2.20.2015

Wild Horses and Therapeutic Riding

One week from today I will be headed to Rock Springs, WY to start working with Wild Horses, Vets with PTSD and physical disabilities with Therapeutic Riding from the Braveheart Riding Center folks. AND I CAN’T WAIT!!!! The wonderful people at Bravehearts have been working with Vets with PTSD and introducing them to several wild horses that they adopted in the past year. The relationship is immediate and powerful for both, the vet and wild mustang. Last Fall I was keeping tabs on the round ups here in Wyoming and realized that there might be a solution to the growing problem of having 50,000 wild mustangs in holding and training facilities.

I contacted the BLM and the Mustang Heritage Foundation and they put me in touch with Bravehearts. Meggan and Paddy from Bravehearts have already been doing what I envisioned and i’m really looking forward to meeting them, learning so much more and getting heavily involved.

A 2013 VA report showed that there were 22 soldiers per day committing suicide in this country after returning home from their middle east tours, which is totally unacceptable.  That is more than 8,000 per year. Now that the Veterans Suicide Prevention Bill is law, we hope/plan to work together with the VA, Bravehearts and the BLM to get a national program started to help the Vets and the Mustangs. My plan for now is to get a summer camp started here in Wyoming for the Vets to come out and work with the Mustangs, a fishing program and counseling sessions as well. We want to try our best to eradicate the suicides completely and help the vets add meaning and purpose back in their lives.

 Below is the press release for the adoption.

Horses rounded up in Wyoming to be offered at BLM adoption

POSTED: THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2015 12:00 AM
Associated Press | 0 comments
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is preparing to adopt out around 50 of the approximately 1,250 wild horses it rounded up from western Wyoming rangelands last year, in the first adoption event held in the state since September.
The horses range from weanlings to untrained geldings and mares up to 5 years old. They’re among 700 or so rounded-up wild horses being kept at corrals near Rock Springs.
JHREA – In Story Quarter – 50k
The federal agency plans to reopen the corral facility to the public Monday. People interested in adopting a horse can stop by during the event Feb. 27 and 28, and a horse specialist from the agency will be available to answer questions.
The fee to adopt a horse is $125. Though this will be the first adoption event in several months, anybody serious about adopting a wild horse can make private arrangements to view and adopt horses anytime the corrals are open.
“Most of the time, we can work people in if they’re serious about adopting,” Bureau of Land Management wild horse and burro specialist Jay D’Ewart said Wednesday.