WHY THIS EXISTS
Taking Back the Reins is a 3-day immersive workshop hosted in Rancho Santa Fe, CA that combines the quiet honesty of horses with the wisdom of women who have been exactly where you are. Real work, real connection, and tools you’ll actually use to navigate challenging times and come through whole, refreshed and ready to take on what’s next.
Ride the ride. Don’t fight it.
Brought to you by master western horse trainer Kelly Sweeney alongside a team of coaches, healers, and experts who focus on helping you rediscover your most resourceful self, and re-align with the accountability that will get you where you want to be.
She was talking about a barrel… And also talking about everything.
THE WORKSHOP
Taking Back the Reins is structured as a three-day arc, from arrival and settling, to deep work, to forward momentum that sets you up to carry the learning forward. Each day builds on the last, spent in genuine community with women who get it and are ready to take back the reins of their own lives.
Arrive & Ground
Before anything else, we intentionally connect. You’ll meet the horses, meet each other, and begin the process of dropping out of your head and back into your body. Horses are extraordinarily sensitive to what you’re carrying, and the moment you step into the arena, the work has already begun.
Day 1 ends with a gourmet dinner at one of our partner restaurants.
EQUINE INTRODUCTION
SOMATIC GROUNDING
GOURMET DINNER
Dig & Connect
Day two is where we really get into the work. Hands-on sessions with Kelly in the arena. Coaching intensives with expert presenters. Energy work. Conversations and exercises built for this chapter of life. All centered with women who are doing the same work you are.
Day 2 ends with a gourmet dinner at another one of our partner restaurants.
EXPERT COACHING
ENERGY WORK
HORSEMANSHIP
Clarity & Commitment
You arrived with questions, trepidations, some fears. You leave with tools, community, and a clear-eyed view of how to meet what comes next. Day three is about integration, naming what shifted, making commitments you’ll keep, and leaving with a cohort of women who will hold you to them.
For those who choose to stay, Day 3 ends with a dinner and cocktails at the Rancho Santa Fe Inn.
INTEGRATION
COMMITMENT
ACCOUNTABILITY CIRCLE
YOUR GUIDE
Kelly Sweeney has spent decades doing what most people never attempt: building a genuine relationship with an animal that has no reason to trust you and every reason to run. That discipline — of presence, of patience, of earning trust through stillness rather than force, is exactly what she brings into the workshop arena.
A master western trainer based in Rancho Santa Fe, California, Kelly has guided riders at every level, but what she does with horses is secondary to what the horses do with people. She creates conditions in which horses can tell the truth about what you’re carrying, and that truth changes things.
Kelly is not a therapist, a coach, or a guru. She’s a working horsewoman who loves women and believes, with every cell, that the lessons a 1,200-pound animal teaches you about focus, energy, and self-honesty cannot be learned any other way.
MASTER WESTERN TRAINER
DECADES OF HORSEMANSHIP EXPERIENCE
GROWN-ASS WOMAN
VOICES
I’ve built a business, raised 2 kids, one with special needs, and navigated more than one pivot I didn’t choose. I came to Taking Back the Reins skeptical and left with tools I actually use, and a group of women I will know for the rest of my life.
-AMANDA
My husband died eighteen months ago and I felt like I’d lost who I was without him. The horses could feel that I was grieving. They just showed up and made space. They reminded me of my power and ability, of the strength I had forgotten. That changed everything.
-SUZANNE
As a physician, I spend my days caring for others. This time with the horses, with Kelly, with these strong and wonderful women, reminded me of the importance of taking care of myself. Not just physically reconnecting, by carving out time for what I’m passionate about and insisting on a world where that is respected.
-MARSHA
After a lifetime working side by side with my husband, losing him was like losing the foundation beneath me. Being in this space with these people, having a guide and mentor like Kelly and experiencing the power of horsemanship with like-minded women has brought joy back to my life and helped me show up for my kids and grandkids in a revitalized and open way.
-DIANE
Fear is a thief, and a really sneaky one. Working with horses makes me face into fear in a way that is easy to ignore in day to day life. Standing in your power in front of a 1200 lb animal running toward you is a great teacher for standing in your power everywhere.
-KELLEY
Energy work is what I do, and sharing the opportunity to be in communion with horses with a small group like this is a powerful reminder that horses can teach us presence, stillness and power in a way that could take months or year sin other settings.
-VOU
IS THIS FOR YOU?
Taking Back the Reins workshops are intimate by design.
Dates, pricing, and availability are released seasonally.
Join the list to be first when spots open.
Rancho Santa Fe, California · Women 50+ · Small cohorts · Dates announced seasonally
If Taking Back the Reins workshops are not the right fit, we want you to find what you’re looking for.