COWGIRL STRONG

Montana is big country.

Big mountains, big landscapes, big animals, big ranches, big distances between neighbors, and, certainly, big sky. This is a place—like many lands of the West—that breeds people tough. The iconic embodiment of this toughness is found in the oft-perpetuated but largely mistaken cowboy stereotype, where strength equates to stoicism and looks like minding your own business, holding in the hurt, and pulling your hat low over your eyes when tears threaten to fall. However, at the Bonanza Creek Ranch—a 25,000-acre working cattle and guest ranch located in South Central Montana—strength looks a little different.

Here, for three days in July, 2017, 10 women have gathered to attend the annual Cowgirl Retreat facilitated by Melisa Pearce of Touched By A Horse, founder of a unique therapeutic approach called the Equine Gestalt Coaching Method.

In her program, Pearce—a lifelong horsewoman and veteran psychotherapist—taps into the innate spiritual and