An unconventional fitness phenomenon is prancing into western Kentucky: goat yoga.
Goat yoga is traditional yoga performed alongside baby goats. Enthusiasts say the goats’ hyperactivity and unpredictability is core to the experience.
Ashley Wallace, the owner of Scape Goat Farms in Crofton, bought two male goats as pets eight years ago, only to get unsuspectingly swept up in the scene — first through goat landscaping, then breeding and now yoga.
“There’s a saying among goat people,” Wallace said. “It’s called ‘goat math.’ And goat math is essentially, once you have one or two, you just keep going. There’s no stopping. And right now, today, eight years later, we have 50.”
Goat Yoga Genesis
Wallace and business partner Heather Curtis, who owns Our Blessed Homestead in Pembroke, started the goat yoga operation this year.
“She and I just built this awesome relationship, and over the years, we’ve just become best friends,” Wallace said. “And we had this crazy thing, that we thought, ‘You know, we should just do this. Let’s do some goat yoga.”
Curtis started her homestead in 2017, specializing in farm goat milk, soaps and lotions. She said since she and Wallace both had so many baby goats, collaboration came naturally.
“When we started raising goats, we were like, ‘Do we really want to do that?’” Curtis said. “Because you get pooped on doing goat yoga. You know, you’re outside, and you have all these goats stepping on you.”
The pair scheduled their first goat yoga class at Respawn Coffee Company in Oak Grove, where Wallace already sold decorative tumblers, and Curtis sold various goat creations.
“We both are crafters and make different things, and so when it comes to events and things — even vending in a lot of places, when we first started, after we met and became friends — we would just partner up and umbrella under my farm name basically,” Curtis said.
Wallace and Curtis also host goat yoga events at the Hopkinsville Brewing Company, the Rustic Event Center in Hopkinsville and at as well as the Upstairs Emporium in Clarksville.
Goats Gone Wild
Wallace and Curtis held a goat yoga session at Respawn Coffee Company earlier this month. Curtis said some people come for the yoga, and some only come to cuddle with the goats.
“We even had one girl, her first goat yoga with us, she was just holding a goat, she was just crying, she was just like, ‘I love goats so much. I never thought I would be able to just get to sit and cuddle a goat,’” Curtis said.
Jillian Neves drove from Clarksville and cuddled with a goat named Josie before the session.
“She’s so small and she’s so cute,” Neves said. “For me, this is relaxation. It’s pure relaxation to be able to hold an animal and just relax and be able to stretch, and do it and enjoy it.”
During the session, six baby goats scampered in their enclosure. Occasionally, a goat perched on someone’s back, or a participant would pause to cuddle a goat.
Christopher Stange, one of the owners at Respawn Coffee said existing customers haven’t had problems with goat yoga.
“We love animals,” Stange said. “We want everyone to be included, even your fur babies.”
Curtis, who grew up in Hartford, said goat yoga is another way to leave a mark on western Kentucky.
“It’s kind of amazing that it’s went this far,” Curtis said. “I love it.”
Regional Goat Ruckus
Kelley Yates, director of the Kentucky Sheep & Goat Development Office, said baby goats are a good match for yoga due to their energetic nature.
“Goats are curious, and they like to play with you,” Yates said. “And from what I’ve noticed in goat yoga, people are doing the yoga moves, but I think they just have more fun and satisfaction knowing that there’s a little baby animal paying attention to them and wanting their attention. It’s like a puppy.”
Scape Goat Farms and Our Blessed Homestead aren’t the only players in the region’s goat yoga scene. Madison, Tennessee-based Shenanigoats began offering goat landscaping, or “goatscaping,” services in early 2017, opening their own location and offering goat yoga and goat painting classes later that year.
Kaya Gasperich, one of the owners of Shenanigoats, said goat yoga has “excited” and “thrilled” participants throughout the Nashville area and western Kentucky. Establishments such as Old School Farm in Nashville and Snap Fitness in Benton will occasionally approach the company about bringing in goats.
