by the neocortex. “So, if you’re not acting in congruence with your emotions, our horses will call you out on it, and encourage you to simply be yourself.” Seeing Rose interact with the guest in this way, calmly trading energy with her, it became clear that the mare has met her match: a human who possesses total integrity of feeling.
Kiki Ebsen’s dog Luna during the sound bath.
(Jennifer McCord / For The Times)
Each client typically bonds with a particular horse. I am personally drawn to the most anxious among the herd — Cowboy — a crossbreed who holds his head in rigid panic, hair long and straight as a Long Beach girl’s.
FAQs
Q: What is horse sound bath?
A: Horse sound bath is a type of therapy that combines the healing powers of horses with sound therapy, using targeted sound frequencies to encourage relaxation and calmness.
Q: How does horse sound bath work?
A: Horse sound bath works by having horses present during a sound bath session, where the horses are physically drawn toward the ringing vibrations, becoming visibly soothed, and seem to invite the same feeling of calm and deep attunement in humans.
Q: What are the benefits of horse sound bath?
A: The benefits of horse sound bath include reduced anxiety and stress, improved mood, and increased sense of calm and relaxation.
Q: Who can benefit from horse sound bath?
A: Anyone can benefit from horse sound bath, but it is particularly effective for people with PTSD, anxiety, and those who have experienced trauma.
Q: How much does horse sound bath cost?
A: The cost of horse sound bath varies depending on the location and the practitioner, but it can range from $70 to $2,000.
