An Equine-Assisted Writing Workshop

The Stories Beneath

Some stories need presence before the words can flow

One day with horses and guided writing, for the creative minds who lead businesses, and the writer within.

JANUARY 2027 · 10am to 4pm · MORNINGTON PENINSULA

Express Interest For $150 Off

You might be writing a book, or thinking about one. You've got plenty of ideas and you're struggling with next steps. Or you keep returning to the same familiar stories, until they start to sound like everyone else's.

Or there's something you've lived through that you'd love support to share in a meaningful way.

More thinking just keeps you stuck on the loop.

storytelling and writing can be tricky business

Express Your Interest for $150 Off

“I don't know anyone who finds writing a book effortless, even if they're deeply experienced. It's often a deep soul exploration that challenges the ego, surfacing doubt, frustration and the parts we'd rather keep shut in a box. You can't think your way through that.”

-KATEE GRAY

The stories that distinguish us are not

always the stories we've learned to tell.

A unique way to explore your writing

01 · THE PADDOCK

With mindful facilitation, you spend time with the horses. Their presence helps you settle, so you can reach what sits underneath the busy mind.

02 · THE PAGE

At the writing tables beneath the trees, Michelle's guided prompts and coaching take you into the moments that shape your story.

03 · INTEGRATION

Through the day you move between the horses and the page, with time to reflect, integrate and write.

Register Interest

The day is designed for you to leave with;

Step away from the noise that makes writing hard.
Moments you’d dismissed, seen in a new light.
Find connections between your experience, your insights and what you want to say.
Momentum, energy and clarity to keep writing
A clearer sense of how your story shapes your message, your professional identity or your next chapter.

Everyone arrives with a different story, intention or project.

You won’t be asked to produce polished writing or to share anything you would rather keep private. The emphasis is on curiosity.

who we’ve designed this day for

The Stories Beneath is for curious, reflective people who have something to say, whether or not they think of themselves as writers.

an aspiring author exploring the start of a book
an established author looking for a fresh perspective
a writer who wants to pick up a project again
a consultant, coach, practitioner or business owner whose work is built on your expertise, looking for stories that show it
someone who senses there is a story worth sharing and hasn't found the words

You don’t need experience with horses, you won’t be asked to ride, and it’s optional to touch the horses. You don’t need a story in mind. Bring your curiosity and a willingness to explore.

Meet your facilitators

KATEE GRAY

Equine Facilitator & Business Consultant

Katee creates space for you to step out of habitual thinking, patterns and beliefs and become more aware of yourself through your time with horses.

MICHELLE SCHEIBNER

Identity Activator, Author & Narrative Coach

Author of HUSH, TEDx speaker, more than thirty years of coaching.

Your day at a glance

DATE /DAY

Time: 10am - 4pm

Location: Herd Harmony, Willindi Estate in Tyabb, on the Mornington Peninsula

Places are limited to 15 people per event to intentionally allow for depth and individual focus.

Tea, Snacks, Cheese board, Lunch and glass of wine are also included (Vegan and non-alcoholic options available).

kind words, from wonderful humans…

Listen to Charlotte’s, Kat & Adele’s reflections, as business owners, on what it was like to integrate horses with business mentoring…

I walked away with a sense of knowing that simply wasn't there before.
What surprised me most was how much feedback the horses gifted me. I hadn't anticipated that — the sheer abundance of information that came through them — and I feel so grateful walking away with it. I'd wondered whether I'd even be able to understand what they were communicating. But it was clear. Direct. To the point. I thought I'd be searching for the meaning, and instead it felt like they spoke my language.
I expected to have to earn their trust, to build it slowly — and they gave it in droves. That felt really special.
If you're moving through a time of transition, seeking the kind of confirmation and affirmation we all need from time to time, this is the most perfect place to come. What's beautiful about this work is that the guidance never feels like it's coming from anyone else.
The feedback loop with your own inner knowing just becomes stronger. I left more connected to my own desires, my own knowing, my own truth.
Charlotte Squires - The Living Doula - Business owner, facilitator and doula
I walked away trusting myself in a way I hadn't before.
What surprised me most was how present the horse was. I'd assumed she'd wander off and do her own thing, but she stayed with us the whole way through. At one point I was building a little supportive environment for myself, and she came over and moved the blanket, pushed a few things around, as if to say it doesn't have to be perfect, which created a mirror for the perfectionism that has been keeping me stuck, and here was this horse making the point for me.
Being out in the paddock let me step out of the confusion and chaos that comes with running your own business. The questions Katee asks reach the things you can't quite get to when you're only thinking with your mind.
What came through didn't come from my head. It came from my intuition, and it felt more grounded as a result.
If you run a business and you've done all the cerebral work but something still isn't clicking, this is the place to come. You stop asking what you're supposed to be doing and start asking how you actually want to feel. I left more connected to my own knowing, and trusting that I already had what I needed.

Kat Wheeler - Womens Embodiment coach and business owner
From the moment I first saw Katee work with the horses, I immediately felt drawn to her. She created a sense of ease and comfort, both around the horses and within the space as a whole.
Katee consistently demonstrated a strong depth of knowledge and practical skill when working with horses. This was especially evident in the way she approached and integrated the horses into sessions, showing confidence, awareness, and a natural ability to read both the animals and the people involved.
I felt safe and supported in her presence, and I had full trust in her to guide me through a session. Her competence, calm approach, and understanding of equine-assisted work were clear and reassuring.

Tia - Equine Psychotherapist and Provisional Psychologist
Katee was a natural during our equine learning experience. She brings attentiveness, depth and a kind presence to sessions that enable you to dig deep and grow safely.
Michael Brandsdon-Smith - Equine Facilitator
From the very beginning, Katee's presence was something truly special.
Katee has a magnetic energy that draws people in and creates an immediate sense of connection and safety. Her kindness and deeply empathic nature are evident in the way she communicates, holds space, and delivers her intentions with such care and authenticity.
Katee showed me what it truly means to feel seen. She supported me through emotional moments with patience, compassion, and unwavering presence, gently guiding me to express myself in a way that felt safe and empowering. She didn't try to fix or rush the process, she simply stayed beside me, which is a rare and powerful gift.
Katee is a genuinely kindhearted person with a natural ability to understand people on a deeper level. She leads with curiosity, compassion, and a sincere desire to support others in meaningful ways.
In addition to her emotional intelligence, Katee brings valuable skills in business development and growth, making her not only a beautiful facilitator but also someone who understands how to build and sustain impactful work.
Her lived experience with equine assisted learning adds another layer of depth to what she offers. She truly understands the power of horses, not just in theory, but through her own personal journey, which allows her to connect others to that experience in a grounded and authentic way.
Jess Lauria - Equine Facilitator and Counsellor

YOUR STORY IS CLOSER THAN YOU THINK

What might you discover if you gave yourself a day to notice?

REGISTER YOUR INTEREST

Some stories need presence before the words can flow.

The horse as partner, not prop

The horses I work with are not tools or therapy aids. They're sentient animals with their own preferences, boundaries, and ways of communicating and their participation in this work is always on their terms.

That's an ethical consideration, but it's also a practical one. A horse's response to you is honest in a way that humans — including coaches and therapists — simply can't replicate. They're tuned into congruence. They respond to your presence and your nervous system, not the version of yourself you think you need to put forward to perform as a high achiever.

Working with horses as partners is what makes this work unique. It requires presence and awareness. And that presence and awareness is what allows for sustainable high performance, particularly for business owners navigating the full complexity of life alongside their work.

Frequent asked questions

Katee Gray is an accredited EAL (Equine Assisted Learning) practitioner, trained through the Equine and Animal Assisted Psychotherapy Institute (EAAPI) and accredited Nutritionist with Nutrition Society of Australia.

Sessions are held in the Balnarring or Tyabb on the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria - Confirmed at time of booking.

Understanding Equine Mentoring

Equine mentoring and facilitation is a form of experiential learning and mentoring that takes place in the presence of horses, on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria. It is not riding or horse therapy. Sessions focus on present-moment awareness, nervous system regulation, and practical business or leadership insight, guided by how horses respond to your state, patterns, and presence. You don't need horse experience. You bring what's live for you. The horses respond to what's real.
Equine Assisted Learning (EAL) is present-moment, capacity-building work. It focuses on awareness, patterns, and practical development, what's happening now and how to work with it.

Equine Assisted Therapy or Psychotherapy (EAP) is a clinical modality that explores the origins and history of patterns, typically within a therapeutic or counselling framework.

EAL is what's offered here. If your needs are better suited to a clinical or therapeutic pathway, I'll tell you that and point you toward the right support.
No. Equine mentoring is experiential learning, not counselling, not psychotherapy. It works with what's present and alive right now: how you're functioning, what patterns are showing up, what capacity you need to build. It is not a space for excavating your past. If that's what you need, I'll refer you to someone qualified to do that work.
Look for accreditation through a recognised training body. I hold accreditation as an EAL practitioner through the Equine and Animal Assisted Psychotherapy Institute (EAAPI), completing Foundation Training with senior trainer Meg Kirby. EAAPI is one of Australia's leading equine-facilitated training institutes. Accreditation requires demonstrated competency in facilitation, horse welfare, safety, and ethical practice, not just horse experience. Specifically we focus on i-thou principles where the horses are invited into the work, and not forced to do anything.
No horse experience is needed. Most clients arrive without any. Everything you need to know to be safe and engage with the session is covered at the start. If you're an experienced horse person, that's welcome too, the work operates differently from horsepersonship, so prior experience doesn't determine what you get out of it.
Equine mentoring on the Mornington Peninsula with Katee Gray is used for: burnout recovery and capacity building, business strategy and decision-making, leadership presence and congruence, pricing and confidence, nervous system regulation, and patterns in how you work and relate. Most people arrive with a business or leadership question and leave with a deeper understanding of how they're operating underneath it.
Yes. Burnout is one of the most common reasons people book. The work is specifically designed for cognitively dominant, high-functioning people whose nervous systems are running on empty. Horses are acutely attuned to nervous system state, they respond to what's actually happening in you, not what you're presenting. That makes burnout visible in a way that's hard to argue with, and creates conditions for genuine regulation rather than managed performance.
Horses are prey animals. They're highly attuned to their environment and to the nervous system states of the people around them. They respond to what's real, not what's performed.
For people who are articulate and cognitively fluent - who can describe a problem in detail without actually feeling it - that's the point. Horses don't respond to your words. They respond to your state.
That kind of feedback is hard to argue with. And it creates insight that conversation alone often can't reach.
Yes. The nervous system co-regulation that occurs between horses and humans is documented in research. The physiological shift in humans, measurable changes in heart rate variability and stress hormone cortisol, when in proximity to horses is well established. Sessions are grounded, observational, and practical. You won't be asked to do anything that doesn't make sense to you.

What to expect from the experience

Sessions run for 90 minutes on the Mornington Peninsula at either a location in Balnarring or Tyabb - confirmed upon booking.

They follow a consistent flow: check-in (what's present for you, what you want to work with), time with the horses (which might include observing the herd, meeting a horse at liberty, grooming, or a more structured experience depending on what's relevant), and integration (what did you notice, what does it mean, what do you take with you).

You’ll also receive integration support via WhatsApp, Marco Polo, or email after each session.
No. Everything is offered as an invitation, not a requirement. You determine how you engage. All current sessions are ground-based — there is no riding.
Mention it during or before you book in. Some nervousness is normal and often part of the work.

A significant fear or phobia may mean we need to approach the first session differently, or have a conversation about whether this is the right fit right now.
It absolutely can be, and it requires honest conversation upfront. The work is not trauma therapy and does not explore trauma origins. However, it is designed to be nervous-system aware, non-coercive, and paced to what's manageable for you. If you have a significant trauma history or are currently under the care of a mental health professional, please mention this when you enquire or book in so I can best support you.
One session can shift something significant, many people notice a difference in clarity or capacity immediately. The monthly retainer (2 sessions per month with ongoing support) suits people working through something over time, or who want regular capacity support built into their practice. There is no lock-in commitment.

practical logistics stuff

Sessions are held in the Balnarring and Tyabb area on the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, approximately 70km south-east of Melbourne. Exact address and parking details are confirmed at booking.

I can arrange airport transport as part of your booking - just send us an email with your travel details: hello@kateegray.com
Closed-toe shoes are non-negotiable, no thongs, sandals, or heels.

Comfortable layers for being outside in variable weather. You'll be on the ground for 90 minutes, potentially in wind, sun, or cold, so dress practically.
We do have undercover options and some cosy spaces for warmth.

If you arrive in unsuitable footwear the session may need to be rescheduled.
— with awareness. Horses are large animals and their behaviour, while predictable when you understand them, is never entirely controlled. Every session begins with a safety briefing that gives you the information you need to be safe and make good choices. Horses are specifically matched to the work and to each client. Your safety, and the horses', is the first priority in every session.
It absolutely can be, and it requires honest conversation upfront. The work is not trauma therapy and does not explore trauma origins. However, it is designed to be nervous-system aware, non-coercive, and paced to what's manageable for you. If you have a significant trauma history or are currently under the care of a mental health professional, please mention this when you enquire or book in so I can best support you.
Sessions can often be adapted for your needs. Please reach out on email with your preferred accomodations so I can confirm which location may be better suited. That conversation is better had upfront than on the day.

hello@kateegray.com
Book directly at kateegray.com/book-equine-mentoring. You'll receive a confirmation with all session details. First-time clients will be sent a services agreement and safety check — both must be signed at least 48 hours before the session.
Please cancel or reschedule at least 48 hours before your session. Cancellations within 48 hours forfeit the 50% deposit. If I need to cancel due to illness or weather, you'll be notified as soon as possible and offered a full rebook or refund.
No, this is for the scope of Equine Therapy (EAP)