Meagan Hruska, MS, LMHC

08/26/2025

There just something special about cuddling and playing with baby goats! Help us welcome all 11 of them into the world! 💜

08/03/2025

We are so excited to bring these two events to our community! They will take place on August 8th and August 15th. Both are from 9am-11:30am. You must register by emailing me (on the flyer) to attend.

They are open to anyone 18 and older. Our Dusty Boots Barn team and horses, Holli, Larry, Parker and Jesse all look forward to having you join us! 🐴🙌🏼☀️

Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions.

I am also including another reflection below for those interested in why these experiences feel powerful and what makes us, Dusty Boots Barn, and our services different.

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You might have heard horses “heal you,” “horses are medicine,” or “horses are magic.” It’s a beautiful idea, but a false one. In fact, it’s disempowering because it does not allow you to take credit for your own healing or own your own magic. I have learned to take horses off the pedestal. They are beings like you and me in their own personalities, and we love them for it!

What is powerful though is horses are congruent. They are present and attuned, which on a body level, helps regulate our nervous systems. Our nervous systems are designed to co-regulate and match those around us. That’s why in person relationships and communities (and being around horses or nature!) are so powerful and healing. And why we need them! We are not meant to be separate.

When our nevevous system co-regulates to safety, this is where it can drop into healing. It is much easier to shift thought patterns, see a new way of thinking and have “transformational” insight, because our body now has access to it. It is a state to feel safe enough to surrender, to let go what doesn’t serve us. To let go of the emotions and limiting beliefs that have held us back from embodying who we are.

It also becomes safe for us to be seen. That’s why these experiences can bring up so much. They can show us ourselves and all that we’ve been running and hiding from. It helps cultivate self-awareness, assist us in exploring our inner world, and shift our body state, allowing us to develop authentic and secure relationships to ourselves and others.

Being in a space with regulated horses and humans can create a space for a lot of us to feel seen, esp. when we live a distracted world where most of us are chronically stressed and overwhelmed and the people in our lives are too. A lot of us don’t often get to experience this level of presence. Which is why these experience can feel like “medicine” and truly do change us.

This is also why we, Dusty Boots Barn, put such care in our team working together outside of sessions. We have high standards and go through much training to be able to cultivate our own abilities and nervous systems to create this. Without it, this wouldn’t be a safe place and community for anyone to heal and come home to themselves in. We have to be congruent, present and attuned too. This is not easy. And this is not something that can be faked! Unfortunately, not all “therapeutic and equine services” provide this depth of nervous system safety or community that allows our nervous system to move into a healing state. (We are working on changing this though!).

We as a team love this work and holding space to assist others in co-regulating their nervous system with us. This is a place where you can experience the empowered person you are by healing yourself. We are there to hold it and witness it. To see it, to see you; through our presence, attunement and congruency.

I feel honored to walk this path with this group.
So come join us and let yourself experience what it feels like to have a regulated nervous system and be surrounded by a community that encourages you to heal. I’m also biased, but the horses and animals here are pretty fun! And it’s beautiful on the land out here!

Can’t wait to see you there. 💚

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08/03/2025

These would be great groups to explore for healing for anyone interested!

08/01/2025

“Rainbow Eyes”

I’ve been reflecting a lot on nonverbal communication and presence, esp. after writing my most recent blog post on presence in communication (you can find that below or on our Ignited Masculine site). I have also learned so much on nonverbal communication through my work with horses.

When you think about communication, most of us think of the verbal, or the words. In fact, only 10% of communication is in words. The other 90% is conveyed through body language and what I call emotional undertone. 90% of communication is unspoken.

I wanted to share a recent reflection I had on the eyes, and how our eyes communicate. This reflection was inspired by a recent session with one of my clients, who is about 6 years old.

I was sitting with this little girl on the floor in my office, and we were doing a play therapy activity. Suddenly, she looked over at me and looked deeply into my eyes. “You have rainbow eyes,” she said.

“Really?” I responded. “What do you see?” I’m not sure what I expected her to say, but I was curious about her comment.

“I see all the colors,” she said. And started listing the colors of the rainbow. “They’re so sparkly and shinny.”

I then asked her if she wanted me to tell her what I saw in her eyes.

“Yes,” she said. I then shared and told her of all the beautiful blues, greens and grays I saw in hers. She smiled and kept looking in my eyes. I let her look as long as she needed, until she looked away. We then resumed our play.

We underestimate the power of how we look at someone and what our eyes might convey about our presence to the people in our lives. There’s so much information in them.

Do you have soft or hard eyes? Are they dull or lifeless? Or are they bright and full of life? Are they loving, gentle and warm? Or are they cold and disconnected? Is there an emotion that gets conveyed through them? A current state of presence you’re in? Do they light up when you do something you like? Or get cast down when you feel ashamed? Do you look people in the eyes or avoid it?

What do you see when you look others in the eye? What do they see about you when they look at your eyes? Have you ever even considered what your eyes say?! Maybe there’s a lot of truth to the saying that “your eyes are a window into your soul.”

I will also share that I do a lot of “eye” work with my clients, depending on where they are in their journey to connect with themselves. I will often have them look in a mirror at their own eyes. What do they see? What comes up when they do? Can they even “look at themselves” literally?

When we are infants and kids, in an ideal world, we would get a lot of loving eye gazes. This viscerally and subconsciously teaches us that we are seen and loved for who we are. The body stores the looks we get and turns it into beliefs about ourselves, way deeper beyond the “logic mind.” Often, we may not remember the type of eye contact we got, but it makes a difference. For those of us that don’t feel seen or feel “invisible,” I sometimes wonder what kind of eye contact and “looks” we got, or didn’t get.

For those of us afraid to look at ourselves, literally or metaphorically, it can be powerful to begin looking and gazing into our own eyes. It becomes a willingness to provide a corrective experience for ourselves. A shift that we make that says, “you’re worthy of being known and seen.” It can be very challenging to learn how to look, let alone lovingly, into our own eyes, but wow, is it powerful. I will also say that until we have the courage and take the time to fully see ourselves, we won’t be able to “fully see” another person.

So maybe start experimenting with what you notice when you look into your own eyes. Or ask someone what they see. If you have kids, it might be fun to sit down and ask them what they notice in you and vice versa! But be prepared for their honest answer!

Also a tip for parents, learn to pay attention to how you “look” at your kids and “what you are conveying” with your eyes. I have often suggested to parents to intentionally and lovingly look at their kids when they communicate with them. I have had numerous parents who have tried this and reported back postive results. Per one parent, “the loving eye contact has been a game changer!”

It might also be worth exploring what you think your kids’ eyes tell you. Do they look you in the eyes or avoid it? Why? What might be going on for them? Or what might be going on in your relationship with them? Do they feel worthy of being seen? Or do they “hide” being seen by looking away? Learn to pay attention to what their eyes could be saying.

This is also applies to any relationship!

The more we pay attention to and get curious about the nonverbals, the more attuned we become. This leads to deeper, more connected relationships.

I encourage you to explore your own eyes and what eyes “communicate” in your daily life. SEE what you begin to notice. No pun intended 😉

07/31/2025

“I want to work on communication,” said many clients to a therapist. “Do you know how deep that work really is?” Said the therapist in response. The art of communication is a journey so much deeper than what we think it is. I smile every time someone comes into my office saying their goal is...

07/29/2025

07/22/2025

Complacency is the epitome of cowardice. The price of change is courage.

It's easy to blame life for being cruel or unfair, but the truth is that you've always had the power to choose a different path. Most people don't, because it's easier to keep looping in the same familiar patterns of behavior ad nauseam instead of stepping boldly into the unknown.

As children, we're helpless, and often the reality is that we are unable to escape bad situations. This can sometimes transfer into adulthood, where you still harbor the belief that you're "stuck." This is a lie. You're just afraid.

If you can recognize and acknowledge the fear, you can start to move through it. Then eventually conquer it. Naming the true monster beneath the familiar story will set you free. Instead of telling yourself that you're stuck, trapped, or incapable of change, try admitting to yourself instead, "I'm not stuck, I'm afraid." If it's true, you will feel the power behind it, and you will be one step closer to liberation.

07/16/2025

“Don’t make us weak with all that emotion stuff,” said a man to a therapist When coming into therapy, the idea of having to “feel” emotions or “talk” about feelings can be a big barrier to seeking out mental health services, especially for men. But what if emotions aren’t what you th...

07/15/2025

Today was Jesse’s last ride. It was a beautiful ending and release of a role.

Jesse is older now and can’t do what he used to do. He made the request to try to do one more rhythmic riding session. He chose to carry and hold Lynn, another one of our counselors at the barn.

And as he did, we all knew it was his last time. I wonder if he wanted to end this role where he knew he would be listened to. He communicated when he was done, and Lynn got off. It was beautiful to facilitate this ride with Jesse and Lynn, as he released a role, surrounded by people who care and love him.

Jesse is still an important member of our team and will continue to be at our barn. But this role of his is done. I feel so blessed that we could all be with him in this final experience of carrying others.

Letting go and endings can be beautiful when we honor them 💜