ESP In-Person Practice Fall Intensive
Intensive #1: Fri → Sun, March 12 – 14, 2027
Overview
The ESP Practice Intensives are optional, three-day, in-person experiences offered twice per year open to both Certification Cohort and Self-Led participants.
Each intensive blends guided demonstration, supervised horse practice, peer observation, and self-inquiry and reflection.
These immersive weekends bring the online curriculum into lived experience
where relationship, regulation, gesture, timing, and connection unfold through the body in conscious relationship.
Participants move through a rhythm of practice, reflection, and dialogue, discovering how somatic awareness, parts work, and equine partnership weave together through the body in conscious relationship with self, with horse, and within the shared field of connection.
Self-Led students are encouraged to attend the first Practice Intensive after completing Module 8 and the second after Module 13, aligning the in-person experience with the natural integration points of the course.
About Your Guide
Cara Gereau, LMFT
Founder of Equine Somatic Pathways
This offering is close to my heart. My intention is to support those working at the intersection of equine wisdom and human healing for those who recognize how our histories live in our bodies, and how those embodied patterns shape our relationships with horses and people alike. This course is also designed with the well-being of the horse centered, emphasizing equine regulation, choice and authentic connection.Â
What You’ll Come Away With
The Practice Intensives are where the learning becomes embodied. They bridge what you’ve explored in the course into skill, confidence, and relational artistry.
Through guided sessions, real-time supervision, and in-depth somatic practice with horses and peers, you’ll come away with:
 Embodied Understanding
- A felt sense of how relational dynamics, gesture, and regulation move through the body in yourself, in your clients, and in your equine partners.
- The ability to recognize and respond to subtle cues of attunement, misattunement, and repair as they emerge in real time.
Relational and Professional Fluency
- Increased clarity and confidence in facilitating relational, somatic, parts-based, and attachment-oriented work with horses.
- Practice offering interventions that are both precise and humane, grounded in nervous system awareness.
- The experience of witnessing, receiving and integrating live feedback, reflection, and supervision from Cara and peers.
 Integration and Creative Application
- The ability to translate your personal process into professional practice with sensitivity and artistry.
- A renewed connection to your intuitive leadership and your unique way of holding the horse–human field.
- A deeper sense of belonging in a community of practitioners who value conscious relationship, curiosity, and embodiment.
While online learning is a gift that reaches far and wide, nothing replaces the felt sense of practicing in person.
The intention is that you leave with greater knowing, deeper confidence, and community.
⏱ Structure
- 3 days total
- 3–5 hours per day, depending on enrollment size
- Small practicum groups: typically 3–6 participants for individualized feedback and ample practice time
- Each day includes:
- Grounding and orientation practice
- Demonstrations and guided discussion
- Individual and partnered horse sessions
- Structured self-inquiry and reflective writing or dialogue
- Group integration and closing circle
- Optional Evening Activities
Who It’s For
Certification Cohort Students
Self-Led Students
 Sep Cohort (September 2026 → September 2027)
|
Intensive |
Timing |
Suggested Dates |
Notes |
|
Practice Intensive #1 |
After Module 8 (mid-point) |
Fri → Sun, March 12 – 14, 2027 |
3 days · 3–5 hrs/day. |
|
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Refunds, Transfers & Weather
Because our intensives are small, immersive, and require advance planning with horses, all registrations are non-refundable.
If something comes up and you cannot attend, you may:
-  Transfer your registration to a future intensive if space is available,
• or offer your spot to another eligible participant with written notice.
You’ll receive all required waivers and safety forms ahead of time.
These must be completed before participating in any onsite equine work.
Minimum Enrollment
If minimum enrollment is not met, Equine Somatic Pathways™ reserves the right to reschedule the intensive. In this case, you may transfer to the new date or receive a full refund.
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Weather & Safety
We meet in West Marin, CA and work primarily outdoors with horses.
Our intensives run in light rain and normal seasonal weather.
If severe weather or unsafe conditions arise for horses or humans, the intensive will be rescheduled, and your registration will automatically transfer to the new date.
If air quality or wildfire conditions pose health risks, we will reschedule
Equine activities and somatic practices involve inherent risks. A formal liability waiver will be required prior to participation
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Travel & Lodging
Travel and lodging are the responsibility of each participant.
Registration is for the intensive only and does not include travel, lodging, meals, or insurance
If you are traveling in, we’ll provide suggested lodging options closer to the intensive date.
By registering, you acknowledge these policies and agree to the terms above.
Rachel, Trainer and Coach
I have done a lot of these trainings, a lot! This course is really well done, it’s so good.
Jacqui, Psychotherapist and Clinical Supervisor
I highly recommend this course to anybody in the field or anybody who works with horses in general!! Cars has created it with compassion and research!!! I will be recommending this to all of my supervisees!!!
Monica, Coach
This is an amazing course that I am super blessed to be a part of! It is eye opening and peels back layers that are leading me to the center of a deeper felt sense of relating. So many courses these days are super “thinking/cerebral thick” just it can be challenging for me to quiet my left brain long enough to be in the right brain experiences. Cara’s course is a beautiful balanced with ample invites and opportunities to be in the “feeling” of what somatic attunement offers all of us!  Highly recommend.
Sarah, Therapist
  The things that you teach us in the course are just so beautiful. I love that we can connect with our horses in a way that feels so safe not just for us but for the them. They can feel like they can be present with us and they dont have to go into flight or fight. I appreciate everything you are teaching us because it brings us closer.
