Several organizations across the country are helping veterans rebuild their lives through equine therapy, but the Texas-based Mustang Heritage Foundation offers a unique twist: the horses it uses are wild.
The therapy involves veterans training a mustang that was previously living on land owned by the Bureau of Land Management and that has never had contact with humans. Over the course of the 12-week-long program, the veterans train the horse so it can then be adopted.
Program Director Byron Hogan tells the Austin American Statesman, “We started seeing this transformation not only of horses but of trainers. Time and time again we’d hear, ‘This horse changed my life.'”
Program participant and Army veteran Christina Avery says, “Honestly it was my last-ditch effort to find something that was going to work. I’ve been through a lot of counseling, I’ve been through a lot of treatments, I’ve been on a lot of pills. Nothing has compared to this…This has brought me to where I should be.”
KEYE-TV interviewed some participants from the most recent group of veteran tamers. One participant, Laura Parunak, flew Apache helicopters during two tours of Iraq. She found the training experience challenging, but rewarding. “I knew it was going to be hard, and I knew there were going to be days like this.” And yet, she says, “I don’t know that I could ever continue my life without some exposure to horses.”
Larry Howell, who was wounded during his second tour in Iraq, tells KEYE-TV that working with mustangs “teaches you patience.”
Both Howell and Parunak worked with their mustangs all summer to ready them for a September livestock auction. Parunak tried to buy her horse, but was outbid. A generous donor, however, had a surprise in store for the veterans, buying their horses for each of them, leaving Parunak with a big grin — and a new pet.
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How Competing in a Horse Show Gives Disabled Veterans a Sense of Belonging
When serving their country, members of the armed services display their expertise on the battlefield. Back at home here in the U.S., some veterans are putting their skills on display in a different type of theater: the equestrian show ring.
Recently, a group of more than 20 veterans gathered at the Tulsa, Okla. fairgrounds to show off everything they know about horsemanship for a panel of judges at the National Snaffle Bit Association’s World Championship. All are participants in Heroes on Horses, a nonprofit providing equine therapy to disabled veterans. Some, like Army veteran Matthew Evans, are lifelong riders, while others had never been on a horse before they became involved with the program.
“It’s kind of like a milestone, you know?” Evans tells Tony Russell of News On 6. “Some of these people have never seen a horse before and they step up to a horse for the first time, and now here they are competing in a world show, you know? That just goes to show how far they’ve come and how great they are.”
While horse riding is meant to be therapeutic, there’s something about the thrill of competition that gives the disabled vets an extra boost. The judges evaluated them according to the stringent standards they use to measure other riders before announcing the winners. Still, Evans tells Russell, “Being able to compete with other veterans again isn’t so much a competition, it’s more of a camaraderie and a brotherhood. It’s kind of like a reunion.”
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As for the value of equine therapy, Marine veteran James Mincey says, “They always say that the best thing for the inside of a man is the outside of a horse, so there’s a lot to that.”
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One Glimpse of a Wounded Vet Changed This Racehorse Owner’s Outlook on Life
One day when South Carolina pharmaceutical company owner George “Chip” McEwan was flying from Las Vegas to his home in Fort Meyers, Fla., a flight attendant asked the passengers to remain seated to let a wounded veteran leave the plane. McEwan told David Grening of Daily Racing Form that he expected to see an elderly veteran, but instead it was a man in his twenties, walking with the help of his father, accompanied by his wife and two small kids. “I said to my fiancée, who was crying, we need to do something for people like that,” McEwen told Grening. “Their entire circle is affected forever. Prior to that, I was one of those people, I’d buy a $2 bracelet, buy a T-shirt or a bumper sticker and call myself a proud supporter of wounded war veterans.” McEwan realized he could do more to help, so he changed the mission of the stable of racehorses he owns.
McEwan changed his stable’s name from McEwan Racing to Wounded Warrior Stables, and McEwan donates ten percent of the winnings from his racehorses to charities serving wounded or disabled veterans, including the service-dog providing Retrieving Freedom and Task Force Dagger Foundation, which helps families who’ve lost a member at war.
McEwan’s horses wear yellow silks with a purple heart on the chest, meant to evoke the Purple Heart medal that wounded veterans receive, and although his most promising horse, Uncle Sigh, has a long way to go to become a Kentucky Derby contender, it’s a safe bet that the good McEwan’s doing for wounded veterans will result in a lot more racing fans cheering him on.
MORE: What This Woman Does for Fallen Soldiers Will Warm Your Heart
This 11-Year-Old Does More to Help Animals Before School Than Most of Us Do in a Lifetime
When Declan Gregg was 9, he learned that American horses, both domestic and wild, are routinely slaughtered, and he wanted to do something about it. In 2011 he started a blog called Children For Horses and a Facebook page. On his blog he shares horse news, artwork and information about how kids can help. Gregg, now 11, organized a letter writing party at the New Hampshire SPCA for children to contact their elected officials in support of the humane treatment of horses. He’s met with congressmen and testified before the New Hampshire state house. He’s spoken to Girl Scout Troops, 4-H Clubs, and afterschool programs, and he’s spurred fundraisers for charities that help horses. For his tireless efforts, the ASPCA awarded him the Humane Kid of the Year Award in 2012, and since horses can’t speak for themselves, Gregg doesn’t have any plans to stop speaking up for them.