Horse-Assisted Healing in Your Own Backyard
You don’t need to travel far to find something that shifts subtle yet big things.
Highlands Centre for Healing is 20 minutes from Bowral’s main street. 106 acres of Gundungurra Country just outside Moss Vale, where the horses move freely and the land holds a particular kind of quiet that the town itself — beautiful as it is — cannot quite replicate.
If you’ve been searching for equine therapy near Bowral, this is likely where that search ends.
Equine therapy is a broad term people use for healing work that involves horses. At Highlands Centre for Healing, this work is ground-based and equine-assisted — meaning we work alongside horses (we would never ‘use’ them!) rather than on horseback, guided by whatever your body and nervous system are ready for on the day.
There’s no program. No protocol. No fixing. Just Soo, the herd, and the living intelligence of land that knows how to hold you while something begins, quietly, to change.
Let’s talk
Bowral Already Knows How to Slow Down. So Do We
There’s a reason people come to the Southern Highlands.
The air changes. The pace drops. Something in the body — even before you’ve consciously decided to rest — begins to loosen its grip. The light here moves differently across the paddocks in the late afternoon. The morning fog sits heavy in the gullies. And by the time you’ve walked through Corbett Gardens or had a slow coffee in a Bowral cafe, you’ve already begun to arrive somewhere different.
Bowral has always been a place of refuge. People have been coming here to exhale for generations. From Sydney, from Canberra, from the Illawarra. Some come for a long weekend; some have made it home.
And sometimes, when the town itself isn’t quite enough — when you’re still carrying something that beautiful surroundings alone haven’t shifted — something pulls you further.
Twenty minutes up the road, at the end of a peaceful country drive, there’s a different kind of quiet.
This is where the horses are.
Let’s talk
What Happens Here
Somatic Equine Therapy Healing — Ground-Based Sessions
60-minute sessions held in the living presence of the herd.
The horses at Highlands Centre are not here to perform tasks or follow a program. They are partners in this work — attuned, perceptive, and extraordinarily sensitive to what’s happening in the field around them. They can hear a human heartbeat from a metre away. A herd will synchronise its rhythms to make sense of its environment. That environment includes you.
Soo works alongside you and the horses, listening to what’s present — in your body, in your story, in the space between words. The session follows your pace. There is no agenda. What unfolds is guided by safety, consent, and what your nervous system is ready for.
This kind of work often reaches people who feel something is sitting deeper than talk has been able to touch. Not stuck in a clinical sense, but in the felt sense of carrying something that hasn’t moved. People who’ve done the therapy, read the books, tried the practices — and still notice the weight of it in their chest or their shoulders or their gut.
The horses respond to that. Gently. Without judgement. In ways that are sometimes difficult to explain and rarely forgotten. Find More Here.
Reiki With The Herd
90-minute energy healing sessions held outdoors with the horse herd.
This is still, embodied work. You’ll be held in a field of presence — Soo channelling healing energy, the horses moving freely in the space around you, the land doing what land like this does when you let it.
Energy that’s been held a long time begins to soften. The body remembers what it’s like to rest without performing rest. And something that has felt fixed or heavy begins, slowly, to move.
Every session is unique. The horses choose their own level of engagement. No two sessions unfold the same way. Many people find their awareness of what has shifted continues for days after leaving. More on Reiki with the Herd.
A Gentle Way to Begin
If you’re curious about this work but not ready to book a full 1:1 session, Soo also offers small-group workshops and shorter (2–3 hour) group experiences.
These sessions provide an opportunity to meet the horses, experience the land, and get a felt sense of the work in a more accessible, shared setting. There’s no pressure to go deeply — just a chance to notice what unfolds in your body and in the presence of the herd.
Many people choose this as a first step before moving into individual sessions or retreats.
Design Your Own Retreat
For those who want to go deeper — whether you live locally or you’re visiting for a few days — Soo’s design-your-own approach makes it possible to build something that’s genuinely yours.
A single session. A private day. A few days on the land that combine equine work, Reiki, nature immersion, and other healing modalities tailored to what you’re carrying and what you’re ready for. There’s no template. The experience forms around you.
On-site accommodation is available at The Stables and Gang Gang Hideaway, so you can stay close to the herd and the land without needing to drive anywhere.
A gentle walk, warm heartfelt conversation, inhaling nature and getting up close again with horses was just what I needed.
Soo invites a hands on nurturing experience.
Highly recommended
I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to wander through the highlands landscape and connect with a group of like minded women. We share and discuss anything and everything and I can honestly say Soo has become a really good friend. My experience so far has been overflowing and I’ve loved it!
You’re Closer Than You Think
If you live in Bowral, Mittagong, Moss Vale, Berrima, Bundanoon, or anywhere in the Southern Highlands, Highlands Centre for Healing isn’t a retreat you need to plan months ahead.
It’s a short drive. It’s a session on a Thursday afternoon when something in you finally says: enough. It’s the place a Bowral local can come back to — not once in a moment of crisis, but regularly, as part of what it means to live in this landscape rather than just pass through it.
For those visiting the Southern Highlands on a weekend — staying in a Bowral B&B, moving through the town’s galleries and gardens at a slower pace — a session here can be what makes the whole trip land differently. Not as an activity. As an arrival.
Some people come once. Some return every few weeks. Some stay for a few days and leave carrying a kind of steadiness they’d forgotten was possible.
There’s no right way to begin.
Let’s talk
The Land Itself
The property is Eureka Pines, 674 Nowra Rd, Moss Vale. 106 acres backing onto Meryla Flora Reserve.
You’ll notice the energy as you enter the main gates, before you’ve even driven up the driveway and stepped out of the car.
There’s a morning mist that sits in the gullies in winter and a dawn chorus that starts before the light reaches the paddocks. The air is cooler here than Bowral, even in summer — the altitude lifts it. The wombats graze in the paddocks at dusk. Gang-gang cockatoos call from the canopy above the hideaway.
The land is Gundungurra and Dharawal Country, and it carries a presence that predates maps and fences. Many people say they feel something shift before they’ve met the horses. Before any session has begun.
That’s not unusual. It’s the land doing what it does.
The horses live here freely. The forest breathes. And the whole property holds — quietly, without asking anything of you in return.
Who This Work Calls To
There’s no checklist. No criteria you need to meet before you’re welcome here.
But if you find yourself in any of these:
- You’re a Southern Highlands local who’s been quietly curious about this kind of work for longer than you’ve admitted
- You hold everything together, reliably, and your body is beginning to show the cost of that
- You’re a caregiver — a nurse, a teacher, a therapist, a parent — and you’ve been giving from a place that’s running dry
- You’re navigating grief, or a loss of self, or a version of your life that didn’t unfold the way you thought it would
- You’ve done the therapy, the yoga, the wellness weekends, and something is still sitting deeper than any of it reached
- You feel more at ease around animals than in rooms full of people
- You’re visiting Bowral and something told you to look for this
You don’t need a diagnosis. You don’t need to justify the weight you’re carrying.
You just need to be ready for something to be different.
About Soo Woods
SOO
Therapist & Healer
I’ve been on this land for over a decade. I know the way the fog comes in from the escarpment and what the horses are like in the cold months, the windy seasons and the heat of summer.
I didn’t come to this work from a textbook. I came to it by needing it.
Like many of the people who find their way here, I spent a long time operating in patterns that felt functional enough on the surface. Pushing through. Staying in my head. Disconnecting from the body when it was easier than listening to it. It wasn’t until I began combining energy, somatic healing and horses that I began to understand how much had quietly accumulated — and how much the body already knew about how to release it.
What I offer isn’t a technique or a program. It’s a space. One where your nervous system can finally slow down without being asked to perform its slowness. One where nothing is forced and where the process unfolds in its own time, at the pace your body can actually hold.
I know this part of the world. And I know that the people here — locals and visitors both — often carry more than the Southern Highlands’ beautiful calm lets on.
If you’re curious, reach out. A simple conversation is enough to begin. No commitment. No pressure. Just a chance to see whether this feels right for you.
Practicalities
Booking: Sessions and retreats are by appointment. Contact Soo directly to talk about what would best support you.
Accommodation: On-site options at The Stables and Gang Gang Hideaway for those who want to stay close to the land. There’s also a wide range of accommodation in Bowral, Moss Vale, and Mittagong — from heritage B&Bs to farm stays — if you prefer to base yourself in town.
Investment: Contact Soo for current session and retreat pricing. This is small-scale, deeply personalised work. You’re not paying for a facility. You’re investing in held space, lived wisdom, and the co-regulation of horses and land.
Getting here from Bowral: Take Bowral Road or Illawarra Highway toward Moss Vale, then Nowra Road south. The property is at 674 Nowra Rd, Moss Vale NSW 2577.
Accessibility: The property includes open paddocks, mown woodland tracks, and natural terrain. If you have mobility considerations, let Soo know so the session can be shaped around your needs.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this the same as traditional equine therapy?
Equine therapy is a broad term, and what happens here sits outside the clinical or protocol-driven models. The work is horse-assisted, somatic, and relational. There’s no structured exercise program, no diagnosis required, and no outcome you’re expected to arrive at. Sessions unfold in response to you, the horses, and what’s present on the day.
Do I need any experience with horses?
None at all. No riding, no prior horse knowledge. All sessions are ground-based. The horses move freely and engage at their own choosing. Many people who have never spent time with horses before find the experience more intuitive than they expected.
I live in Bowral — can I come regularly, not just for a one-off retreat?
Yes, and a number of Soo’s clients are Southern Highlands locals who come for regular sessions rather than a single retreat. There’s no program or prescribed schedule. The rhythm is yours.
I'm visiting Bowral for the weekend. Is a single session possible?
Absolutely. A 60-minute somatic equine session or a 90-minute Reiki With The Herd session is available as a standalone booking. No multi-day commitment. Some visitors also choose to join a shorter group experience if timing aligns. Some people come once and find it was exactly what they needed. Others return.
Is this appropriate if I'm dealing with burnout, grief, or anxiety?
This work supports the nervous system — not as a replacement for medical or psychological care, but as a body-led complement to it. If you’re navigating something heavy and you’re not sure whether this is the right fit, contact Soo before booking. She’s happy to have a conversation first.
What if I'm nervous about being around large animals?
That’s more common than you might think, and it’s something the sessions naturally work with. You’re never pushed into proximity. The horses respond to your comfort level, and space is always respected. Often that initial uncertainty becomes part of what the session works with — gently, and only as fast as you’re ready.
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Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that Highlands Centre For Healing is based on Gundungurra country. We pay our deepest respect to elders past, present and emerging of the oldest continuing culture in the world, acknowledging that sovereignty of these lands, waterways and culture was never ceded.
Address
‘Eureka Pines’
674 Nowra Rd, Moss Vale NSW 2577
Phone: 0411 623 479
Open:
| BY APPOINTMENT | |
| Tuesday | 10:00-17:00 |
| Wednesday | 10:00-17:00 |
| Thursday | 10:00-17:00 |
| Friday | 10:00-17:00 |
| Saturday | 10:00-17:00 |
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