Goat Yoga in Northern Florida

My sister recently told me that I was a millennial at heart. Unlike other Gen-Xers, I embrace the values and innovations millennials have brought to pop culture — shop locally, purchase handmade/homegrown goods, combine foods from all different cultures to create innovative fusion cuisine. But when I heard about “goat yoga”, I thought perhaps the young ‘ens may have lost it a bit. But maybe not? Also, I’m assuming some millennial came up with this because I swear my generation and certainly baby boomers are not that wildly creative. And even if it wasn’t a millennial who conceptualized this new trend, the millennials have certainly embraced it… along with the kimchi street taco, adult coloring, and just about every flavor of kombucha imaginable.

So goat yoga. I kinda had to try it out. I registered for my first goat yoga session at Black Prong Equestrian Center in Bronson, Florida. It was about a 35-minute drive from my house, and I went with two of my friends.

When we arrived, there were about 25 goats, all born last spring, in a large fenced in area. We each received a bag of what we were told was “goat crack”, little treats that the goats like. We set our mats out in a grassy region adjacent to the fenced in goat area, and listened to the farm owners and yoga instructor before we began. The yoga instructor was actually new to goat yoga, but was excited to try it out.

I’m not sure if this was just part of my experience or any goat yoga experience, but goat yoga is basically 5% yoga, 95% goats. It was super hard to concentrate on the instructor when the goats were wildly running around us, looking for treats. I think I did a few downward dogs and maybe a warrior pose of some sort {maybe} and the rest was pretty much goats.

I learned some important lessons about goats:

They don’t want to just snuggle you.
They are greedy. They want alllll the treats.
Their hooves are kinda rough.
Their poop is easy to clean up.
They are really cute. Which I already knew, but this was confirmed.

Best move of the day? Our goat stack! My friend Oriana climbed on my back, goat on top. How cute are we?

When the “yoga” was complete, we enjoyed some more time petting and feeding the goats. Warning, if you have goat treats, HIDE THEM! Goats *will* attack you for their treats. Like I said above, goats are greedy! They are seriously lucky they are so darn cute, too!

And as per any event that involves things like goats and yoga, you need locally-brewed craft beer. Makes total sense at 10:30 am on a Saturday, right? Cypress & Grove Brewing Co., a Gainesville-based beer company, brought their blonde and pale ale to sample. They are a newer brewery in town, and both beers were awesome.