Reining Warriors Heavenly Gaits Therapeutic Riding Center provides hands-on support for servicemen and women, and first responders through a specific equine-assisted program.
At Reining Warriors, “Riding a horse is not the number one priority during our horsemanship program,” explains owner Michelle Miller. “In fact, a large majority of the teaching and learning is done on the ground. It’s about finding yourself through the horse. A horse mirrors your state of mind so it forces you to live in the moment so you are no longer focused on your problems.”
Miller, a former emergency medical technician, provides an opportunity for horses to heal heroes such as EMTs, 911 dispatchers and others who answer the call for an emergency situation.
“I’ve seen things and know what [first responders] go through. They see a lot of things that are hard [to deal with]. And 911 dispatchers, I don’t think they get nearly the credit that they deserve.”
Growing up in a family full of veterans, Miller also focuses on helping former and current service members.
“I’ve seen what they’ve gone through, I’ve seen what they’ve suffered with. How do I give back? This [program] is our way of giving back,” Miller said.
Reining Warriors offers a horsemanship curriculum that targets post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, anxiety disorders, depressive disorders, adjustment disorders, and relationship and communication issues.
“So what we do with our veterans and first responders’ program is we offer an 8-week horsemanship program, so they’ll do four weeks of groundwork and they’ll do four weeks of riding,” Miller explained. “And basically, what it is, is to just learn to communicate with their horse, form a bond with the horse.”
The course is held for two hours one day a week. Advanced programs are also available. One-on-one lessons do occur, but Reining Warriors encourages group sessions so that veterans can get together to talk with one another and build comradery. Three brothers recently came through the program allowing time for them to reconnect after busy schedules left little time to visit as often as they would have liked, Miller said.
Forming healthy bonds with other humans is an important step in healing, and communicating with a horse helps people to understand how their behavior impacts others.
“The good thing about horses is that they don’t judge people—they are nonjudgmental—so the veterans and first responders are able to really form a bond with them, which helps with depression, anxiety and getting them back into normal civilian life. Being in the military for several years, they see several things that we don’t. It’s hard for them to come back and just fall right back into normal life with the things that they’ve dealt with. So working with the horses, it helps them get settled.”
Working alongside an equine partner demands a certain level of attention.
“Horses make you think in the moment” Miller stated. “With us, with the human brain, we are kind of programmed that we can think of several different things at once, we can be performing a task, at the same time be thinking that I better be doing this when I get home, grocery shopping, need to do this and need to do that. When you are with the horses, horses make you be right there in the moment. You are concentrating on their behavior, how they are reacting to you.”
Proper communication with a horse begins on the ground and it doesn’t need to go beyond that to be effective. The program is structured with groundwork and riding built into it, but that is based on each individual’s ultimate goal.
“We are not saying you have to come here and do that, we just want to get [veterans and first responders] here and let them know ‘hey, I’ve got veterans around me that’s been through what I have.’ They can come here and just brush the horses,” Miller said. “Just because they do the program, if they are nervous about riding, they don’t have to ride, they can just do nothing but groundwork. We have a couple of different horses, one isn’t even broke to ride so he does nothing but groundwork and grooming.”
Many graduates of the program return to groom a horse or help out with chores just for the company and are welcomed to do that.
“It’s not so much as you’ve got to come here and work with a horse, we want to create that safe place for them to come if they are having a bad day, we don’t want them to say ‘I have nobody, I have nothing, I’m going to set home and drink,’ or do something bad,” Miller explained. “We want them to say ‘I can go to Reining Warriors.’ They can come here and watch the horses, they can help do chores around here if they like.”
To expand on the trust aspect of the program, Miller is currently working on liberty training, which is groundwork without a halter or lead for those who don’t want to ride, but would like to communicate off-lead.
She has introduced join-up sessions, which entail lunging, changing directions, backing up and leading, before removing the halter and lead rope. The handler is asked to drop expectations and directed to “clear your mind. We are going to ask your horse to join up with you. Lunge around in a circle and work until they get a smaller circle, where the horse is working up closer to them, then walk off and have the horse follow them,” Miller said. She added that handlers are amazed as the horse responds to them.
Communication, trust and the horse’s acceptance of a new leader are only some of the ways healing is brought about.
Miller mentioned studies conducted by the Institute of HeartMath that “provide a clue to explain the bidirectional healing that happens when we are near horses. According to researchers, the heart has a larger electromagnetic field and higher level of intelligence than the brain: A magnetometer can measure the heart’s energy field radiating up to eight to ten feet around the human body. While this is certainly significant it is perhaps more impressive that the electromagnetic field projected by the horse’s heart is five times larger than the human one (imagine a sphere-shaped field that completely surrounds you). The horse’s electromagnetic field is also stronger than ours and can actually directly influence our own heart rhythm.”
Reining Warriors utilizes the healing powers of its quarter horses and mustangs in many ways. Miller’s mini horse enjoys dressing in costumes to visit nursing homes. Horsemanship lessons for all age groups are offered. Miller provides horses a foster home through the West Virginia Horse Network and participates in the network’s Treasure Hunters program which teaches adults proper horsemanship and what is involved in owning a horse, including grooming, field maintenance, feeding, how to recognize potential health issues like colic and more.
And the training center provides young students with Pony Tales “a horse-powered reading and tutoring program that provides a great resource combining equine-assisted learning with evidence-based reading strategies that engage the mind, body and emotions in learning.” Miller recently added math skills to Pony Tales for children grades K-12.
There is a fee for several of these sessions, except for the veteran’s program which is provided free through sponsorship, grants donations and fundraisers.
Reining Warriors’ fundraisers include an online auction as well as horsemanship and roping clinics. The nonprofit also raised funds in a booth at the Farmer’s Day horse show.
To support the efforts of Reining Warriors, sponsor a veteran, make a tax-deductible contribution, volunteer time or refer a veteran/first responder.
The therapeutic riding center is located at 600 Hillsdale Road in Sinks Grove. Call 304-520-2315 for more information, visit Reining Warriors Facebook page or stop by just to say hello and watch the horses graze.
“We love to share our horses, and what they do for us, and what they provide to the community,” Miller said.
