Welcome to Sawubona Ranch

Hello! I’m Annie Young

A Certified Master Equine Gestaltist® and Licensed Equine Facilitator™ at Sawubona Ranch in Littleton, Colorado.

I support adults (and especially parents) who look capable on the outside… but inside feel like they’ve drifted from themselves.

Not because they’re broken.
Not because they aren’t trying hard enough.

But because life can become a long season of showing up for everyone else—until your own inner voice gets quiet.

At Sawubona Ranch, we don’t “push through.” We slow down, listen closely, and work with what’s real—so you can come back to yourself with steadiness, self-trust, and a felt sense of worth that isn’t dependent on roles or performance.

Why I do this work

For years, I worked professionally alongside families—often watching how parents’ dreams, identity, and spark changed as the needs of their children took center stage. My job was to focus on the child… but I kept feeling pulled toward the parent who needed someone to hold their hand too.

And then it became personal.

I’m a mother of three, and parenting changed me. I remember feeling tightly wound, unsure, and self-critical—especially during the toddler years. I wanted to be a “good mom,” but I also missed me. I didn’t know where to begin again.

Gestalt coaching helped me rediscover my value—not as a concept, but as something I could feel again. That shift is why I do what I do now.

A little of my story

Before this work, I was a Registered Pediatric Dietitian. I loved it. I supported children and families through feeding difficulties and medically complex challenges—work that demanded equal parts science, patience, and compassion.

One moment has stayed with me for years:

On my first day back after maternity leave, my boss told me I’d become a better pediatric dietitian because now I’d understand what it’s like to be a parent—the overwhelm, the love, the pressure, the impossibility of “just do the simple thing” in real life.

That’s been true in every helping profession I’ve held: people don’t need more advice. They need safety. They need their own inner clarity back. They need someone who can see them without judgment and help them reconnect to what’s already there.

What makes this different

This isn’t talk therapy in a barn, and it isn’t a motivational experience.

My work is Equine-Guided Awareness & Integration Work—a way of supporting real change by working with:

• What’s happening in your body (not just your mind)
• The patterns you learned to survive
• The parts of you that got pushed aside to keep life functioning
• The moments you can feel the shift—before the shutdown, before the snap, before the numbness
• A science-based + nervous-system-aware, deeply experiential approach

And because horses respond to what’s authentic (not what’s polished), they help you notice what’s true—gently, honestly, and without shame.

About “Sawubona”

“Sawubona” is a Zulu greeting often translated as “I see you”—not as a polite phrase, but as a deeper acknowledgment of someone’s worth and whole humanity.

That’s the heart of this ranch.

You don’t have to earn your right to be cared for here.

You get to be seen—so you can see yourself again.

Credentials & background

• Certified Master Equine Gestaltist®
• Licensed Equine Facilitator™
• Former Registered Pediatric Dietitian, specializing in feeding difficulties and medically complex pediatric cases
• Trained through the Touched By A Horse® program (EGCM)