Despite the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, we were able to bring 2021 to a close with Eponaquest founder Linda Kohanov making her long-anticipated trip to Europe after multiple postponements. The successful seven-week tour included the graduation week for French-speaking apprentices who are now instructors practicing in France and Belgium, as well as a special training for European instructors who want to incorporate the Five Roles of a Master Herder leadership model into their practices. These events were followed up by a fall schedule at Linda’s home base in Arizona that included eight successfully rescheduled programs, including the final week of our 36th Eponaquest Apprenticeship Program. Congratulations to all of our new Eponaquest and Master Herder Instructors!
Linda Kohanov with Charly at Hof ter Weyden farm in Essen, Belgium (photo by Natascha van den Bergh).
Workshops in 2022
The 2022 Eponaquest workshop schedule is set to open February 3rd through the 6th with one of our most popular programs – Black Horse Wisdom https://eponaquest.com/workshop/black-horse-wisdom-3/. This program exercises intuition, builds creativity, explores equine archetypes of transformation, and includes visionary journeying experiences with music while strengthening personal development and relationship skills in non-riding activities with horses. As a result of the need for some participants to reschedule due to international travel challenges, we have a couple of spots open for this workshop. If you have time and flexibility to join us in 10 days, contact the Eponaquest office or register online at the link above.
Also on the schedule in March is Merlin’s Gift: Horse Sense for Challenging Times (https://eponaquest.com/workshop/the-power-behind-nonviolence-horse-sense-for-challenging-times-2/) and in April, Black Horse Wisdom 2 (https://eponaquest.com/workshop/black-horse-wisdom-2-2/), an advanced intuition and deep personal development workshop for those who have attended Black Horse Wisdom in the past. (There are two spaces available in this advanced program.) Linda is currently working on the details for the remainder of 2022 and additional program details will be available soon.
“I was so pleased that with some simple COVID protocols in place (including reducing the number of participants and working mostly outside), we were successfully able to hold significant workshops in Europe and Arizona without incidents of people contracting the virus at our events,” Linda says. “We feel confident in moving forward with a limited workshop schedule this spring, and hopefully, building back up to capacity in the fall. I’m so excited to be leading experiential workshops again, and the horses seem thrilled to get back to facilitating the life-changing experiences people have in their presence.”
Eponaquest Instructor Trainings
“Due to COVID, we have also had to reschedule the next Eponaquest Apprenticeship Program for fall 2022,” says Linda. “We will start in October, with exact dates to come soon.” In the meantime, you can check out the overview description for this in-depth instructor training program at https://eponaquest.com/overview/.
“Overall, I have to say that I’m extra proud of the instructors who graduated over the last few months,” Linda says. “In Belgium, France, and Arizona, everyone had to deal with shifting COVID policies in various countries. Special thanks to our incredible faculty members who helped us all negotiate the various hurdles involved in coming together during this strange time: Cécile Gilbert-Kawano, Claire Labaeye, and Lorraine Tilbury in France, Josselien Janssens and Judith van Heerde in Holland/Belgium, and Elysa Ginsburg, Sue Smades, Sheri Gaynor and Fabi Vlchek here in the US. It’s more important than ever that we have dedicated, well-prepared facilitators that people can study with regionally where safe travel is not such an issue.”
“I really want to recognize the instructors who braved the challenges of the pandemic to graduate in 2021. And to all our instructors worldwide who have graduated from the Eponaquest Apprenticeship Program since it was established way back in 2002. It’s hard to believe it’s been 20 years! While we have had to make some adjustments since the COVID wave started in 2020, we are still going strong and look forward to a bright future taking the wisdom of the horse to people worldwide.”
For additional information or other assistance contact info@eponaquest.com or 520-205-1107. For a list of Eponaquest Instructors in your region: https://eponaquest.com/recommended-instructors/
Here’s a list of the instructors who graduated in fall 2021 (Not all graduates appear in the photographs below.) Congratulations to you all!
French Apprenticeship Graduates (AP35):
- Juliette Collinet – Belgium
- Laurence Darcy – France
- Véronique Gonon – France
- Elodie Hammiche – France
- Amélie Mastrototaro – France
- Bernadette Miglietti – France
- Stéphanie Vignes – France
Graduates of the US-Based AP36 Apprenticeship:
- Yvonne Artner – Austria
- Tracie Bowman – England
- Ruby Cox – United Kingdom
- Jesse Johnson – Bend, Oregon
- Felicia Kentz – Nevada City, CA
- Elizabeth McLean – Asheville, NC
Master Herder graduates (program held in Belgium):
- Dries Broux – Belgium
- Rixta de Bode – Netherlands
- Wilma Geuzebroek – Netherlands
- Rik Harmsen – Netherlands
- Lut Poto Carrero – Belgium
- Karin Rüter – Germany
- Ellis Samsom – Netherlands
- Sandra Teuber – Switzerland
- Femke van der Most-Vroon – Netherlands
- Petra Van Eygen – Belgium
- Nancy van Leuken de Klein – Netherlands
- Esther van Oorspronk – Netherlands
- Tinneke Willaeys – Belgium
- Floor Zijda – Netherlands
