Losira Okelo

I was born in New York City to Ugandan parents. At three years old, we moved to Belgium. I begged my parents to ride after a visit to a horse farm on a school trip.

A few years later, we moved to Kenya. I continued riding for a short while then life shifted toward university and the search for meaningful work.

For over 15 years, I worked in international development across five continents – designing programmes, leading trainings, and navigating complex organisational systems, then lots of freelance, gig work while still searching.

I have lived in and between many cultures, socio-economic layers, across languages, and in structures that didn’t often fit or accept me. Searching to belong and how easy it is to lose connection to your own body along the way to cope.

I have also experienced and studied how the body is always trying it’s best to speak and repair even in our most difficult moments.

The long arc of searching brought me back to my love of horses. While working on a farm in Maine, I felt their natural intuition as beings attuned to our energy and intention. 

I am currently based in New Rochelle, NY, USA on the ancestral lands of the Munsee Lenape people.

Qualifications:

  • M.A. in Adult Education, Teachers College, Columbia University
  • Equine Specialist in Mental Health and Learning, PATH International
  • Equusoma Somatic Practitioner, Graduate Level I and II 
  • Certificate: Somatic Embodiment & Regulation Strategies, Trauma Therapist Linda Thai
  • Certificate: Trauma and Addictions, Polyvagal Institute
  • Credentialled Alcohol and Substance Abuse Counsellor (in progres

Our Mission

Bocheval’s mission comes from a horse named Bo.

I met Bo at Pegasus Therapeutic Riding. With me, he was gentle yet strong, wise, calm, attentive, and reassuring. In 2021, Bo was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer. The day before he died, many people came to say goodbye and thank him for what he’d meant to them.

As each person had their time with Bo, some of us stood aside chatting. I asked them what Bo meant to them. Each person shared that Bo had helped them be stronger, more capable, kinder, feel secure, more loving, more confident, calmer. It was always something more and positive.

That touched me profoundly. Bo gave his best qualities equally to all.

In keeping with our global influences, while I met Bo in New York. The name for this company came while through embodied presence with horses I worked with in Quebec, Canada.

So with the essence of Bo we, Bocheval, give you the best of who we are.

Bocheval exists to restore connection between humans and the natural world through the grounded presence of horses and body-based awareness.

We offer equine-assisted learning and virtual embodied/somatic coaching and support sessions that help you live with greater connection and capacity.

Rooted in Equusoma®, Somatic Experiencing®, Polyvagal-informed practice, and Indigenous wisdoms from around the world, Bocheval supports healing that is relational and compassionate — honouring the wisdom of the body and the innate spirit of the horse.

We believe all animals have unique gifts. Our practice is founded in consent with horses.

Bocheval honours their souls, personalities, and experiences. We value their conditions, well-being, and ability to express themselves.

In our virtual sessions, we listen into the wisdom of the body, your unique nervous system, through the calming energy of co-regulation, knowing that being seen and understood through genuine connection and trust can support us through the hardships of life.

We welcome everyone to these ways of restoring, unlearning and getting on with life!