How horses are helping veterans in Yuma through therapy
Horses are actually helping Veterans in our area, and in some cases, even saving their lives - 13 On Your Side's Luis Lopez reports
YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - While there are many ways for veterans to get assistance, one way you may not have heard of is horse therapy. For veterans in Yuma, animals have been a big help.
On Saturday over at the McClure Ranch in Yuma, the American Supporting Troops After Returning Home Foundation, or STARH, held it’s Hooves and Heroes Barbecue. An event to raise funds for it’s equine therapy program ran by the Adventurous Change group.
The program places veterans with a horse for eight weeks. In one session a week, the veterans bond with the horses, learning to deal with their issues in the process.
Katrina Olea is a mental health specialist with adventurous change. Who says the program has been a great way for her to say thanks to those who served.
“I feel really grateful everyday when they come and they come back because it gives them an opportunity to heal from all the service that they’ve put in all the work that they’ve put in and helping our country,” Olea said.
Blade Anthony is the executive director of the STARH foundation, and a former user of horse therapy himself, he says his time with the animals, actually saved his life, which has now led him to help others with the STARH foundation.
“Once I came to horse therapy everything started to dismantle, the bad stuff I stopped having nightmares I stopped having suicidal ideations, I stopped drinking and I stopped doing drugs and here I am trying to give back”
If you’d like to find out how to help the American STARH foundation, you can call Anthony at (928)-310-4392, shop at the foundations thrift shop located at 11777 South Fortuna Ave in Yuma, or you can simply volunteer with them.
