LYNNE BRYAN PHIPPS
Ask the Horses
Every horse in Lynne Bryan Phipps's life has left her with something she would one day need to know.
From the horses of her childhood to the remarkable animals who became her companions, teachers, and partners, Ask the Horses traces a life shaped by connection, grace, and the courage to live boldly.
Some lessons came through joy. Others through loss. Together, they taught her what it means to live boldly, and entirely as herself.
THE STORYLong before Lynne Bryan Phipps created Integrative Equine Therapy or founded Beachwood Center for Wellbeing, there were the horses.
Lollypop, Sancerre, Lupita, Rajah, Sebastien, Bugatti, Dior. Each arrived at a different moment in her life. Each had something to teach her about love, loss, trust, connection, and the courage to live as herself.
Over a lifetime, those lessons became something larger: a way of understanding how we connect with one another, how we find our way through difficulty, and what it means to live boldly.
Ask the Horses is the story behind that understanding—and the life and work it inspired.
MEET THE AUTHORLynne Bryan Phipps
Lynne Bryan Phipps is the founder of Beachwood Center for Wellbeing and the creator of Integrative Equine Therapy, an approach to healing and connection developed through her lifelong relationships with horses.
An Episcopal minister, educator, and entrepreneur, Lynne has spent her life creating places where people can discover what matters most to them. Her work now extends through Inspirited Living, where the lessons of connection, grace, and living boldly reach beyond the barn.
Ask the Horses is her first book.
Chapter: Rajah
“Then I called one of my good friends. She said to me, well, have you asked the horse which one is the right one?
And I was like, oh my gosh, why didn't I think of that.
Ask the horse. That's a really smart idea.
So I did.
They were both turned out individually. Everybody there had two-acre paddocks, these huge paddocks, beautiful green fields. I went down to the chestnut's paddock, and I walked through the gate, and he looked up, and he went back to grazing. I walked over to him, and I stood there and enjoyed his company and we sort of hung out together, and I thought, okay, well, that's nice.
Then I went to the paddock of the gray horse, and he crossed the field directly to me.
Met me in the middle. Put his head on my heart and I burst into tears.
Done.
My beautiful boy Rajah.”