Horsemanship for Heroes is a nonprofit that conducts equine assisted learning and therapy for veterans, first responders and their family members to help rehabilitate their mental health.
The focus during their sessions is connections with the horses.
Scott Hooper, the Co-founder of Horsemanship for Heroes with his wife Karolyn Hooper, tells us, "Our participants, our heroes establish a bond with the horse. The horse, over eight weeks of time working together on the ground, will tell the individual about themselves and they learn to self-regulate - so it’s an incredibly magical thing that happens."
Over time they see participants have incredible results with decreased PTSD symptoms, anxiety and depression.
The heroes that go through the program often come back to help teach others.
This is something Karolyn Hooper studied for a while, and says the results of equine assisted services and the effect it has on people is positive.
Scott Hooper says, "Through coming together and partnership with the horse, the horse helps the individual see themselves. They can sense your heartbeat six feet away; and if you show up really wound up and activated, the horse is not going to want to work with you. So you have to bring yourself down so you learn self-regulation and control.”
This year they had 56 graduates from their program; last year they had 41, but they're always looking for more people to join.
Hooper explains, "What we’d really love is for the day to come [that] our strategic vision of Horsemanship for Heroes becomes part of the fabric of the Reno community. We relocate to a larger facility, increase our herd size - we already have graduates that are in an instructor path, who want to volunteer and help move this forward for the future."
The program is broken down into two eight week phases for 90 minutes a week.
Scott says, "In phase one its all ground work; learning about the horse, being educated on a horse. So by the time you get in the saddle, you understand the way the horse operates and the connection with the horse is so much stronger."
They then put the heroes in the saddle on the last week of the training, where smiles are big with the accomplishment that comes with working so closely with these horses, making it to the final phase where they ride for eight more weeks.
They use natural horsemanship as the vehicle to obtain their goal.
Scott mentions, "We’re doing a research study with Purdue University that’s doing the analytics on what we’re doing, and the connection is right there; the reduction of symptoms that I’ve talked about are coming out amazingly and being on the back of the horse adds to the strength of what’s happening."
While the heroes are learning skills, they're also healing from the inside.
Robert Stumvoll, a graduate from Horsemanship for Heroes says, "I served 35 years with the Army and the National Guard, and I just wanted to continue the comradery. And I’m an animal lover also, so to continue doing stuff and loving animals… being with the big horse that I would tease K about being a giant puppy dog."
And adds, "It’s just wonderful to see somebody come out of their shell, have a smile, build confidence and just be relaxed."
Eddie Pinon, another graduate from Horsemanship for Heroes tells us, "Being a first responder, we have a mentality of we have 50 different things going on; but sometimes we have to narrow our focus, focus on what’s in front of us. And I think these horses definitely helped me out with that."
Vanessa Williams, another who completed the first course of the program says, "The first time it was… there was a lot of fear because I’ve never been around horses; but once I kept coming back and let the feelings come out through a horse, it was hard not to come back."
While adding, "Just expressing my feelings, letting everything come out, letting all the feelings just flow - whether it’s through talk or crying or just staring at a horse and letting them do their work - to bring everything out of you.”
Scott Hooper says, "What we find here is a veteran, a SWAT cop and a nurse all have similar experiences and get along great and share; and the horses do the same magic and all three of those groups just get after it in an incredible healing way."
Something they're doing soon is entering their participants into the Western States Gypsy Fest with their Gypsy Vanner horses. It's a competition in Winnemucca happening in April, where a bunch of their graduates are going to be out there showing off their horses and putting their skills on display.
The best way to learn more about the program is by clicking the link here.
They also want to mention that donations help them immensely with feeding the horses, keeping them healthy and keeping the program alive.
