Veterans Day message from New Freedom Farm: Wild Mustangs and War Veterans

What do Wild Horses and War Veterans have in common? They are both symbols of strength and freedom rounded up and recruited to serve.

Wild mustangs and burros have never been touched by humans and experience high stress. They are, like all horses, animals that choose either flight or fight. These horses experience PTSD-like episodes. The veterans they are working with can empathize. When a veteran works with a mustang, he or she can meet the horse where the horse is. The mustang understands that and can meet the veterans right where they are.

Mustangs are under siege across the West. Currently about 48,000 wild horses have been rounded up from public lands and now languish in Bureau of Land Management pens. Recently, an advisory board to the BLM recommended all horses be sold-off or destroyed. The BLM has rejected this recommendation for now, but the clock is ticking.

Mustangs are ideal for equine assisted activities. They are, in effect, highly sensitive 1,200-pound biofeedback mechanisms. Horses respond to a person’s intentions and physicality, mirroring subconscious issues so they may be identified and addressed. Many mustangs descended from horses bred for the military then turned out when they were no longer needed. Only the strongest survived due to their strength, resourcefulness and hyper-vigilance – characteristics they share with our veterans. These traits can create a connection between veteran and horse, often leading to a marked transformation for each. We want to change the public perception of wild mustangs from tragic burden to highly valuable resource. And we believe it is fitting that descendants of the horses that carried our forefathers into battle will now help bring our warfighters home.

Mustangs are a recent addition to New Freedom Farm. The mustangs are now part of the equine-assisted veterans’ recovery efforts here at the farm. These mustangs have all been hunted down and captured as part of the Bureau of Land Management’s wild mustang and burro roundup.

You cannot force a mustang to do anything. You must open yourself up to new ideas and new behaviors that are not comfortable for you and you have to learn to communicate in a calm manner, leaving your anger and anxiety at the gate. This teaches our veterans to apply these skills in their daily life.

Because of what the mustangs have been through, the veterans can relate to them. Many veterans don’t want anything to do with the horses. And a lot of the veterans will come to the farm to help others or to help with farm chores. Initially, some don’t want to be here at all; but after being around for a while they often share that New Freedom Farm is a safe, sober place they can come and just be, with or without a horse, and leave all their trauma
behind. This kind of trauma stays with them all time; but it can be managed while being present here at the farm with horses, mustangs and other vets.

Our program is unlike any other. We meet our veterans on their terms and offer them a way to process their military experience among peers who understand them. It’s no secret many veterans struggle upon their return to civilian life.

Despite billions in increased spending on veterans’ mental health issues, suicide rates are on the rise, particularly among 18-29-year-olds. The Veterans Administration and Department of Defense generally provide “talk therapies” and medication. But many veterans are reluctant to engage in talk therapies, and pharmaceuticals have their limits, including risk of addiction. What is needed is a way to get to the root causes of the problems and avoid the alienation and downward spiral that so many veterans experience when they come home. The suicide rate for veterans ages 1829 was 86 per 100,000… almost twice as high as other age groups. — Dr. David Shulkin, M.D., Under Secretary of Health, U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs. New York Times, July 7, 2016

Many veterans are reluctant to engage in traditional “talk therapies” for a variety of reasons. It simply goes against the warfighter grain. Stepping into a ring with a wild horse is an entirely different experience, and a challenge well suited to veterans. Working with horses is a somatic experience aimed at relieving the symptoms of PTSD and other trauma-related health problems. Awareness of the problems and healing are experiential, not analytical. For most veterans, learning through an integrated physiological experience is second nature – they’ve been doing it in the military for years.

A horse can be our greatest teacher, for horses have no egos, they never lie, they’re never wrong, and they manifest unparalleled compassion. — Tim Hayes, author of “Riding Home: The Power of Horses to Heal”

New Freedom Farm, being like no other, is designed to get to the root causes of our veterans’ struggles and to help them resolve issues before the downward spiral of alienation, isolation, anxiety, addiction, depression and suicidal ideation begins. We are using a variety of modalities to accomplish this, centered on equine-assisted activity, which is well suited to returning military personnel.

The barn has a herd of 21 horses, including three new un-gentled mustangs. Planning is underway for the next set of mustangs to come to the barn in 2019. These mustangs will be gentled by veterans and either placed with the veteran or adopted-out according to BLM standards. If you are interested in adopting one or learning more about mustangs, please contact New Freedom Farm.

New Freedom Farm is like a pilot program allowing us to work from veteran input and test combinations of treatment modalities to determine the most effective program ongoing. Once proven, perhaps this model can be replicated across the country, saving more lives and reducing suffering in the future. Our goal is to make a change in the way in which we welcome our warriors home, and to save one veteran at a time, one day at a time.

Because New Freedom Farm is a nonprofit, funding is critical to our mission. The veterans’ program is 100% free to veterans and their family members. NO charge, no demographics are collected, only a release and emergency contact form are gathered. There are a lot of new programs coming. New Freedom Farm is developing a new teambuilding program for corporations, businesses and organizations. The hope is that these programs will provide new funding sources to help with operations and improvements. Donations can be mailed to New Freedom Farm, 6118 Lithia Road, Buchanan, VA 24066 or by visiting our web site at www.newfreedomfarm.net. More volunteers are needed, no horse experience necessary. If you have admin skills or are interested in helping our veterans, we would love to hear from you. Anyone interested in volunteering at New Freedom Farm can call 540-855-1158 or email us at newfreedomfarm2016@gmail.com.

–submitted by Lois Dawn Fritz, New Freedom Farm  Photo: Marine Corps Vet Matt Jennings with his mustang courtesy of New Freedom Farm