Military Makeover with Montel: Homestead Equine Therapy

Area veteran and Homestead Stables to be featured on Lifetime TV’s ‘Military Makeover with Montel’

Observer
BUSINESS
MAY 5, 2019

Heritage Ministries Vice-President of Marketing and Development, Lisa Haglund, has announced that Homestead Stables by Heritage, in conjunction with N.E.I.G.H. and the Constance Project, will serve as a filming location for “Military Makeover with Montel,” hosted by Montel Williams this month.

The show, which airs on Lifetime TV, will feature the story of Ashville, NY resident Cody Willett, who currently works as a computer specialist with the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Department, and his wife Jessica. A weapons supply technician for special operations teams in the United States Air Force, Willett was four months into his second deployment when his base was attacked. He was severely injured in a rocket propelled grenade attack, leaving him with a fractured lower spine, dislocated shoulder and a damaged ankle. Evacuated for medical treatment in Germany, Cody was eventually able to return home to New York, where he met his wife.


Upon his return, Willett began working with Cindy Reidy of the PFC Joseph P. Dwyer Peer to Peer Program. The program’s goal is to link veterans together for socialization and friendship and utilizes peer support from those who can relate to the struggles of transitioning into civilian life.


It was at this point that Homestead Stables and equine assisted therapy specialist, Dawn Samuelson, founder of The Constance Project, entered the picture. Named after Dawn’s late sister, Constance Marie Davenport, a U.S. Air Force veteran that took her own life at the age of 25. The program is designed to aid in the prevention of suicide and work with veterans that experience PTSD, bereavement, anxiety, depression and anger issues. The Constance Project not only works with veterans, but active military and their families as well.
read more here

Blind horse ranch and PTSD veterans bond

Blind Horses, Combat Veterans Get Second Chance At Life At This Rescue
WFMY News 2
Author: Laura Brache
August 20, 2018

Flurry's Hope Blind Horse Rescue rescues horses that were going to be euthanized because of their blindness and provides therapeutic experiences for combat veterans with PTSD.

MADISON, N.C. (WFMY) – A couple of right turns off US 220 N in Madison and you’ll come across a farm with a little over a dozen horses.

While you may see them trotting and running through the fields, there’s something you won’t notice.

All of the horses are blind.

The farm is called Flurry’s Hope Blind Horse Rescue.

“Flurry’s Hope is a blind horse rescue that demonstrates to the world that disability is not inability,” said founder and director Emilie Storch.

According to Storch, all of the horses on the farm were going to be euthanized because of their blindness.

“We have horses that are like $55,000, $11,000 and just because they were blind, nothing else, they were going to be killed,” Storch explained.

But Storch isn’t only giving the horses a second chance at life, it’s also a second chance for the veterans that volunteer to care for them.
read more here

First Responders and Veterans with PTSD Share Healing Horse Power

Veterans, first responders with PTSD encouraged to find peace in Middleburg horse pasture

Florida Times Union Jacksonville

Joe Daraskevich

December 26 2017

“I want people to know that this is a place that nobody is going to be judging them.This is a peaceful place away from all distractions.” Rebecca Davenport

Rebecca Davenport envisions veterans and first responders with post-traumatic stress disorder enjoying yoga classes, group meetings, counseling or alone time in a peaceful spot where horses graze and city sounds are miles away.

For years she’s offered help to veterans suffering from physical and emotional issues through interaction with horses at Hope Therapy in Middleburg. Now she feels she has more to offer for anyone with PTSD who needs a place to get away.

“The back of our property is under some really pretty oaks,” Davenport said. “I decided there needed to be something out there.”

With construction assistance from sailors stationed at Jacksonville Naval Air Station, Davenport added a gazebo, a fire pit, benches and a pergola to create an atmosphere where veterans can escape the stresses of life.

read more here

Veteran's PTSD Cross-country Horseback Trip Change His Own Life Too

Vet Crosses Country on Horseback for PTSD Awareness
NBC San Diego
By Liberty Zabala
December 1, 2014

A Marine Corps veteran has come home to Camp Pendleton in San Diego County, California, after traveling across the country entirely on horseback.

Matt Littrell is riding to raise awareness for veterans dealing with mental, emotional and physical pain. Bronze Stars, Navy Cross Awarded for Bravery in Afghanistan.

After two combat tours in Iraq, coming home was one of the darkest parts of Littrell’s journey — until he got on his horse to ride 2,600 miles to fight for his brothers in arms going through the same thing.

“One step at a time. One mile at a time. It’s a journey you’ll take and you’ll find it,” Littrell said.

As this part of his journey ends, a new one begins.

“We actually got engaged on the trail, and we do plan to get married when we get home,” said Littrell’s fiancé Kristen Fuhrmann. “I fell in love with the honesty and the person.”

Every mile along the way, he’ll keep fighting.

“I told these guys we’d ride for them and we will and we did,” Littrell said.

So far, he has raised $82,000 for the Semper Fi Fund.
read more here

A Marine Corps veteran has come to Camp Pendleton after traveling across the country on horseback to raise awareness for veterans dealing with physical and emotional pain. NBC 7's Liberty Zabala reports on Nov. 30, 2014. (Published Monday, Dec 1, 2014)

Special Forces learn horsemanship

New horsepower for war zones: Special Forces saddle up
USA TODAY
Jim Michaels
June 22, 2014

BRIDGEPORT, Calif. — The men emerged over the crest of a ridge and guided their horses along a tree line, skirting a wide meadow. They picked their way along narrow trails, climbing higher into the Sierra until a panorama of snowcapped peaks and a broad green valley unfolded beneath them.

The men, Special Forces soldiers dressed in jeans and other civilian clothes, led their horses into a thick stand of pine trees, where they dismounted and let the horses drink from a clear mountain stream before breaking out their own rations.

At this remote training area high in the Sierra, the U.S. Marine Corps is reviving the horsemanship skills that were once a key part of the nation's armed forces but were cast aside when tanks and armored vehicles replaced them. The need to bring these skills back was driven home in Afghanistan in 2001, when the first Special Forces soldiers to arrive found themselves fighting on horseback alongside tribesmen in rugged terrain without roads. Many had never ridden a horse before.

"We don't want to reinvent anything," said Marine Capt. Seth Miller, the officer in charge of formal schools at the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center. "These are skills that were lost."

Marine instructors are teaching the students, most of them Army Special Forces soldiers, how to control horses, care for them and load packs. The students are taught how to calculate routes and distances for rides and what to look for when purchasing horses from locals. For example, checking teeth is a good way to determine age and avoid getting ripped off by a farmer trying to pass off an ancient mule or horse.

In a throwback to the old Wild West days, instructors are considering training soldiers in how to shoot from a moving horse.
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Semper-Fi Fund has veteran Marine rider

Veteran Marine rides horse across country for wounded warriors
KPHO News
By: Kaitlin Stansell
Updated: May 02, 2014

SURF CITY, NC
It was a bitter sweet send off for a veteran marine in Surf City Thursday as he began a long journey across the country.

"Sit tall in the saddle," Matt Littrell's father said as he hugged his son goodbye.

The 32-year-old then hopped onto the back of his BLM mustang named "Crow," clicking to the horse to step into the Atlantic Ocean.

It was a symbolic start to what Littrell expects to be a 6 to 8 month trip from Camp Lejeune, NC, to Camp Pendleton, CA.

The duo will be traveling along with close his friend, Raymond Avery, and two other horses.

It's all an effort to raise support and about $7 million for wounded warriors through the Semper Fi Fund, a journey that some people call crazy.

"Of course it's crazy. It should be. They deserve crazy, so we're going to be crazy for them," Littrell said.

He believes this is just the kind of attention wounded veterans need work through their toughest moments.
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Vietnam vet trains horses to help soldiers with PTSD

Vietnam vet trains horses to help soldiers with PTSD
ELIZABETH, CO
(KUSA/NBC)

A Vietnam veteran is training horses to help other veterans deal with post traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.

John Nash 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."

The hopelessness manifested itself in the form of PTSD.

In 1967, little was known about PTSD and even less was offered in the form of treatment.

John Nash and other veterans were left to deal with the demons on their own.
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WALB.com, Albany News, Weather, Sports

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

A new program, Horse in Miracles for combat veterans

Horses comfort veterans suffering from combat-related stress
Ocala.com
By Gary Green
Correspondent
Published: Sunday, October 28, 2012

While Marion County takes pride in being known as the Horse Capital of the World, locals also are very proud of the many military veterans who call the area home.

A new program, Horse in Miracles, now offers a way to unite equines and veterans in a relationship that can help the humans cope with or overcome the ill effects of combat-related stress.

Horse in Miracles operates out of the Sugar Plum Ranch in Ocklawaha.

“This program is absolutely wonderful when it works. And when we get out of the way, it always works,” said Jennifer Elliott, a registered nurse and owner of the ranch.

Elliott was referring to the basic principle of the Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association, Inc., therapy program, through which healing takes place by the therapist stepping aside and allowing the client/horse experience to take its natural course.
read more here

With Allen West, less means zero

If comments left on this are an indication of how people really feel about Allen West, he won't have to go back to Washington.

Allen West: We used bayonets in Iraq and horses in Afghanistan
Washington Post
Posted by Ed O'Keefe
October 23, 2012

STUART, Fla. — Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) knows a thing or two about how the U.S. military uses bayonets, because he sent soldiers into battle with them in Iraq.

Speaking to about 100 senior citizens Tuesday afternoon in this golfing and retirement community, West joined legions of conservatives and Republicans criticizing President Obama’s performance during Monday night’s presidential debate on foreign policy and seized especially on the exchange between Obama and Republican Mitt Romney over the declining strength of the U.S. Navy.

“I can tell you that when I was a battalion commander, we did still issue bayonets to our troops when we deployed to Iraq in 2003. The second thing I will tell you is that in 2001, Special Forces soldiers were on horseback riding with the Northern Alliance to fight against the Taliban,” West said. “So obviously we have a president who does not understand the full capabilities and capacities and what we do in the United States military.”

During the debate, Obama responded to Romney’s concerns about U.S. naval power by noting that “we also have fewer horses and bayonets, because the nature of our military’s changed.”
read more here and be sure to read the comments left

West does understand a thing or two, but not more than that. Does he actually not get that Obama is the Commander-in-Chief?

Maryland Therapeutic Riding needs money, horses and volunteers

Tough soldiers find gentle care at riding center
Annapolis Capital - Annapolis,MD,USA
Maryland Therapeutic Riding needs money, horses and volunteers
By EARL KELLY, Staff Writer
Published 06/21/09
A disabled soldier, back from fighting in Iraq, leaned forward and rubbed the small gray mare's neck. He whispered to the horse, as if confiding in a girlfriend.

Across the arena, another injured warrior, a larger man, was leaning back in his saddle and actually appeared to be dozing off as the gelding named Dakota walked along gently in the arena at Maryland Therapeutic Riding in Crownsville.

"Talk about being in the moment - when you are up there, everything else is blocked out, everything else goes away," the group's founder, Naomi Parry, said as she looked out over the riding area.

Tears came to Parry's eyes on one occasion as one of the disabled riders leaned forward and put his arms around the horse's neck.

"That's enough to make you cry," she said.

A week later, on the following Wednesday, these soldiers were back at MTR, ready for more riding therapy.

The soldiers were from Fort George G. Meade's Warrior Transition Unit, an outfit consisting of about 145 soldiers, half of whom were injured fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

click link for more

Horses help returning soldiers

Horses help returning soldiers

RYN GARGULINSKI

Tucson Citizen
Soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are finding horses can be a man's best friend.

A group of horses called The Warriors in Transition Unit are helping soldiers with their return to their home turf.

For soldiers coming back from Afghanistan or Iraq, the transition back into society can be a tough one.

As strange it may sound, horses are helping them overcome survivor's guilt, battlefield nightmares and the transition back into society.
go here for more
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/ss/fromcomments/116768.php

Second Wind Foundation and The Recovery Ranch for PTSD

Foundation Offers New Help for PTSD Sufferers
2008-02-05
Providence Journal
By George W. Reilly

The Second Wind Foundation has created a publicly funded treatment program, called "Healing Those Who Serve," for returning military personnel suffering from trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder. Relying on private and corporate donations, the HTWS pilot program is slated to launch this month at The Ranch, an internationally renowned recovery center in rural Tennessee. The money raised will pay the veteran's cost of the recommended 60 to 90 days of residential treatment.

"This program is designed to raise funds and awareness, destigmatize, and heal the minds and spirits of our warriors," said Second Wind cofounder Lee McCormick.

"It is unique in that we are experienced in concurrently treating related and often times recurrent disorders, such as alcohol and drug abuse, along with trauma, which has proven to be most effective."

The inception of the program follows the recent Department of Veterans Affairs reports that the number of veterans diagnosed with PTSD increased by almost 20,000 during the last fiscal year, a nearly 70 percent jump over the previous year. When The Ranch opened, nine years ago, it became well known as a healing sanctuary and has continued to evolve by using some of the most successful techniques for PTSD including Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), a method which helps to alleviate symptoms of PTSD.

The Ranch's clinical director, Buddy Horne, who has worked with veterans for years and has served in the military, suggests that many veterans either do not recognize the signs of PTSD or are in denial out of fear of being stigmatized. HTWS and The Ranch provide a safe, non-institutionalized environment that honors the individual. For more information on HTWS, go online to www.healingthosewhoserve.com. For more information on The Ranch, visit http://www.recoveryranch.com/.
http://www.blackenterprise.com/yb/ybopen.asp?section=ybsb&story_id=114326518&ID=blackenterprise


The Recovery Ranch site
Call Toll-Free: 800-849-5969 or e-mail us now

Trauma & PTSD
The Ranch provides comprehensive recovery treatment for survivors of childhood and/or adult trauma of all types. Comorbid addictive and compulsive disorders can be treated concurrently. Disorders such as post traumatic stress disorder, acute stress disorder, dissociative disorder, obsessive/compulsive disorder, and panic disorder are addressed by our multi-disciplinary team. The particular approach for treatment is determined on an individual basis to meet the client’s needs. Our staff is skilled to provide innovative techniques including EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), art therapy, equine therapy, experiential role-play therapy, ropes and adventure therapy, Tai Chi, therapeutic/spiritual ceremony, journaling, and the latest in medication management. We provide this within a conventional format of single-gender and mixed-gender groups as well as individual sessions, family therapy, and optional workshop opportunities. The program stresses the mind-body-spirit connection and is geared toward a full exploration of feelings and messages received during traumatic experiences within a safe "containing" environment. The opportunity to experience empowerment through a full expression of feelings and to change negative beliefs about the self, others and a higher power is provided.

Equine Therapy and Trauma
"The horses at The Ranch certainly hold a valuable place with many of our residents working on loss and trauma issues. Fretful minds, reactive emotions and exhausted bodies have an opportunity to soothe themselves in a surprising way. I've often thought that horses, which live in the moment, somehow pass along this much needed life skill to "their people." They lend a helping hand from Mother Nature, so to speak."
Dede Beasley, M.Ed.Licensed Professional CounselorEquine Assisted Psychotherapist

Adventure Therapy and Trauma
"In adventure therapy, your body becomes the ultimate metaphor. In using your body in the exercises, you are more apt to be in it, and connected. Several metaphor therapy exercises relate directly to the treatment and healing of trauma. As always, healing cannot happen in isolation but in community. Adventure therapy is an excellent avenue to connection with community."Robert Chapman, MSSW, LADACAdventure/Challenge Course Therapist
http://www.recoveryranch.com/programs/default.asp?page=trauma_and_PTSD