About this episode

This episode features a conversation about grief, love, and the role of horses in navigating life's challenges with guest Karla Brahms.

In this deeply personal and wide‑ranging episode of Equine Assisted World, Rupert Isaacson speaks with longtime colleague and friend Karla Brahms of Wellenreiter in the Odenwald, Germany — a region steeped in myth, forest, and living horse culture. What begins as a conversation about equine‑assisted practice unfolds into an intimate exploration of grief, love, resilience, and the sacred role horses play in helping humans navigate life’s darkest passages. Karla shares her evolution from decades of forest‑based therapeutic riding with children into her current work integrating NIG (Neuro‑Imaginative Gestalt) constellation methods with horses. Through spontaneous drawing, embodied awareness, and equine presence, she helps clients access inner wisdom beyond intellectual processing. The conversation then turns to the death of her husband, musician Jan, and the profound grief that followed. Karla speaks openly about ritual, laying out the body at home, identity loss, and how horses — through presence, warmth, and simple being — helped her remain anchored in the present. This episode explores what modern culture has lost around death and ceremony — and how horses may help us reclaim a…

People in this episode

Host: Rupert Isaacson

Guest: Karla Brahms

Topics covered

• grief
• equine-assisted therapy
• resilience
• love
• death
• ritual
• inner wisdom

Keywords

• equine-assisted practice
• therapeutic riding
• Neuro-Imaginative Gestalt
• grief
• resilience
• inner wisdom
• death
• ritual

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Wellenreiter

Places: Odenwald, Germany

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• Urban Horses, Hidden Access & Equine Therapy in the City | Lucy Dillon of ChildVision Dublin | EAW 50 · March 19, 2026 · 1h 54m
• Rescue as Relationship: Horses, Trauma & Second Chances with Christine Doran | Equine Assisted World Ep 48 · February 12, 2026 · 1h 59m
• Creating New Stories Together: Horses, Grief, Theater & Belonging with Betsy Kahl | EP 47 · January 29, 2026 · 1h 54m
• Animals as Relatives: Native Wisdom, Trauma & Healing with Brandy Tomhave | EAW 46 · January 14, 2026 · 1h 59m

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