YOU CAN PURCHASE THE CONFERENCE RECORDINGS NOW!

Couldn't make it to the live event? Now's your chance to view all the recorded presentations.

Pricing

Everyone who attended our LIVE Conference can access the recordings for a discounted rate of $50. HERD Members who couldn't make it to the LIVE event will receive a 20% discount off the general pricing. Look out for your coupon codes in your inbox!

Who Is This Conference For?

Whether you are already an equine facilitated practitioner, equine professional, or simply interested in working with horses, we invite you to join us for this unique experience. 

Join us in community to network, connect, and learn. With presenters and attendees from around the world, our focus is to provide accessible and affordable education in the field of equine facilitated psychotherapy & learning. 

A portion of the proceeds from this conference will go towards a HERD Institute® Scholarship Fund for individuals who are interested in entering this field. For more information about The HERD Institute, please visit our website at www.herdinstitute.com.

Your Conference Host


Dr. Veronica Lac, LPC, Founder & Executive Director of The HERD Institute®, has 25 years of experience as a corporate trainer and mental health professional, and is also a certified therapeutic riding instructor and equine specialist in mental health and learning. Building a sense of community and belonging is at the core of Veronica's philosophy of working with people. Veronica is delighted to welcome you to The HERD Institute's first in-person conference which is designed to offer everyone a space to share their skills, knowledge, and wisdom about human-equine relationship development. 

The HERD Institute® offers training and certifications in Equine Facilitated Psychotherapy & Learning that incorporate a cultural competence framework. Veronica is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion and has worked on a range of racial and social justice initiatives, including being a Board member of The Humanitarian Alliance, and part of the American Psychological Association, Division 32 Diversity Committee and the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee for PATH International. Veronica offers DEI consultations and training to organizations both in the corporate sector and within the non-profit environment. She is passionate about research in the field of equine facilitated psychotherapy and has multiple publications internationally in peer-reviewed journals. Veronica is the author of three best-selling books in the field of equine facilitated work.

Keynote Presenters

Dr. Kelsey Dayle John

Assistant Professor, Gender and Women's Studies & American Indian Studies, University of Arizona


Dr. Kelsey Dayle John (Navajo) studies equine/human relationships with a focus on how these relationships impact Indigenous education and research. She is particularly interested in the social, cultural, and historical narratives of equine/human relations in tribal communities. She is currently a National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow and is working on a book project about equine/human relationships in Indigenous methodologies. Previously, Kelsey taught in the Diné Studies department at Navajo Technical University on the Navajo Nation. She completed her Ph.D. in Education at Syracuse University. For her dissertation research, she worked in partnership with the Navajo Nation to document horse knowledges and stories for the development of Navajo education, research, and a community horse conference. She has published in the American Indian Culture and Research Journal, Humananimalia, Edge Effects, and several edited volumes including: Decolonizing Animals, Indigenous and Decolonizing Studies in Education, and Indigenous Religious Traditions in Five Minutes.  Kelsey is certified in Equine Facilitated Learning through The HERD Institute. She is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation and in her spare time, she runs with her dogs and trains horses.   


Dr. Gala Argent

Sacramento City College (Anthropology) & Eastern Kentucky University (Psychology/Animal Studies) Faculty

Dr. Gala Argent is an interdisciplinary scholar and lifelong equestrienne whose work concerns the relational ways humans and other animals come together. She holds a Ph.D. in archaeology, MA and BA degrees in (human) communication studies, and teaches in higher education departments of art, communication studies, anthropology and animal studies. Dr. Argent is an Adjunct Professor at Eastern Kentucky University and curates the annual Living with Horses Conference. Her current interests focus on theorizing human-horse interactions and relationships using models of nonverbal and interpersonal communication, and on the ways in which humans and other animals come together in relational, corporeal, temporal and spatial ways to co-create mutually interdependent selves and societies. She is co-editor of the book The Relational Horse which explores the possibilities of including the horse’s perspective into the study of human-horse relationships. Case studies from across a range of time periods, activities, and disciplines provide fresh ways to understand horses, themselves, in relationships with humans.


Speakers & Panelists

JENNIFER BAKER, LCPC, TCYM-YT-RYT

THE HERD INSTITUTE®, EFP INSTRUCTOR

TRUE NATURE INTEGRATIVE HEALTH, FOUNDER


 ELIZABETH McCORVEY, LCSW

THE HERD INSTITUTE®, EFP ADMISSIONS & CLINICAL LEAD

UNC-ASHEVILLE, STUDENT COUNSELOR

SELINA PENNIE BROWN

THE STAND FOUNDATION, CEO & FOUNDER

FORMER CO-FOUNDING MEMBER OF THE COWGIRLS OF COLOR

LYMARIS GOMEZ-MARQUEZ, LMHC

FOUNDER, PASO A PASO
BETTINA SCHULTZ JOBE,

 CO-FOUNDER, NATURAL LIFEMANSHIP INSTITUTE


LYNN THOMAS

FOUNDER, ARENAS FOR CHANGE (ARCH)

DR. ARIEAHN MATAMONASA

FOUNDER & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

EQUIILIBRIUM LLC
KATHY ALM,
 
CEO, PATH INTERNATIONAL

NINA EKHOLM FRY

HUMAN-ANIMAL CONNECTION, UNIVERSITY OF DENVER

DIRECTOR OF EQUINE PROGRAMS

CHRIS GOODALL, LISW-S, CDWF

CLINICAL DIRECTOR, IN STEP WITH HORSES

SHANNON KNAPP, MA

FOUNDER/PRESIDENT, HORSE SENSE OF THE CAROLINAS

JAKE LaRUE

MAN WITH A HORSE PROJECT, INC.

ABRIANA JOHNSON

FOUNDER, BLACK UNICORN CREATIVE

DR. DERRICK SEBREE JR., 

LICENSED PSYCHOLOGIST

MICHIGAN SCHOOL OF PSYCHOLOGY CORE FACULTY
DR. CHERYL MEOLA

MANE SOURCE COUNSELING

& HORSES AND HEALTH INC.
DR. DAWN SHERWOOD

OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
JUDE JENNISON

FOUNDER, LEADERS BY NATURE
KATIE FALLON

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, BRIDLE PATHS

DR. AVIVA VINCENT, LMSW

DIRECTOR OF PROGRAM QUALITY, FIELDSTONE FARM

DR. LEANNE NIEFORTH

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF HUMAN-ANIMAL INTERACTION

PURDUE UNIVERSITY

DR. KATY SCHROEDER

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF CLINICAL MENTAL HEALTH COUNSELING

UNIVERSITY OF IOWA

KATE FORD, LCISW, CTRI, ESMHL

EQUINE FACILITATED PSYCHOTHERAPIST, MOONLIGHT RANCH



Conference Presentations

  • 1

    Welcome to Sharing Space with The HERD Conference 2023

  • 2

    OPENING CEREMONY & KEYNOTES

    • Opening Address: A Million Dreams by Dr. Veronica Lac

    • KEYNOTE: Has Colonialism Impacted our Horse Relationships? with Dr. Kelsey Dayle John

    • KEYNOTE: The Relational Horse - Horse-Human Relational Competence and Interspecies Interpersonal Attunement with Dr. Gala Argent

    • Closing Ceremony: A Journey of a Thousand Miles, with Dr. Veronica Lac
  • 3

    PANEL DISCUSSIONS

    • Industry Leaders Panel: Sharing Space in the Equine Facilitated Industry with Dr. Veronica Lac, Lynn Thomas, Bettina Shultz-Jobe, Kathy Alm & Dr. Cheryl Meola (Moderator)

    • Panel: Industry Standards for Equine Welfare with Dr. Gala Argent, Kathy Alm & Nina Ekholm Fry

    • Panel: Promoting Positive Interactions Between Horses and Clients in Psychotherapy and Learning Services with Nina Ekholm Fry, Dr. Katy Schroeder & Dr. Dawn Sherwood
  • 4

    MENTAL HEALTH TRACK

    • Working Somatically with Horses with Jennifer Baker

    • Working with Survivors of Human Trafficking with Lymaris Gomez-Marquez

    • Ecopsychology as Shared Embodiment of Relationship with Dr. Derrick Sebree Jr.

    • Epona Lives: The history and psychology of women and horses with Dr. Arieahn Matamonasa-Bennett
  • 5

    EQUINE FACILITATED LEARNING TRACK

    • Increasing Accessibility Access To Equine Facilitated Learning in Urban Areas with Selina Pennie Brown

    • Ask Opus: The Hidden Dynamics of Leadership with Jude Jennison

    • Man With A Horse Project with Jake LaRue

    • Making the Connection to Treat Invisible Injuries with Katie Fallon
  • 6

    GENERAL PRESENTATIONS

    • The SEEN Keystones: Applying a Story Mindset to Your Sessions with Lynn Thomas

    • Own Your Brand: Tell Your Story with Abriana Johnson

    • Best of Both Worlds with Shannon Knapp

    • Are We Trauma informed? Assessing & Building Trauma Informed Care in an Equine Assisted Services Organization with Chris Goodall

    • Designing DEI Research with Dr. Kelsey Dayle John, Dr. Aviva Vincent & Dr. Leanne Neiforth
  • 7

    Bonus Materials

    • We Become Freedom: Conversation with Nahshon Cook & Dr. Veronica Lac

    • Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Strategic Plan: How to get started. Presented by Nichole Boyd

    • Visible Allyship with Dr. Anastasia Curwood and Sally Spickard (Strides for Equality Equestrians)

    • Putting the FUN into Fundraising with Missy Lamont
  • 8

    Information on Continuing Education Credits

    • What CEs are available?

  • 9

    And Finally...

    • Thank You

WHAT'S INCLUDED?


Recorded sessions led by industry experts in the field of human-equine interactions, equine welfare, mental health practitioners, and business leaders. 

BONUS MATERIALS OF PRE-RECORDED SESSIONS

INCLUDING A CONVERSATION WITH NAHSHON COOK:

"WE BECOME FREEDOM"



 

Need CEs?

For HERD graduates and PATH International certified members looking for CEs for membership renewal, you can count any of the sessions towards your required continued education hours. 

We have also received accreditation from NBCC to provide CEs for presentations that are specifically geared towards mental health practitioners.



WITH GRATITUDE TO OUR SPONSORS