Veterans with PTSD helped by Horses

Therapies using horses and providing benefits for individuals with physical disabilities, behavior issues or cognitive disorders is really nothing new, just under reported and certainly under funded. I have the priviledge of knowing USMC Col John Mayer, former Commander of the USMC Wounded Warrior Regiment, whose unit provided many different avenues of therapy and transitional assistance for wounded, disabled or transitioning Marines. In fact, the Marine Corps is far and away heads above the other services, especially the Army who has shut down or minimized horse stables on Army Installations. The article below, by Andrea Scott, Managing Editor of the Marine Corps Times, was posted on the Military Times. The article reaffirms what many of us know, and that is the old quote from Winston Churchill is true - "There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man (or woman).”

It took decades for Jeannine McDonald to finally admit she was struggling with depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. When she did, that itself was devastating. The Air Force veteran said she tried everything — counseling, medication, acupuncture. But nothing seemed to help. “I was at that point where I was numb to everything; I didn’t enjoy anything,” McDonald said. She had only ridden horses a few times as a child, but the magic of it had stuck with her. When a friend asked her what she would choose if she could do anything, McDonald knew. “The only thing I could think of was to ride.”

As clinicians seek innovative ways to heal veterans struggling with PTSD, equine therapy has been growing in popularity. It is still medically controversial — part of that reason being that there hasn’t been much data or research on it, especially with veterans. But a team at Columbia University in New York City has set out to change that.

The team is finishing up a yearlong study of veterans struggling with PTSD and the effects of horse therapy. The Virginia facility where McDonald rides serves children with disabilities, such as autism or Down Syndrome, and has a separate focus on active-duty military and veterans. A partnership with a local military installation brings out active-duty riders twice a week. Many of them are struggling with substance abuse, depression or PTSD.

Finding healing through horses

Tessa Hassett has a background in clinical psychology, and has been a riding instructor at the Northern Virginia Therapeutic Riding Program in Clifton, Virginia, for three years. “A lot of them have said that whatever they’ve been through with their PTSD and depression that they never thought they’d be able to bond with someone again and feel that personal connection,” Hassett said. “But with their horse, they’re feeling that connection. They’re able to take that into the rest of their lives and into their other relationships.”

McDonald said that after learning to control a huge horse — she usually rides Booker, a Clydesdale/Hackney cross — she has learned to be gentler with her four children and her husband. The hardest part about equine therapy? For McDonald at least, it’s getting there. But she’s happy once she arrives, she said. Riding gets her outside, and helps her build core strength that she lost after an accident and spinal surgery in the Air Force. “It’s different when it’s not a human being,” she said. “You can’t replace that, but there’s something also about animals, like therapy dogs. How many people have just been transformed or changed or just come out of the pain because they have something that loves them back and doesn’t ask questions?”

The Washington Post reported in June that veterans participating in Columbia University’s study are spending 90 minutes once a week for eight weeks interacting with the horses. Prudence Fisher, Columbia University professor of clinical psychiatric social work, told the Post, “One of the things we’re optimistic about is how much the veterans like the treatment.”

Such trials usually have a 30 percent dropout rate, Fisher told the Post, but that’s not happening with this trial, which ends in December. The veterans enjoy being there, she said. And McDonald knows why, and recommends equine therapy to all struggling veterans. “There’s something about the outside of a horse that’s good for the inside of a man,” she said. “I have not seen or known of anyone who hasn’t been saved in a certain way by being around these horses.”

Support your local equine therapeutic organizations with your time, resources or money - they do good work.

The Horse that saved Cpl Lopez

The outside of a horse is good for the inside of a man...or woman. The following story was sent to me with the request to give it some more traction. This is yet another group standing up to help our wounded and traumatized veterans, and using horses to do so. The article below is from the website Indiegogo which is a fund raising site for good causes. If you go to the site and can't find the "The Horse That Save Cpl Lopez" article, then type Cpl Lopez in the search box and it should take you to it. The article below is directly from the website.




Today, right now, more active military are dying by their own hand than from the hostile actions of our enemies. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is largely responsible for this epidemic of suicides.

Trauma and Resiliency Resources, Inc. a 501c3 public charity, has provided on-line resources and referrals to NYC's First Responder community since the events of 9/11. TRR's Founder and Director has provided individual trauma treatment to first responders, warriors, veterans and their families as a private clinician since 9/11. Treating combat and line of duty traumas has saved lives and continues to do so.

In November, TRR's Warrior Camp® will host 12 active military combat veterans suffering from PTSD in a pilot program. They'll receive a regimen of proven 1:1 trauma treatments free of charge. One of these treatments is Equine Assisted Psychotherapy. It's amazing to watch the connection made between human and horse and to see the healing begin. Please watch the video, you'll start to understand how quickly the healing can start. It's an amazing trauma treatment and we want more of our wounded warriors to be aware of it and benefit from it.

Our documentary will get out the word about Warrior Camp®, recruit warriors with combat trauma for 15 future Warrior Camps and raise funds so the mission of healing can continue -- and grow. It will be distributed to the U.S. Department of Defense, hospitals, rehabilitation centers, veteran organizations, community groups, Defense Centers of Excellence, corporations and the news media.

Your generosity can help Warrior Camp® save lives. And deliver a message of hope to our heroes and to the people who love them.

What We Need and What You Get

We are not a production company. We're primarily a media/creative services company. We are providing fundraising services and marketing support for this project at no cost. On the back end of the project we will be providing marketing services at no cost. We are hiring a cameraperson and sound person and renting equipment. Donations will cover two days' travel Chicago/New Hampshire for four people and their 5 days on location at Warrior Camp®. It will cover our out-of-pocket costs for 21 days of post production, DVD production duplication, packaging and postage. Additionally it will permit TRR to execute its own marketing program to recruit military combat veterans with PTSD for future camps and to solicit funds to continue and grow the free-to-attendees program. It will reimburse TRR for Indiegogo processing fees as well. If we are fortunate enough to exceed our goal, all extra funds will be used by TRR in support of warrior programs.

There are four perks for donors. A commemorative grey Warrior Camp tee, to the next level of donors, the tee and a copy of the final DVD. Individuals and companies donating at a specific level will be acknowledged on the DVD. The first three individuals who donate $2500 or more will have a portrait done by Chicago Artist, retired U.S. Navy MM Anton Mackey. If you happen to be a horse owner, it's a perk you can hang on your living room wall and enjoy for years.

The Impact

"Support our men and women in uniform" is a battle cry that too often doesn't deliver actual support. Fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers, children and neighbors and friends have survived IEDs and RPGs but are losing the way because of PTSD. We have to make them aware that there's hope. We have to make them aware that there are treatments that can restore their emotional health. We have to make them aware that this help is free. They have given so much. They answered when duty called. Now they're calling for our help. We have to answer.

Personally I've done projects like this before. I wrote and produced a video which helped raise $7.5M for the Archdiocese of Chicago's St. Mary's of the Lake Mundelein Seminary. We did a pro bono video for Heal Our Warriors out of Frankfort, Michigan. Our videos have helped clients raise funds for the USO and for various Wounded Warrior Rides to Recovery.

Other Ways You Can Help

Money's tight for everyone. And there are a lot of important causes worth your consideration. I hope you'll help us achieve these goals. At the very least, please share our information with others. Place it on your Facebook page. Tweet it to your friends. Email it to family. Let your company know what we're doing and see if they'll help. If you've read this far, you're wonderful. It's a lot of words. Please take the next step and help us out.

Horses Healing Children

Still with a sad heart from losing my old friend Roy who often was the first horse many children were introduced to and who brought a great deal of joy to these children, I read an article on how horses were helping heal children who were victims of abuse. The fact that the outside horses are good for the insides of people are no surprise to us,....still good to read about horses healing humans.

The core of the article is below, with the original article here.

Strawberry is the horse that bonded with one victim and helped launch Marley's Mission. The novel approach taken at a place called Marley's Mission is a rare insight into how abuse victims begin to recover from the most horrible of suffering. Marley's Mission may turn out to save kids who might otherwise have nowhere to turn.

The story begins with tragedy. In July 2009, a 5-year-old girl was brutally attacked in her home by a complete stranger. The man had attended a family picnic, introducing himself as the friend of a family friend, and he entered the girl's room after she had gone to sleep. Then he savagely raped the little girl, leaving her with her severe injuries. Her parents, completely distraught, took their daughter, left their home and never came back. The rapist, named Felix Montoya, was eventually sent to prison. But the girl's fate was potentially much worse.

Her parents tried intensive therapy of all kinds – talk therapy, art therapy, everything. Nothing worked. Even the best psychologists have trouble getting children to describe their feelings, especially when those feelings are so unbearable. So the therapist of this little girl, a woman named Ann Cook, began to think of other ways to get her to share her feelings. The girl loved a guinea pig, named Marley. And that led to another idea that changed not only the girl's life, but the lives of more than 160 other victims.

Press coverage of the assault and conviction drew an outpouring of sympathy and money. The family moved into a new house and bought their daughter a present: a horse named Strawberry. And soon something changed in the girl. She spent hours around the horse, petting him, feeding him and just walking around with him. The horse became a companion. And then a minor miracle took place.

Slowly, the girl began to speak. She talked about what she thought was going on in the horse's mind. And in doing so, the girl began to share what was buried inside her heart.

That proved to be the seed of a cause, started by the girl's mother, April Loposky. She teamed up with Gene Talerico, the assistant district attorney who prosecuted Montoya, and Cook, the therapist, to start a horse farm dedicated to helping victims of child abuse.

"You get to have a conversation about the horse with the child," Talerico says. "Instead of talking in first person, now we're saying, well, the horse is behaving this way because of this. The [children] superimpose their struggles on the horse. The horse's struggle becomes their struggles."

One year to the day after the rape, Marley's Mission opened. "We wanted it to go from a day of hurt to a day of hope," Talerico says.

That is what's happened. Marley's Mission was named "Best New Charity" in 2011.

"The strength of survivors was crucial," says Talerico. "It allows people to be buoyed by the courage of others. There are more people inquiring as to what we do and how we do it. When this was on the forefront and people were saying, ‘No more, this is no longer a secret,' the ripple effect of that is incredible."

Marley's Mission now has six therapists, 10 horses and four equine specialists. It serves approximately 80 children, at no cost to their families. On a typical Saturday morning, there are up to a dozen kids at the farm. There is no riding for the children, who are ages 5 to 18. Instead, they walk with the horse and care for the animal while both the therapist and an ever-present equine expert look on.

For one boy we'll refer to as "Vale," Marley's Mission has been life-changing. He was abused between the ages of 6 and 8, and he faced all kinds of hurdles to recovery, including an eating disorder. But Vale says he felt comfortable almost right away with one of the horses, named Lacy, and as soon as he got into the car for the ride home after visiting Marley's Mission last year, he turned to his mom and said, "I'm hungry."

Marley's Mission has used horses to build a connection with child-abuse victims. "The connection I had with that one horse was really awesome," Vale says. "I felt like I really got to know her. I didn't feel like it was just an animal. They really have a sense of how they affect people. They understand how the people are feeling. Around children, they have to be safer about where they are stepping. They can't actually understand ‘I'm sad today,' but they can tell by the way you act."

Vale is now 15, and he says he's "a lot better." He returned to the farm this summer to help out. He says Marley's Mission has not only allowed him to be more comfortable with his own feelings, but also to better express himself to other people.

The hard work of therapy shouldn't be diminished here; survivors of these heinous crimes will work to overcome their pasts as long as they live. But for victims and families, the idea that there is something that can be done to make a child feel better is the most reassuring feeling imaginable. When asked if equine therapy really works, Talerico is almost gleeful. "I've spend two decades doing this stuff," he says. "The successes of this kind of therapy are remarkable."

Marley's Mission is moving to a newer, bigger farm. Plans are to open it on the fourth anniversary of that unspeakable 2009 crime. The new land will be closer to the center of the state, to help children from a wider span of Pennsylvania.

And most importantly, the little girl who was raped that night is still healing. Talerico remembers seeing her in the hospital after the attack, desperately wondering what could possibly be done for a child so young and so hurt. He remembers the look on her face, but also the design on her hospital gown. It had unicorns and horses. "I guess it was fate," he says.

Go to Marley's Mission and donate if you're of a mind to.

Equine Photonic Therapy

I have had a couple anonymous comments on Photonic Therapy for horses. I know nothing about it but read that it uses red light to stimulate acupuncture points.

Takes alot to convince me these days, but I have also learned not to discount too much before the facts are in.

This is what I have read about Photonic Therapy:

Photonic Therapy is advertised as a pain-free method that promotes healing and aids in pain management using standard acupuncture points using a non-thermal low level laser that produces stimulation at the cellular level. Photonic Therapy, sometimes called red light healing, is billed as promoting healing and health optimization for Dogs, Cats, Horses and Humans by using certain light wave-lengths that seem to have special abilities to produce energy deep within cells. This energy supposedly releases important healing chemicals that go to work repairing cell damage. This stimulation allows injuries to be healed without pain, drugs or invasive treatments.

For more information you can go to: McLaren USA, Inc.