PTSD Combat veterans lives rebuilt by a horse

Combat veterans lives rebuilt by a horse
9News
Written by
Dave Delozier
Nov 4, 2012

ELIZABETH - A horse made it possible for one man to reclaim his life.

John Nash is caring for a horse named Rain - who Nash says saved his life.

Horses are nothing new to Nash. He grew up on a farm in North Minnesota where he trained them the old fashioned way: He broke them.

"We broke their spirit. That's where the phrase breaking a horse comes from, from breaking their spirit," Nash said.

Life and war would eventually lead Nash from his farm in Minnesota to the jungles of Vietnam. A Specialist 5th Class with the 1st Cavalry, Nash volunteered to serve in the U.S. Army. He did a one year deployment in Vietnam. During that year he lived the realities of war. The 19-year-old soldier, who grew up breaking horses, in the end, had the same thing done to him - by war.

Nash was haunted by what he had experienced in Vietnam, but worst of all for him was living with one question. Why had he survived when so many of his friends had not?

"Was I broken? Yeah, I was broken bad," Nash said. "I was broken to the point of total hopelessness."
read more here

If you live in Florida, there is a great center here too.

They are having an open house on November 10th, 2012. (see poster on sidebar of this blog and check their link.)

Veterans Multi-Purpose Center Davie Florida