The Season Between: A Sacred Connection with Horses Gathering

The Season Between

There is a particular quiet that arrives in November.

The brilliance of October has begun to fade. Leaves have fallen from many of the trees. The fields are becoming spare. The light changes. We can see farther into the woods than we could only weeks before, yet winter has not fully arrived.

We are somewhere between.

On November 7, we will gather with the horses during this quieter passage of the Samhain season — after the great turning, but before winter asks us to settle fully inward.

There is something beautiful about spending this part of the year with horses. Their winter coats are coming in. Their bodies have already registered the shortening days. They do not seem concerned with hurrying toward the next season. They stand in November exactly as it is.

Perhaps there is something here for us.

So much of our lives is spent anticipating what comes next. We want to know where something is going, how a story will end, when uncertainty will resolve itself. We mark beginnings and endings clearly, but much of life is actually lived in the middle — after something has changed and before we know what will take its place.

This morning is an invitation to spend some time there.

Not trying to solve the in-between.

Simply noticing what it feels like to inhabit it.

The horses will be our companions as we explore the quieter landscape of late Samhain: what has fallen away, what has become visible in its absence, what remains beside us, and what may still be taking shape beyond our knowing.

Our Gathering

• We will begin inside in warm circle with hot herbal tea, taking time to arrive and settle into the morning. We will talk about this later passage of Samhain and the peculiar beauty of a season that is neither autumn as we usually imagine it nor winter quite yet.

• Each woman will draw a card from a seasonal oracle deck before we go out to meet the horses. There will be no need to decipher it or find an immediate answer. We will simply allow its image, story or words to accompany us into the morning.

• As we make our way toward the horses, we will begin with a slow forest bathing walk, noticing the November landscape around us — what is different now, what has disappeared, and what has become visible because something else has fallen away.

• Before entering the paddock, we will spend time observing the herd. We will watch how the horses inhabit their own in-between spaces: moving and resting, approaching and leaving, standing alone and seeking companionship. We will notice without needing to interpret everything we see.

• We will then spend time with the horses at liberty. They may approach, move away, remain close or continue quietly with their own morning. Nothing will be asked of them, and there is no particular encounter we are trying to create. Instead, we will practice meeting what is actually happening rather than reaching for what we hoped might happen. (in case of inclement weather this portion will be held in the inside ring)

• Throughout our time together, there will be gentle seasonal invitations for noticing what remains when the landscape becomes quieter. We may consider what we are still carrying from the year behind us, what has become clearer with time, and what in our own lives may still be unfinished, uncertain or simply waiting.

• After our time with the horses, we will return indoors for hot herbal tea, journaling and conversation. There will be space to reflect on what we noticed among the herd and what the morning may have stirred in us, without any expectation that everything needs to be put into words.

• Before we leave, we will draw from a second oracle deck. One card accompanied us out into the November morning; another will accompany us home. We will spend a little time with the two together, noticing what conversation exists between them now that we have spent the morning with the horses.

There will be opportunities to share throughout our gathering and equal room to keep your thoughts your own. You do not need to be standing at a dramatic crossroads in your life to come. The season between belongs to all of us. There are always parts of ourselves still becoming, questions without answers and things we are learning to let unfold in their own time.

No horse experience is required. You are welcome to observe, remain outside the paddock or participate at the level that feels right for you. All interactions are facilitated with care and supported by experienced guides and volunteers, with the wellbeing of both horses and participants at the center of the experience.

This gathering is created for women who are drawn to the quieter side of the seasonal year — to horses, nature, reflection and the possibility that not every uncertain place needs to be hurried through.

For one November morning, we will allow ourselves to remain in the season between.

A few days before our gathering, you will receive an email with details on what to bring, what to wear and directions. All participants are required to sign a liability waiver for High Hopes Therapeutic Riding Center.

This offering is limited to 8 women.