Piper perked up when he heard his new friend Detra Gardner approaching.
Max gently let Ned Lauderdale know that he was annoyed. The carriage had been moved and therefore was unacceptably out of place.
Hector coolly enjoyed having his hair brushed.
These were just a few of the many subtle exchanges that took place during a session at Warhorses for Heroes, one of several equine-therapy programs (also known as hippotherapy) in this area that lets combat veterans and others with various levels of disability work with horses.
“Somehow we bonded,” says Detra Gardner, an Air Force veteran who served in Operation Desert Storm and a former New York City police officer. “When he heard me today, he turned his head.”
Gardner is one of seven veterans who showed up for the Thursday morning session, all of them referrals through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. She returned for a second time after she developed that inexplicable bond with Piper, a 20-year-old quarterhorse, the week before.
“I had to wait almost 60 years to ride a horse,” Gardner says. “I thank God for this program. It’s just awesome.”
Warhorses for Heroes aids in healing and assists in veterans’ transitioning back into civilian life. The program has been in operation just over a year and was developed by longtime friends Trey Lawson, a lifetime horse enthusiast and professional trainer and rider, and Pearson Allen, a local English teacher.
“I’ve known Trey since first grade, and we’ve always wanted to do something together,” Allen says. “Then we saw the effect interacting with horses had on our friend Sean, who had gone through some terrible things in Iraq, and it stuck in our minds.”
When Lawson’s grandfather, a World War II veteran, passed away, the two set up the therapy program at Lawson’s family stables. Located outside Olive Branch, Oak View boards more than 60 horses on its 60 acres and offers instruction to riders in the area.
“We all have veterans in our lives,” Allen says. “My grandfather was a World War II vet. I have college friends who were veterans. You can’t not do something for veterans because they’ve done so much for us.”
A 2014 study published in JAMA Psychiatry reported that one in four veterans shows signs of mental illness, meaning that there are 5 million veterans living with mental illness in the U.S.
Veterans who participate in the Warhorses for Heroes program interact with the horses in a variety of ways, including grooming, riding, and horse care. Sessions are flexible depending on each veteran’s comfort level. Some show up and never put their hands on a horse. Others swear they won’t get near the animals, and by the end of the session they’re on their 10th ride around the barn.
Each session opens with an overview on safety, grooming, and riding, and every horse partnered with the session has been vetted.
“A therapy horse has to be very calm,” Warhorses volunteer instructor Sue Enright says. “They have to not resent people being around them, not be spooky, and be willing to have a rider on top of them who does not know what they are doing. They have to be what we call ‘bomb proof.’”
According to the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International, horses are particularly healing to people struggling with mental health issues because, as domesticated prey animals, they are extremely sensitive to changes in humans, who are predatory creatures. Horses react and respond to a person’s emotional state. If a participant changes her behavior and reduces her anxiety, the horse also reacts, providing information and skill-building opportunities.
“A horse is intuitive and nonjudgmental, providing a trusting and open environment for processing and healing,” Allen says. “Veterans with histories of depression or PTSD who participate in equine-assisted therapy experience consistent improvement in depression symptoms and increased sociability.”
Horses react and respond to a person’s emotional state. If a participant changes her behavior and reduces her anxiety, the horse also reacts, providing information and skill-building opportunities.
Jennifer Drabowicz offers equine-facilitated psychotherapy through her counseling business in partnership with fellow LPC-MHSP therapist Shilo Satran, both of whom are certified by the Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association. The benefits are more than just psychological. “In animal-assisted therapy, there is a hormone change that happens,” Satran says. “Your oxytocin goes up. There is a shift just being in the vicinity of the animal.”
Through their equine-assisted therapy business in Moscow, Tennessee, Drabowicz and Satran offer sessions in which participants present a goal or problem they would like to work on using various tools and toys provided in the barn, and interact with the horse and the tools, looking to the horse’s actions as a metaphor for personal insights or change.
“The horses keep people in the present moment, and change can only happen in the present moment,” Satran says.
There is no riding involved in their therapy. “This way it’s more effective because it allows the client to have a fuller picture of how the horses are reacting,” Drabowicz says.
Ginna Rauls and Courtney Vlahos Smith have seen participants take their first steps and speak their first words through Southern Reins Center for Equine Therapy in Nesbit, Mississippi.
“We had a boy who was 4 with Down syndrome and wasn’t walking yet,” says Rauls, the program’s volunteer and community outreach director. “He took some of his first steps here. It’s just awesome to see.”
Southern Reins serves people with physical, cognitive, and emotional disabilities and hardships through equine activities and therapeutic riding.
“Horses treat everyone equally,” says Sara Bryant, Southern Reins’ head instructor and equine director. “They don’t see that a rider is disabled. They almost cater to the person.”
At Southern Reins, riders with cerebral palsy experience natural muscle relaxation from riding. Those who are verbally challenged learn how to ask the horse to stop. Riders learn counting, sequencing, colors, and other skills through working simple obstacle courses such as placing colored rings on a set of poles.
The previous week, one rider, who is on the autism spectrum, stayed on the horse for only three steps. This week he rode for 50 minutes.
“His mother was speechless,” Rauls says.
“Horses help me understand people,” says Kelsey Ashe, a 16-year-old student at the Madonna Learning Center. Her goal is to become a barrel racer. “My aunt was a champion,” says Ashe, who has an intellectual disability and issues with depth perception.
“Wednesday mornings are the one day she’s most excited to get up and go to school,” says Kelsey’s mother, Holly Ashe. “She knows she’s going to come ride horses afterward.”
Southern Reins serves 38 participants of all ages and disabilities. They work with hippo therapists, who specifically offer physical therapy through riding, and hope to eventually offer services to veterans, as well as psychotherapy.
“We’ve seen it work on our volunteers,” Rauls says. One of them “had lost her significant other, and was on her couch for two years,” Rauls continues. “Now she comes as often as we let her.”
“It’s hard to explain without saying it’s magic,” Bryant says. “It’s brought me to tears, and I’ve been around horses my whole life.”
Enright witnesses the magic almost weekly with each group of veterans that comes for a session at Warhorses for Heroes.
“Horses are in tune with us emotionally,” Enright, a longtime rider, says. “They can pick up on a person’s needs.”
“PTSD is similar to ADD, in that you get distracted by what’s going on inside,” says Nancy Frideres, a U.S. Army veteran who was diagnosed with PTSD. “When you focus on the horses, you get outside of yourself. Horses sense anxiety and they don’t let you get close. In order to touch them and groom them, you have to be able to center yourself.
“This is a wonderful program with a wonderful mission.”
Patients from the inpatient program at the VA center must be screened and approved by a psychologist, a recreational therapist, and an addiction therapist to come each week for a session. Others, such as Frideres and Gardner, come with a doctor’s recommendation.
“You see their confidence get better, their relationships get better,” says Kadarah Hardaway, a recreational therapist with the Memphis VA Center. “They’re more relaxed and at ease and calm. They’re not as fidgety and just themselves. It’s the best thing to see.”
Detra Gardner, the veteran who has bonded with her horse, Piper, has a simpler explanation for the program’s effectiveness: “This program is sent from God.”
Warhorses for Heroes plans to participate in the Memphis Veteran’s Day celebration downtown on Friday, November 11th, with horses and some of their veterans.
“We try to give something back,” says Lawson, “peace of mind, hopefully some happiness and enjoyment in their lives, and do our part to contribute to their recovery and success in life.
Warhorses for Heroes is a nonprofit that relies on volunteers and donations. For more information, call (901) 409-8954 or visit warhorsesforheroes.org.
Southern Reins is also a nonprofit that relies on volunteers and donations. For more information, call (901) 290-1011 or visit southernreins.org.
For more information on equine-facilitated psychotherapy and learning, call Drabowicz at (901) 262-7950 or Satran at (316) 213-9162, or visit jenniferdrabowicz.com and shilosatran.com.
