About Me — Tori, Founder of Carbon Cowgirl™

My name is Tori, and for as long as I can remember, I have been listening for the quiet places where the earth speaks. Animals, land, and spirit have always been my compass — even during the years when I forgot how to hear them.

Carbon Cowgirl™ was born from the moment I finally remembered.

I spent most of my twenties following a version of success that never quite fit — city life, corporate schedules, and a pace that pushed me far from my own body. At the same time, a deeper truth kept calling me back: to soil under my nails, to the ancient rhythm of hooves, to the medicine of breath, to the wild feminine self I had tucked away.

And then everything changed — heartbreak, loss, upheaval, and awakening arrived all at once. In the same week that my beloved cat, Ethel, passed into spirit, I met the horse who would become my greatest teacher: a young Holsteiner gelding named Ogopogo — now Pogo, now Po — a name that bridges Canadian folklore and the Taoist Po spirit of the lungs and the earthly body. It felt as though Ethel had placed him in my path herself.

From that moment forward, my life unfolded into an entirely new chapter.

I began traveling — to the Atlas Mountains, to Morocco’s open desert, to places where the land holds ancient memory. Riding through those mountains, I felt myself return. I experienced soul retrieval in motion, guided by an inner presence I now call The Atlas Oracle — a golden-cloaked feminine spirit who arrived not as fantasy, but as a remembering. For the first time, I met the woman I truly was: an ancient horsewoman who had simply been sleeping inside me.

Everything I now offer was born from that reclamation.

Today, I live and work on Vashon Island, tending a small but mighty herd who each carry their own medicine:

Po — the bridge between worlds, playful and wise, the horse who arrived on the wings of grief
Dan Tian (Bramble) — the elder Quarter Horse with a name rooted in Taoist energy centers, a grounding force
Poppie — bright, sensitive, expressive, the mirror for emotional honesty
…and others who come in and out of my life as guides rather than possessions

Each horse is a partner, not a tool. They co-facilitate all my teaching, healing, and leadership work. They are the real medicine keepers.

Carbon Cowgirl™ is the integration of everything these horses — and this land — have taught me.

It is my offering to a culture that has forgotten how to listen.

Through equine-facilitated learning, Qigong and energy cultivation, and regenerative land stewardship, I help people remember their own belonging. Whether we are restoring healthy soil, practicing breath on the land, or learning to communicate with horses in a way that honors their sentience, my work centers the same truth:

Harmony in the land creates harmony in the body.
Harmony with the horse creates harmony with the self.
Regeneration is possible — from the soil to the spirit.

I am not here to fix people. I am here to create conditions where they can soften, open, and reconnect with the wildness that has always been theirs.

This is the journey I walk every day — with my herd, with my own healing, with the spaces I steward — and it is the journey I invite you into.

Thank you for being here.
You belong to the earth, too.

— Tori