Myth
Movement
Horses

A long time ago, in a land far, far away…

*screech* cue the record scratch! Hold up.

You may be thinking: What do stories have to do with my life and [insert crisis] right now?

We know one thing: A weekend outside with horses. Working with myths and stories. And moving our bodies physically.

It does change your life. We've seen it happen in real time, again and again. When we see it, name it, and create a movement around it - everything changes.

You reset emotionally.
Whether you're in a tailspin from relationships ending, divorce dragging on, workforce layoffs, or crises piling up in your life and on your screen.

You reset physically.
After 3 days, one person had a Garmin Training Readiness score change from 6% to 93%.

You reset spiritually.
Being in relationship with the horses. Outside in nature. Deep rest, gentle movements and easy to access practices.

Here's what others say:

"The horses care for and guide the experience as Katy May interprets each movement into new levels of sensitivity and awareness. I had no idea how impactful it would be!"

- B.

"It changed my life, and helped me realize why my business wasn't working out for me."

- T.

Why do humans tell stories to each other?

I wonder if maybe we humans only exist to tell stories. That stories made us up so they could stay alive! ;)

My lineage is a long line of storytellers. Folktales, fairy tales and myths were the landscape of my childhood - and continue to be guiding elements in my life.

Hi. I'm Katy May Spencer.

I'm a student of nature, horses, and stories.

I've built and lost entire lives: Pivoted from a fast-paced New York City life working in social impact companies and tech, earned my MBA from Oxford Uni, and have built and failed at building companies. Failed, because none of the things I created felt as right or as good as I was told they would.

So I turned off the path, and spent a year in the woods on 250 acres of old growth forest. I learned to live with the land while stitching my life together in a new way, piece by piece.

Most significantly, I remembered how to learn directly from the natural world around me: From plants, from horses, and from the stories we live and tell each other everyday.

Now I teach, write and provide experiences with horses. I explore their wisdom & all that I can learn from them. Teams, companies, and individuals come to learn the transformative power of relational leadership, systemic tools, creative practices, and how tools like stories provide us the maps to our hearts.

Sharing this work with companies, teams and you is my greatest joy.

Connection with horse

Here we go beyond passive listening.

We embody the myths. We bring the archetypes, the settings, and the symbols within a story to life. Enacting them in the pasture – and bringing that vitality into our lives!

If you're wondering: where's the fairy tale that starts with me squeezed into an overcrowded NYC subway car? Or watching the minutes tick upwards instead of down in bumper to bumper on the 10 freeway? Or on the DC metro unexpectedly stopped between stations? Where is the fairy tale that meets me where I am? And could a child's fairy tale help me?

Then come learn the myths, dance with them in the pasture, and bring yourself to the horses.

Myth maps the way. Horses bring the presence. Movement leads us home.

With Horses

Close your eyes. Imagine that rhythmic sound of hoofbeats galloping towards you. Echoing the galloping of your heartbeat.

What do you feel when you think of horses?

You may not think of how horses are 50 million years old. And how much longer that is than modern humans at just 300,000 years.

You may not think of how they are intricately designed to observe and respond to their surroundings.

With eyes that see movement up to a mile away. With a powerful sense of smell that can scent your fear and your joy. And finely tuned shell-shaped ears that pick up far more than human ears.

The part of their brain that processes all this information is 7 times that of a humans, relationally speaking.

But what you may think of is

Freedom

Majesty

Speed

And you'd be right.

There's a reason horses are the symbols that carry Tibetan prayers to the gods, as Lung Ta, the Windhorse. They inspire a sense of connection, of the divine, and of ourselves in rightful place in our world.

After years of teaching and learning from horses and mythology, we've found that even just 3 days in space with the horses and working with stories – it changes us. In a good way.

It illuminates the spaces we have chosen to avoid.

We walk the path into the dark woods.

We meet the scary witch, the Baba Yaga, the hunters and huntresses that live in the shadows.

And we bring it out to meet us. In the light of day, in the pasture, and with the horses.

Retreat moment
Ojai Mountains
Connection moment

Here's What's Happening

You'll spend three days with horses, supported by myth and maps, movement and stillness.

We start our days with Cha Dao tea; a quiet moment to sit in silence. In the pasture, with the herd. Communing with the day as it opens around us.

We'll explore a myth. Unpack the archetypes and the symbols, the journeys and the destinations. Through constellation work, the myth becomes alive. We take it into the pasture and embody different aspects.

And then we write it as our own.

What happens when you make a myth of your own life? What will emerge from your dark woods, your underworld, and your fairytale castles, temples and caves?

The body brings it home. Movement, dancing to the edges of trance, and the contrast of stillness.

Where do you go when you lose yourself? And what do you come home to?

These are the questions. This is our journey.

Friday, Sep 18

Noon: Arrive at Wild Qi for optional biomarker testing (blood draw, vitals, questionnaires)

Afternoon: Opening circle. We explore a myth, open the body, and map our starting points.

Dinner: Nourishing meal prepared with local ingredients

Night: Yoga nidra to soften into the container we're creating together.

Saturday, Sep 19

Morning: Cha dao tea meditation as the sun rises.

Mid-morning: Myth work. We'll explore ancient stories as maps for the territory you're walking through right now. We will be primarily working in the pasture with Grace and Spirit.

Lunch: A locally-sourced, nourishing meal will be provided.

Afternoon: Constellation therapy sessions in the pasture with Grace and Spirit. They move freely among us while we work. A guest teacher will lead a component.

Evening: We will close by 5pm, which gives you plenty of time to head into town, get dinner, have integration time and an early rest at your hotel or homestay.

Sunday, Sep 20

Morning: Cha dao tea ceremony.

Mid-morning: Movement Class with special guest teachers

Lunch: A locally-sourced, nourishing meal will be provided.

Afternoon: Closing circle. We speak what we're taking home, what we're leaving behind, what we learned from the horses.

Departure: We close by 4pm, so you can get to your next destination with ease.

Where Science Meets Spirit

But unlike any other retreat you've attended, you'll also have the option to participate in biomarker testing over the course of the weekend. Together with the medical team at Wild Qi clinic, we will explore the physiological impact of this work on your body.

What if you could actually measure the moment your nervous system shifts from survival to safety?

What if the healing you feel in your body: the loosening in your chest; the steadiness in your breath. What if you could see those in your test results?

This Fall Equinox weekend, we're running an experiment at the intersection of ancient healing modalities and modern science.

And you're invited to be part of it.

Before the retreat, you'll get baseline readings: cortisol levels, heart rate variability, blood pressure, inflammation markers.

During the retreat, you'll do the work: horse constellation sessions in the pasture with Grace and Spirit (two wild mustangs who hold space like nobody's business), group work where your patterns become visible, myth work that gives you language for what you're carrying, movement that lets your body speak what words can't touch.

After the retreat (one week and 30 days out), you'll test again. We'll see what changed—not just in how you feel, but in what your body is doing differently.

This retreat is supported by the Wild Qi Clinic, with medical oversight on the testing protocols. There is no additional cost for participants who opt into the biomarker study.

What You'll Experience

In a horse experience, we don't ride the horses. You might not even touch them (unless they choose to come to you, which they often do). Instead, Grace and Spirit roam freely in the pasture while we work.

One person brings a question or pattern to the field. Other participants are chosen to represent different parts of the system—a mother, a father, a challenge, a fear, a longing.

You stand in the pasture as these representatives and notice what your body feels: drawn forward, wanting to turn away, a tightness in the chest, a softening.

The horses respond. They move toward certain people. They stand sentinel near others. They turn their backs or lower their heads or simply witness. Their movements reveal what's hidden in the system—the unspoken grief, the inherited loyalty, the place where love got interrupted.

It sounds mystical because it IS. But it's also utterly practical. You leave knowing something new about why you do what you do, why certain patterns repeat, where the break happened and what wants to be woven back together.

Is This For You?

This Retreat Is For You If:

  • You've done enough talk therapy to know that some things live in the body, not the mind
  • You're drawn to horses but don't know why, and you're willing to find out
  • You're in a transition (Saturn return around 30, Uranus opposition around 40, or just in the messy middle of a life pivot) and need something more than advice
  • You're curious about whether healing work actually changes your biology—not just your mood—and you want data
  • You want to be held by something bigger than your individual effort while you do hard, tender work
  • You're ready to stop white-knuckling your way through and let the herd, the land, and the group carry you for a weekend

This Retreat Is NOT For You If:

  • You're uncomfortable with silence, ambiguity, or not knowing the answers yet
  • You want concrete action steps and a business plan
    We love a gorge business plan! But come to our other retreat for Systemic Business work. This weekend is for myth and story work.
  • You're looking for a wellness weekend with massages and mimosas
    We loooove a good poolside massage! Please do treat yourself at one of the great spa's or hotels in town!
  • You're allergic to horses
    we're so sorry!

About the Horses

Grace and Spirit are the Mustangs of our herd. Grace was born in the wild mustangs. She knows sovereignty. She knows survival. She knows how essential connection is.

Spirit was labeled a 'difficult' horse and dropped off twice to the humane society.

He knows that he's been hurt by humans. He freezes – and he has learned to trust. He is now the Greeter, welcoming people into the pasture, and walking them to the gate at the close.

Together, they show us herd dynamics.

And they both deeply know when someone is performing a feeling versus actually feeling it.

They don't have an agenda. They don't try to fix you. They just show you what's true.

People often cry in the pasture with them—not because something sad happened, but because something REAL happened.

The horses saw them. Really saw them. And didn't look away.

That's medicine.

Reserve Your Space

Early Bird

until July 15
$1100

Second Wave

until August 15
$1300

Full Price

August 15 - September 15
$1600
Accessibility pricing available on request. If the cost is a barrier and you feel called to this work, reach out. Let's talk.