WELCOME TO
GRACE ACRES EQUINE CONNECTION
& CREATIONS
Grace Acres Equine Connection can change your life. Experience freedom from overwhelming feelings and stress through one of our revolutionary programs incorporating horses as the teachers. Our equine assisted services provide relationship building, skills development, wellness and therapy programs for families, women, and people with PTSD who are seeking mental health support and meaningful direction in their lives. We offer Harmony Horsemanship, Equine Assisted Learning (EAL) and Equine Assisted Psychotherapy (EAP). These programs help to build healthy relationships – with yourself, the horses and others. Our beautiful farm is a peaceful and safe learning environment where the possibilities for personal growth and wellbeing are endless. From the moment you arrive you will feel a sense of wellbeing and grace all around you. In the presence of horses and nature you will be inspired to find that feeling of grace within you.
Grace Acres Creations is a studio and gallery space for the creation and sale of oil paintings, mixed media, and woodworking. All art can be seen and purchased at the farm and through (with link to marketing sites). Some seasonal farm produce is also available on site.
"I learned to be more aware of my own body language and energy. Ruby (the horse) was patient with my hesitancies and confusion. She made me feel calm."
Kathleen
OUR PROGRAMS ARE UNIQUE.
At Grace Acres, the horses are the teachers. Whether it’s working with your own horse or one of our horses, our experiential services offer clients an opportunity for self-discovery and self-awareness of the skills needed to meet not only the task or challenge at hand, but personal life challenges, great or small.
WHY WORK WITH HORSES?
Horses are large, powerful, yet highly sensitive prey animals who have a unique ability to connect with people from all walks of life, on a deeply emotional level just by being near them. Partnering with a horse develops confidence, resilience and strength, because of their size, and we aspire to better understand ourselves, because of the emotions we feel in their presence. Horses are also herd animals and they seek harmony through confident leadership. They invite us to become self-aware, present focused and grounded, and it is through these qualities we learn how to be leaders for ourselves, for the horse and for others. Horses also communicate with non-verbal language, thereby challenging us to be aware, listen to our intuition, and trust our innate wisdom. Horses are not fooled by the masks we wear. Horses sense what is in our hearts and bring our hearts peace.
HOW DOES THIS WORK?
Researchers at the HeartMath Institute in California, have scientifically proven the power of the heart’s electromagnetic field over the brain and nervous system, including the powerful influence of horses on human hearts. Horses have an electromagnetic heart field five times more powerful than our heart, extending up to nine meters. When there is an intense electromagnetic field next to a milder field, the milder field gets in tune with the larger. When horses live in freedom, they are in almost permanent coherence (physical and emotional alignment) or harmony. When we enter the horses’ space, our electromagnetic field aligns with theirs and our hearts match their heart’s rhythm, bringing us a true sense of calm.
"My horse taught me that success doesn't have to be accomplished by crossing the finish line but can just be accomplished by taking the first steps."
Jaida
MEET LAURA SCHWAGER
Grace was my great-grandmother’s name and I carry it as my middle name. All of my grandmother's were gentle women of tremendous strength and faith.
Grace is what touches our lives so very deeply and beautifully that it is difficult to describe. It is what happens in the presence of horses when our heartbeat softens to meet their rhythm. It’s the “centaured” feeling of being upon their back. It’s time slowing down. It’s when senses feel alive. It is truly unmeasurable. It is what happens in moments of true connection and partnership with ourselves and other beings and it is the serendipity of how the world falls into place. Grace seeks us out always in our strength, and most especially in our most vulnerable times, when we feel lost and broken, and just as much when we feel our cup runneth over, even when we ignore it, reject it, have nothing it seems to offer back, and feel so undeserving of its gift. It is unconditional and unmerited. It is a gift from creation and it is healing. Grace is everlasting and inspiring. It is always in us to be realized and move forward.
In the presence of horses, I have always felt complete. It’s through horses that I have maintained a connection with my authentic self. Horses have especially ‘graced me,’ with a deeper sense of who I am through their silence, their honesty, the challenge, the partnership, and the learning. It is this gift of creation and wellness I wish to invite others to experience.
I bring to my equine programming a solid teaching foundation, First Aid and CPR, Harmony Horsemanship level 2 instructor certification, EAL facilitator certification, horse training, a focus on wellness (human and horse) and building relationships with self, others and the horses. I also bring my art and love of nature. I look forward to sharing all of this you!
Certified Equine Assisted Learning Facilitator through Equine Connection - The Academy of Equine Assisted Learning Ltd.
Certified Level 2 Harmony Horsemanship™ Instructor by Harmony Horsemanship™.
"I learned that horses and people can communicate in all sorts of different ways"
Katana
EQUINE-ASSISTED SERVICES
YOUTH and FAMILY
Grace Acres offers an experiential program with Horses as the Teachers to help youth and their families build life skills and strengthen their relationships! Our BuildingBlock™ skills development and wellness programs are designed to support youth and their families who are recovering from trauma, experiencing separation, divorce and blended families, seeking solutions to communication challenges, bullying, anxiety or depression, and/ or are simply looking for a unique experience to strengthen family bonds.
8 - 12 Week Programming
Individual or Small Group Sessions
Helmets and Closed Toed Footwear Required
INQUIRE ABOUT PRICING
WOMEN
Our skills development program for women serves to create a safe learning environment, whereby participants can experience their authentic selves. This is an experiential learning program that inspires and encourages personal awareness, team building and life skills development through a human and horse partnership. Women complete objectively-driven exercises based on the BuildingBlock™ continuum of activities geared to support personal growth and empowerment.
8 - 12 Week Programming
Individual or Small Group Sessions
Closed Toed Footwear Required
INQUIRE ABOUT PRICING
PTSD
This experiential learning program serves to create a safe learning environment, whereby participants are inspired and encouraged to learn personal awareness, teamwork and critical life skills through a human and horse partnership. Participants complete objectively-driven exercises based on the BuildingBlock™ continuum of activities geared to support personal growth in a team setting.
Participants will learn from the natural world by both observing and interacting in these programs, actively learning about themselves through the body language of the horse, an intuitive language of the natural world and applying that learning to their own personal lives.
8 - 12 Week Programming
Individual or Small Group Sessions
Closed Toed Footwear Required
INQUIRE ABOUT PRICING
HORSE RIDING & HARMONY HORSEMANSHIP™
HARMONY HORSEMANSHIP™
Understand yourself, your horse and the language that connects you, with Harmony Horsemanship™ Training. Create an understanding and rewarding relationship with either your own horse, or mine, following The Harmony Training Continuum. We offer a variety of programing to suit your goals whether you are new to horses, need a change of pace with your own, or simply would like to feel more comfortable on the ground.
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Respect and Safety
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Calm Connection
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Create a Yes Horse
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Refinement
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Balanced Rider (For Riding Only)
INQUIRE ABOUT PROGRAMS, TRAINING and PRICING
BEGINNER HORSE RIDING LESSONS
At Grace Acres, building a relationship with the horse and subsequently understanding the self is fundamental to moving forward. I offer a basics of riding program for beginners or for current riders to re-establish their relationship with their horse. Horse riding lessons start on the ground following the Harmony Horsemanship™ Training Continuum. Both private and semi-private lessons are offered. A strong emphasis on safety, personal development, horse care, grooming, tacking up, and horse body language are part of each lesson.
Currently all lesson times are full.
1 Hour Private Riding Lesson: $50.00
1 Hour Semi Private Riding Lesson (max 3 students): $35.00
GRACE ACRES CREATIONS
CREATIVE WRITING & PAINTING
Grace Acres Creations provides a unique studio space and gallery for the sale of oil paintings, mixed media art, and creative writing. From the moment you arrive you will feel a sense of well-being and grace all around you. In the presence of horses and nature you will be inspired and challenged in a peaceful learning environment to find that feeling of grace within you.
Grace Acres Creations Coming Soon!
"I feel stress has left me and I am at ease."
JESS
OUR TEAM
CONTACT
Opening Hours
Tuesdays and Thursdays 4pm-8pm
Saturdays 9am-5pm
All other days by appointment.
2050 Vent Road, Napanee ON K7R3K9