Fearless Filly Gets To The Heart of PTSD in Innovative Treatment With Veterans

By Kathryn King Johnson, M.Ed.

Medicine Horse Program and Veterans Peace of Mind Project, both based in Boulder, Colorado, announce an exciting new collaboration, called "Fearless Victory."

Veterans Peace of Mind Project helps soldiers with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), providing mindfulness meditation programs as a psychological tool for dealing with trauma. Medicine Horse Program also uses mindfulness based techniques in equine-assisted psychotherapy. Using horses as co-facilitators, therapists help soldiers connect in relationship with each other and the horses.

"The wild horses help me to open up. The more I open up, the more they connect with me. It spirals outward, and I start opening up more with people in my day to day life," said John, a Viet Nam vet.

Most of the mustangs at Medicine Horse, caught recently on the range, are hyper-vigilant, with a strong flight instinct, and an aversion to being touched.

"The symptoms are the same as PTSD," one veteran said, "When I got home from the war, I didn't want anyone to touch me. "

As the horses learn to trust humans, the veterans see real results. In the process, they learn to trust the horses and begin to heal as well.

An astonished veteran exclaimed at the progress of a mustang named Mama, "She is not the same horse we worked with a month ago. If Mama can heal so quickly, so can we. She gives us hope."

Medicine Horse adopted a young mustang foal, and presented her to Veterans Peace of Mind Project as their mascot. The veterans chose the name "Fearless" as a quality of warrior-ship, and "Victory" to symbolize the filly's survival against all odds.

"Fearless Victory" is a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) foal, about 6 months old. A tiny, underweight filly, Fearless was either orphaned on the range, or was separated from her mother during the BLM gather in Adobe Town, Wyoming. She was then transported to Canon City. Fearless was one of 2800 horses at the East Canon City Prison, home of the Wild Horse Inmate Program and the largest holding facility for mustangs in the United States. There, she was adopted by Medicine Horse Program and brought to Boulder.

Fearless is totally unafraid of humans. Unlike most mustangs, who suffer some culture shock transitioning from life in the wild to civilization, she integrated immediately. She loves people.

An Iraqi war veteran summed up the experience. "When these wild horses reach out to us, when they want to be touched, when they try to connect with us, it means they are not lost. And neither are we."

The veterans, assisted by experienced horse handlers and therapists, help train the wild horses using sometimes unconventional methods like clicker training and desensitization that mirrors touch and go meditative practices. Wild horses do not accept the sound of the human voice nor the touch of the human hand as a reward. Too often they are punishments. A click associated with a food reward quickly teaches the mustangs expected behavior.

Touch and go meditation allows clients to be mindful of their thoughts but not to dwell on them. Soldiers are encouraged to touch on a sometimes disturbing thought, acknowledge it, then let it go by returning to the present moment. In the same way, they are taught to balance their connection to the wild horses who sometimes want attention, and sometimes want privacy. The soldiers might touch the wild horse for a few seconds, and then allow the horse to go if it so wishes.

While controversies rage around the treatment and roundup of the excess mustangs on the range, a tiny mustang is making a huge difference in the lives of some soldiers who have suffered too long.

To Help This Program, Please Contact:

Kathy King Johnson, Executive Director
Medicine Horse Program
8778 Arapahoe Road
Boulder, Co. 80303
720-406-7630
kathy@medicinehorse.org
www.medicinehorse.org

Margot Neuman, Executive Director
Veterans Peace of Mind Project
1507 Pine Street
Boulder, Colorado 80302
303-443-0444
margot@ratnapeaceinitiative.org
www.veteranspeaceofmind.org