FREEDOM COWGIRL
RETREAT
OCTOBER 24-26, 2025
Bring a friend and get 20% off each ticket!
The Freedom Cowgirl Summit brings together a circle of Gate Openers—artists, healers, horsepeople, teachers, and storytellers—who carry lived experience, ancestral knowledge, and soulful practices that awaken something deep in our bones. They come not to lecture, but to share, to listen, and to spark conversations that connect us across generations and walks of life. Together, we’ll explore what it means to live with spirit, courage, and connection in these times.
Presented by mother-daughter team, Ariana & Wesley
This summit was inspired by generations of connection — to land, to animals, and to a way of life that values freedom, courage, and authenticity. Horses and tending to the land and animals have been in our family for many generations.
Ariana, a zoologist, artist and rancher has spent over 35 years guiding transformational work through horses, nature, and community. She is the founder of Equine Guided Education and SkyHorse Academy, and stewards the land now known as Casari Ranch. Ariana has held over a dozen conferences over the years, first in Leadership & Mastery and later in the evolving field of horses as healers. She is the author of 4 books and has been on numerous podcasts and conferences to share her passion for envisioning a new paradigm where healing people and healing earth are intertwined aspects of each other.
Wesley grew up inside this work and brings her own creative voice to the vision — shaped by motherhood, artistry, and a deep desire to rebuild the kinds of communities and villages we all long for. Wesley has a passion for helping people reconnect to who they are meant to be, and find their authentic expression, free and uninhibited from the opinions of others.
Together, they created the Freedom Cowgirl Summit as a space where generations can come together, stories can shared, and freedom is reclaimed — not just for the individual, but for the collective.
Heidi Metcalf, MA, LPCC
Heidi is a psychotherapist and transformational life coach who has been supporting clients for over 20 years. Ariana and Heidi knew each other before they were born and have enjoyed many adventures together.
She holds a Master’s Degree in Counseling and in Interdisciplinary Arts. Nearly a decade ago, Heidi studied for years at the Womb of Life School as a Mystic Soul Guide. She not only found the courage, the tools, and the grace to transform her own life with a deeper level of soul alignment, she learned how to midwife others on their own sacred journey back to the depth of their own spirit and guide them forward to be the force of Nature they are born to be. Her work is dedicated to women and men who desire to connect more deeply with their own soul presence and realize their Sacred Feminine and Noble Masculine nature. She holds Women’s Circles, teaches workshops, facilitates retreats, and lovingly supports clients one on one, as they deepen on their soul path.
Dreaming a New Future
It’s easy to focus on the ‘negative’ in the current state of things to clarify what’s not working. Rather, in our time together at the summit, let’s dream the future in a new unedited way that inspires rather than deprecates, and renews rather than reduces our open hearts and compassion for all beings.
There is a call, a whisper spoken beneath the breath, for a new leadership- a leadership that starts from within. A leadership of being rather than doing or taking. Heidi will share wisdom of the masculine and feminine super powers and how we can reclaim a new sense of balance between them to generate a new sense of wholeness and interconnection
I’m curious to hear what friends at this gathering desire. I want to be present to absorb, reflect, and champion those dreams. When we gather together, connected and amplified, our dreams take on an unstoppable energy. That’s a conversation I want to be a part of! Spirit, Courage & Connection - the pillars of the Freedom Cowgirl Experience!
I’ll meet you here.
Rilana Vorderwülbecke, MA, SkyHorse EGE™-2
Rilana Vorderwülbecke is a Berlin-based Expressive Arts and SkyHorse EGE™ facilitator. She holds a BA in Fine Arts from Boston University and an MA in Art Business from the University of Manchester/Sotheby’s Institute. After a career as an artist and gallery owner, she founded Kunstraum, an art school for children, which evolved in 2020 into T-Raum—a space dedicated to individual, family, and collective healing through creative and embodied processes.
Trained in Pikler pedagogy, Expressive Arts Therapy, Integrative Psychotherapy, and EMDR, Rilana integrates Internal Family Systems (Level 1), Polyvagal Theory, and Equine Guided Somatic Coaching into her work. She is pursuing Ph.D. research in Expressive Arts and Equine Guided Education at the European Graduate School in Switzerland. Rilana is a current participant in Thomas Hübl’s Timeless Wisdom Training.
Holding Space Through Art
“The upcoming Summit with Ariana and Wesley is a powerful invitation to reconnect with nature, the wisdom of horses, and your own embodied truth. As part of the team, I will offer Expressive Art sessions that create space for inner exploration through creativity. Using natural materials, paint, and intuitive movement, these sessions invite you to express what words often cannot. No artistic background is needed—just your presence and a willingness to listen inward.
I’m most looking forward to witnessing those quiet, meaningful moments when someone reconnects with a part of themselves—whether through a brushstroke, a breath, or a glance shared with a horse. Holding space for that emergence through art is an honor, and I am grateful to be part of this unique experience.”
— Rilana Vorderwülbecke
Bonnie Saland, PhD, MA, MFA
Bonnie is a practicing psychoanalyst/coach/artist and principal of artisanal textile home goods brand Philomela (www.philomelasweb.com)
Experimenting with her own visual language, Bonnie offers inventive interpretations of universal themes of birth, survival, death and regeneration. The subject is frequently felt like a faint, subtle suggestion resembling a pattern stirring within.
Whether working on the road or in studio space, Bonnie writes and illustrates in a variety of formats including textiles, wallpaper and home goods, incorporating traditional patterning, abstraction, and the poetic use of color. Her work is a salute to combining art and function and living and finding joy and beauty in everyday.
Artistic Expression as a Spiritual Practice
Bonnie will share her personal visual journal format as a spiritual practice. Our time together with color, pastural scenes, and the scent of fall in the air will offer a lighthearted reminder to connect with our own deep spirit.
“For me, The summit offers an opportunity to hang with old friends and meet new, within the natural and philosophic abundance of Casari ranch.” Plant medicine is a current fascination and developing reflective iconography a current pastime. Join me and share space to draw, print, paint, stitch and write in journal format.
Bring yourself and your favorite techniques -- or just your curiosity. The table will be set with an array of alluring art supplies and materials, providing opportunity to engage in your own journaling experience, whilst in the good company of fellow enthusiasts.
Margo Frimodt, SkyHorse EGE™, Level 2
Margo Frimodt has had a lifelong love of animals. She was introduced to a horse named Alchemy who forever changed the trajectory of her life. Margo learned through her relationship with Alchemy that being in the presence of a horse brought her a feeling of peace and connection to her authentic self and inner knowing.
In her adventures to share the beauty of connecting with horses to others, she became a Reiki Master, a large animal massage practitioner, and took equine classes in cranial sacral work and essential oils. She eventually discovered Equine Guided Education (EGE) with Ariana Strozzi Mazzucchi and knew she had found her calling. Margo is a certified SkyHorse EGE Level II facilitator and coaches individual EGE sessions and group workshops through her business Alchemy’s Touch. Margo loves sharing this line of work with others so that they may experience the magic that horses have to offer.
Honor your Natural Power
We are all being called upon in these times to show up and share our wisdom, our medicine. We all have a medicine to offer the world whether it be your kindness, teachings, your ability to hold space, or the things you’re willing to say out loud that no one else wants to say. I am offering a “Finding Your Medicine” session where you will get to intuitively connect with the horses to connect to your own medicine.
Our time together will include self-reflection, community connection, and crafting your own medicine pouch. You will have the opportunity to add something from the plant, animal, and/or mineral kingdom as a symbol of medicine to your bag. I’m looking forward to seeing you at the Summit where you will discover your medicine and so much more!”
Hallie Bigliardi, SkyHorse EGE™, Level 5
Hallie Bigliardi is a Level 5 Certified SkyHorseEGE™ Coach and Instructor of SkyHorse Academy programs, with over forty years of horse experience and fifteen years of facilitating EGE. She is the author of Take Back the Reins – The Truth About Why You’re Stuck and How to Get Moving Again.
Hallie has an innate ability to listen and to create a safe space for participants to explore their inquiries. She is intuitive, articulate, and compassionate. Through Hallie’s personal and professional experiences and continuing education, she has become an expert in the areas of relationships, authentic communication, and facilitating transformational breakthroughs.
Healing in Horse Time
“I’m looking forward to exploring the Freedom Cowgirl archetypal concepts of “Spirit-Courage-Connection”, collectively, and in an environment that invites the wisdom of the natural world and the horses to guide and inform us.
Spending time in this collective inquiry offers an opportunity to broaden the vision of possibility for the future and gain clarity about who we each need to be to navigate this transitional time, and how each of us can contribute to the whole, in order to bring our future visions forward.” -Hallie Bigliardi
Bob Reid
Bob Reid has been a professional musician for over 60 years, performing all over the continent. He has performed music with lush harmonies and intricate arrangements for the past 10 years with his partner Judi Jaeger, as Jaeger & Reid.
In the 80’s he met Pete Seeger and they performed together at United Nations headquarters in 2003. He was one of the performers at the memorial concerts for both Pete and his wife, Toshi. Bob also spent 15 years working on a breeding farm for Dutch Warmbloods in San Benito County.
His songs have been recorded and sung by numerous musicians his children’s recording are handed down to the children of those he sang for the past 40 years. He has 2 albums of Jaeger & Reid and 3 albums of children’s recordings. Bob’s mother, Betty Reid Soskin, is best known as being formerly the “Oldest National Park Service Ranger”.
Connecting Through Music
“I am excited to be building bridges and making connections with others who seek to live from the heart.” I have a collection of songs that I have found to be helpful in helping us open to new experiences. Music has amazing abilities.
I will be sharing music to connect us and open us up to possibilities.
Kansas Carradine, SkyHorse EGE™, Level 3
Kansas Carradine has spent her life in partnership with horses. From the rodeo arena to circus stages, Hollywood films, and the beloved equestrian show CAVALIA, horses have always been her teachers and guides. Along the way, she discovered that what matters most isn’t the spotlight, but the deep connection, care, and wisdom that horses awaken in us.
Her journey has been one of continual transformation—moving from performance and training into the heart-centered work of helping people connect more deeply with themselves. Kansas is a Level 3 SkyHorse Equine Guided Education™ Coach and a HeartMath® Certified Trainer. She brings together years of horsemanship, mindfulness, and embodied learning to create spaces where people can find their own courage, clarity, and balance.
Heart Math™ and Horse Time
At the summit, Kansas will share what lights her up most: witnessing the way horses invite us into presence and authenticity. At the Freedom Cowgirl Retreat, Kansas will share her gift for weaving science, spirit, and horsemanship into experiences that open the gate to creativity, resilience, and heartfelt connection.
More details coming soon