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Monday 10am - 6pm Tuesday 10am - 6pm Wednesday 10am - 6pm Thursday 10am - 6pm Friday 10am - 6pm

Living Life Ranch Foundation

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Gardner, KS
Living Life Ranch Foundation

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Come experience the healing power of love through a hands-on experience with horses! We rescue horses that rescue humans and the healing for both begins.

10/31/2026

Worship Night at Living Life Ranch

Join us Saturday, November 14 from 4:00–5:00 PM for an evening of worship with the horses.

The gate opens at 3:30 PM if you would like to come early, meet the horses, and get settled before worship begins.

Bring a lawn chair and find a place that feels comfortable. You can sing, pray, journal, sit quietly, or simply enjoy being outside with the horses while we turn our attention toward Jesus.

There is no pressure to worship one particular way. Come as you are and make space to slow down, breathe, and notice where Jesus meets you.

Saturday, November 14
Gate opens: 3:30 PM
Worship: 4:00–5:00 PM

Bring a lawn chair, and wear closed-toed shoes if you plan to be around the horses.
We would love to have you with us.

✨ Peace Tip: Sometimes worship is not about finding more words. Sometimes it is simply becoming still enough to remember that Jesus is already near.

10/30/2026

Horses are very good at something many of us are relearning: moving between activation and rest.

They may run, play, startle, or become highly alert—and then, when the threat is gone, you may see them return to grazing, lick and chew, shake, roll, groom one another, or simply stand quietly with the herd.

They do not necessarily stay stuck analyzing what just happened for the next four hours.

I wish I could say I had mastered that.

One of the things horses have taught me is that regulation does not mean being calm all the time. A healthy nervous system needs to be able to mobilize when necessary and then find its way back.

Jesus never promised we would never feel fear, grief, anger, or stress. His invitation is that we do not have to live there alone.

There is always a way back toward His presence.

✨ Peace Tip: Regulation is not “never getting activated.” It is learning what helps you return. Notice one thing that helps your body come back toward peace.

10/29/2026

We pay a lot of attention to a horse’s feet.

Is the horse stepping closer?
Backing away?
Shifting weight?
Planting the feet and saying, I’m not ready to move yet?

The feet often tell us something about what the horse wants to do before anything dramatic happens.

Our bodies have those impulses too.

Move closer.
Move away.
Freeze.
Turn toward someone.
Leave the room.

Sometimes we override those signals so quickly that we barely notice them.

Trauma-informed work has taught me that the goal is not to obey every impulse automatically, but to become aware of it.

My body wants more space right now.

That is useful information.

Jesus gave people room to move toward Him, step away, ask questions, and come back. There was invitation without force.

✨ Peace Tip: Notice what your body wants to do today. You do not have to act on every impulse, but you can listen to the information it is giving you.

10/28/2026

One of my favorite things to watch for is a change.

A horse may lick and chew, yawn, lower the head, blow out a long breath, or shake the body after something stressful or activating.

We are careful not to say, “This behavior always means the horse is relaxed,” because horse behavior needs context. We want to know what was happening before, what changed, and what happens next.

But we love noticing those moments when the body seems to release something it has been holding.

People do this too.

We sigh.
We cry.
We shake.
We stretch.

We take that deep breath we did not realize we had been holding.
Sometimes the body finishes a stress response before the mind even has words for what happened.

We love that God created our bodies with ways to come back toward regulation. We do not have to shame those responses. We can learn to listen to them.

✨ Peace Tip: If your body needs to sigh, stretch, move, cry, or take a deeper breath today, let it. Release is not weakness.

10/27/2026

Sometimes I can tell something has changed in a horse before they ever move their feet.

The eye gets a little wider. The muscles around the mouth tighten. The head lifts. Or the opposite happens—the eye softens, the muzzle relaxes, and the whole face seems to let go.

Our bodies communicate like that too.

We can say, “I’m fine,” while our jaw is clenched and our shoulders are somewhere near our ears.

That is not our body betraying us. It is our body giving us information.

I spent a lot of years thinking I needed to override what I was feeling. Now I am learning that I can notice without immediately judging or fixing.

What is happening in me right now?
What might I need?

And sometimes, Jesus, what do You want me to know here?

✨ Peace Tip: Check your face and jaw today. If you notice tension, do not criticize it. Take a breath and get curious about what your body may be carrying.

10/26/2026

One of the first things people notice about a horse is the ears, but one of the things we teach is not to interpret them too quickly.

Ears back do not always mean, “I’m angry.” A horse may be listening behind them. An ear turned toward you may simply mean, I’m paying attention. Pinned ears, especially with other tension in the body, can be a much clearer request for space.

The ears are one piece of a bigger conversation.

I think people are like that too. We can see one behavior and assume we know the whole story. Someone is quiet, so we decide they are upset. Someone pulls away, so we assume rejection. Someone becomes sharp, and we never stop to wonder what happened before that moment.

Horses keep teaching me to notice before we interpret.

Jesus seemed to do that beautifully. He looked past what everyone else could see and noticed the person underneath.

✨ Peace Tip: Before deciding what someone’s behavior means today, pause and get curious. There may be more to the story.

10/25/2026

October 24, 2026
Today was The Big Serve Day at Living Life Ranch, and our hearts are full. Every year, New Life Community Church steps out into the community to serve wherever there is a need — and we are deeply honored that Living Life Ranch is one of the places they choose to bless.

These incredible church families show up ready to work, and they truly “divide and conquer.” Their kindness is matched only by their willingness to tackle the hard jobs — and ranch work is no small thing. From cleaning up landscaping, picking up rocks, building and removing fence, welding, clearing brush, trimming trees, and cutting down the endless trees and branches that seem to appear overnight… 5 or more truck loads of trash, scraps fence was hauled to dumpster, they pour themselves into every task.

Their servant hearts make a difference that goes far beyond the physical work. They help us create a safe, beautiful place where healing happens — for both people and horses. We are grateful for every hand, every smile, and every moment they spend helping us move forward in our mission.

Thank you, New Life Community Church. Your love, your labor, and your faithfulness bless Living Life Ranch more than you know.

10/24/2026

You do not have to be in crisis to come to the ranch.

Some people come because they are grieving or overwhelmed. Some are working through trauma, anxiety, or addiction. Some want to build confidence, practice boundaries, or simply understand themselves a little better.

And some people just know they need a place to slow down.

I think that is one of the things I wish more people understood about equine-assisted work. You do not have to wait until everything is falling apart before giving yourself space to reconnect.

There is something about being outside with the horses that helps bring us back into the present. And once we are present, we can begin to notice what we are carrying, what we need, what we believe, and where Jesus may be inviting us next.
That is really the heart of Faith-Filled Equine-Assisted Learning.

On our next podcast, Melissa and I are talking more about what this actually looks like, why horses are such powerful partners in the work, and some of the moments that have shaped the way we facilitate.

We cannot wait to share it with you.

✨ Peace Tip: You do not have to wait until you are overwhelmed to make room for peace. Sometimes it is enough to choose a place where you can slow down and listen.

10/23/2026

Meet the TEAM....they are ready for a beautiful day of connecting with some of our favorite people at Meadowbrook!

10/23/2026

There are a few misconceptions about equine-assisted work, so I thought it might be helpful to clear some of them up.

Equine-Assisted Learning is not riding lessons, and you do not have to be a horse person to benefit from it. We also do not believe a horse magically knows your whole life story, and we are definitely not sitting in the arena interpreting every ear flick as a message from God.

What we are doing is creating experiences where the horse can offer real-time feedback and where the person has room to notice their own reactions without being told what they are supposed to mean.

So if a horse walks away, we would not say, “That happened because you have abandonment issues.” We might ask, “What did you notice when the horse walked away?” or “What came up for you in that moment?”

That difference matters to us.

We are not trying to assign meaning to someone else’s experience. We want to help people discover what is meaningful to them, while leaving room for Jesus to meet them personally.

✨ Peace Tip: Be cautious of anyone who tells you what your experience has to mean. Healthy growth leaves room for curiosity.

Address

30150 West 154th Street
Gardner, KS

Opening Hours

Monday	10am - 6pm
Tuesday	10am - 6pm
Wednesday	10am - 6pm
Thursday	10am - 6pm
Friday	10am - 6pm

Website

http://livingliferanch.org/

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