Hearts & Horses for Women

Hearts & Horses for Women

Come Back to You

A 4-day women’s retreat designed to help you reconnect with yourself, God, and what matters most.

October 8–11, 2026 | Swell Retreat, Utah

Limited to 20 women | Retreat options starting at $697

Step away from the noise, the responsibilities, and the constant pull of being needed by everyone else. For four days, you’ll have space to rest, reflect, laugh, and reconnect in a setting shaped by horses, nature, adventure, and meaningful conversation.

This is an invitation to arrive exactly as you are and leave with greater clarity about who you are, what matters most, and what may come next.

Imagine a few days with no schedules to manage, no problems to solve, and no one asking what’s for dinner. Instead, you’ll have room to ride horses, paddle the lake, sit by the fire, try something new, and enjoy time in nature. There will be moments for quiet, prayer, reflection, and honest conversations that go beyond small talk.

If life has felt heavy, uncertain, or simply too full, this retreat creates space to slow down and listen. You do not need to be in crisis. You do not need to have all the answers. You only need a willingness to pause and pay attention.

What to Expect

Hearts & Horses blends horse-guided experiences, adventure, faith, and guided SWELL practices with plenty of time to simply enjoy being at Swell Retreat. Over the course of the retreat, you’ll experience:

• Horses & Horsemanship: Learn, interact, ride, and explore what horses can reveal about awareness, boundaries, trust, communication, and leadership.
• Adventure & Challenge: Kayaking, cold plunge, archery, axe throwing, and other activities that invite you outside your comfort zone.
• Conversations That Matter: Guided experiences that help you reflect on relationships, patterns, boundaries, purpose, and the life you are creating.
• Faith & Reflection: Time for prayer, stillness, and nature as you reconnect with God and consider your next steps.
• Connection, Laughter & Rest: Shared meals, fires, stars, new friendships, and quiet moments without pressure to perform or carry everything alone.

What You’ll Explore

• Your response to pressure
• Boundaries that protect connection
• What is truly yours to carry
• Patterns that may no longer be serving you
• Regulation and self-trust
• Clarity for what comes next

No previous horse experience is required, and all activities are guided and adapted to your comfort level. The horses offer honest feedback without judgment.

The Journey

• Day One — See It: Notice what can no longer stay the same and begin recognizing the pressures and patterns shaping your life.
• Day Two — Know It: Explore your fight, flight, freeze, and please responses through reflection and work with the horses.
• Day Three — Lead It: Move from awareness into action by identifying the boundary, decision, or next step that needs your attention.

Since 2023, Hearts & Horses has helped women build awareness, practice practical tools, and carry meaningful next steps into daily life.

Your Retreat Includes

• Three full days of facilitated SWELL experiences
• On-site lodging based on registration choice
• Horse-guided empowerment activities
• Horsemanship, grooming, and light horse care
• Light riding experiences
• Meals, snacks, and beverages
• Hearts & Horses workbook and reflection materials
• Retreat T-shirt
• Evening connection and integration experiences
• Personal 30-day action plan
• Post-retreat virtual follow-up gathering
• Recreational activities including archery, axe throwing, kayaking, and horseback riding

Registration Options

• Shared Lodging — $697: Three nights of shared on-site lodging, all retreat programming, meals and refreshments, workbook and materials, retreat T-shirt, 30-day plan, and follow-up gathering.
• Private Lodging — $897: Three nights of private on-site lodging, all retreat programming, meals and refreshments, workbook and materials, retreat T-shirt, 30-day plan, and follow-up gathering.
• Full Tuition — $2500: The full-value option with lodging based on availability, complete retreat experience, meals and refreshments, workbook and materials, retreat T-shirt, and support for expanded access for more women.

Payment plans are available. Registration is limited to 16 women to preserve the personal connection and small-herd experience. The full value of this three-day, three-night experience is $2,500, and reduced-cost options are made possible through support from the SWELL Foundation.

Retreat Schedule

Thursday, Oct 8, 2026 | Arrival and check-in: 10 AM–Noon

Awareness opens opportunity. Your day may include welcome and connection activities, horseback riding, horse-guided experiences, kayaking, personal reflection, and evening stargazing.

Friday, Oct 9, 2026

Practice something different. Explore regulation, trust, communication, boundaries, pressure, and release. Activities may include horseback riding for first-time riders, horse-guided experiences, an optional cold-water plunge, grounding practices, kayaking, paddleboarding, and an evening reflection and fire ceremony.

Saturday, Oct 10, 2026

Choose what comes next. You may experience forest bathing, guided time in nature, an optional cold-water plunge, horseback riding, horse-guided experiences, kayaking, archery, axe throwing, and personal integration and action planning.

Sunday, Oct 11, 2026 | Check-out: 4 PM

Rest, reflect, and return. Enjoy a slow morning with no scheduled programming, time on the property, and space for quiet, connection, or reflection before departure.

Activities may be adjusted based on weather, safety, and the needs of the group. Participation in riding, cold-water immersion, and other physical activities is optional.

Your Guide

Lacy Hardman is a 14-year Army veteran, educator, retreat facilitator, and certified Horse Guided Empowerment practitioner with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. As the creator of the SWELL Method, she brings together Christian faith, nervous system awareness, experiential learning, and the honest feedback of horses to help women notice their patterns without shame and practice tools they can take home.

The Setting

Hearts & Horses takes place at Swell Retreat, a privately owned 208-acre property in Castle Dale, Utah, between the San Rafael Swell and the Manti-La Sal Mountains. With horses, private lakes, pine trees, trails, open space, and dark skies, the setting is designed to help you slow down and become present.

This is not a hotel or traditional conference center. It is an authentic outdoor retreat environment where nature is part of the experience.

A Way Forward

You may not leave with every answer, but you can leave more grounded, more connected to God and yourself, and clearer about what matters most. Even if the storm around you has not fully changed, you can still move forward with greater peace, self-trust, and intention.

Hearts & Horses is an educational and experiential personal-development program and is not psychotherapy, medical treatment, or a substitute for professional mental-health care.