Was this for real?

It had to be a joke. Who in their right mind would operate a business call Goat Yoga, no less put the logo of a water bottle? Well, the water bottle makes sense for someone offering yoga sessions. So, were goats doing yoga, or were the people doing yoga the goats?

I had to ask.

My daughter Diana looked at me as if this were perfectly natural. She took a swig from the water bottle.

“Yes, we do yoga with goats.”

I had to hear more.

“What, you’re in a pen with a bunch of goats?”

“Pretty much,” she said.

That wasn’t much of an explanation. I had a vision of a dozen or more middle aged women with a couple of similarly aged men mixed in wearing tights, sitting cross legged on mats, their backs straight (great posture), heads forward and eyes partially closed with goats walking between them. Actually, that sounded rather interesting, although wouldn’t the goats be a distraction?

Instead of goats, why wouldn’t there be cats or dogs? Yoga with your dog, now that was appealing. You’d need a venue like the dog park at City Park. In fact, that might be the ideal spot. Instead of sitting in plastic chairs kibitzing with others who love their dogs, you’d join others in the shade of the pines to meditate as your dog, totally confused by this role reversal, comes and checks on you. Maybe the dogs would even get into the spirit of the moment.

So, what would the goats do?

“Walk on your back. Their pointed hoofs feel wonderful.”

Goat massages?

“Well, sort of like that. But this little one – the cutest little guy – was under my stomach, too,” Diana said showing me a photo on her phone.

What was happening? Was Diana cuddling a baby goat while a second, larger one pawed her back?

She showed me more photos. There had to be a dozen goats in a grassy enclosure defined by a split log fence. The mountains of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, offered a spectacular backdrop. She flipped through the photographs. There were more shots of goats standing on the backs of Diana’s friends in some pretty extraordinary positions that I wouldn’t dare attempt.

How do they get the goats to do this?

“Treats.”

The instructor has a pocket full of treats. The goats follow her, climbing on people when she holds out a treat and waves it above them. Treats are handed out to the patrons, too, and it doesn’t take long for the goats to figure out who they should visit.

In addition to providing entertainment, a novelty sure to entice Jackson visitors of which there is an endless flow at this time of year, the goats do a fine job of keeping the grass trimmed and providing milk.

And for an incredulous father to ask of his daughter, “really, you like having goats on your back?