Mustang Adoption Academy is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
trained
Mustangs of Service
Veterans Equine Program
Read on to learn about what we do in our
FREE Veterans program.
No horse experience necessary.
Can be tailored to fit YOUR needs.
This is NOT your traditional talk therapy program. The Mustangs of Service program is a non-clinical mental health program that teaches & utilizes Brain-based Horsemanship and Equine Assisted Learning Services with our Veterans in the act of gentling Mustangs. Our MOS professionals support the Veteran through this journey and to see the undeniable parallels between the two. Through this, they both find understanding, learning & healing.
The MOS program was developed to help to reduce the number of Veterans who live every day with the effects of the "unseen burdens" of service - PTSD, TBIs, depression, anxiety, etc. We hope to make an impact in the 22 per day Veteran suicide rate, while also saving America’s Wild Horse, the Mustang by preventing them from ending up in kill pens.
Want to know more about how transformation happens through the MOS program?
Mustangs of Service is a Veterans program run by the Mustang Adoption Academy - a 501(c)(3) non-profit.
The mission of the program is to pair Mustangs & Veterans, and help both assimilate into (or back into) domestic life through Equine Assisted Learning & Healing Services, using the principles of brain-based horsemanship.
There is NO COST to our Veterans to participate in the MOS program.
Can be tailored to fit YOUR schedule: 16 week program - 5 day intensive ranch stay - 1 visit.
Whatever works best for YOU
NO HORSE EXPERIENCE NECESSARY.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In this unique veteran-focused program, participants learn to recognize their own mental & emotional state in a variety of situations, including high-pressure moments...even in Walmart!
They also learn to recognize the mental state of another being—the mustang—while working together through challenges, pressure & communication.
Through guided brain-based horsemanship, veterans experience:
-
True, authentic connection with another being
-
Expanding boundaries to handle life’s pressures within healthy tolerance
-
Understanding the pressure scale—going up and coming down, and learning how to apply pressure intentionally on a 1–10 scale rather than being pushed to a reactive “10”
-
Toggle skills that help them adjust their communication as the situation and mustang require
-
Patience, presence, and emotional regulation
Most importantly, veterans rediscover that they are VALUED FOR EXACTLY WHO THEY ARE.
You are not broken, not beyond HEALING & GROWTH.
You do not have to accept life as “Okay enough”
Healing is possible.
Transformation is within reach.
AND YOU DO NOT HAVE TO WALK THAT JOURNEY ALONE.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The MOS Program isn't simply about making Veterans "feel better", it's about helping them increase emotional awareness and the ability to regulate their emotions. Our program focuses on the social & emotional aspects of the horse-human connection and bond.
Instead of focusing on what has happened in their pasts, we reintroduce the possibility of connection for the Veteran to another like-minded being, the Mustang, and through the MOS Program they then begin to show one another the path forward.
In my first moments with the horse I was concerned, borderline scared. I had zero experience with horses up to this point, let alone wild Mustangs. Sky is a very level-headed trainer, we would find something I could do while gently expanding my personal boundaries.
-MOS program participant
"As I came in to work with the mustangs, I saw parts of myself again that really had been disappeared for, well, since I came back home.”
-MOS program participant
Horses have an interesting way of showing you your inner throughts, fears and short comings. Nothing can be hidden from a horse, they see right to your soul. While participating in the MOS Program, I learned that a horse will always look for safety. It made me question why I was feeling the way I felt. I had to ask myself, "Do I not feel safe?", the answer was a resounding NO. I did not feel safe in public. I did not feel safe in my own skin, I was seperating myself from society because I did not feel safe."
-MOS program participant
MOS Participant Story:
On his journey, our Veteran came to relate to one horse in particular - a paint horse named Whiskey.
Over the course of 12 years, 7 different owners gave up on taming him, including two professionals who gave up after just one session with the mustang. He had found himself in a kill pen twice in his life.
“He did not want to be part of the herd. When the herd came into the pasture, he would go to the other side of the pasture, he was very, very difficult.”
One day, Miller and Whiskey simultaneously went in sync and walked across the pasture together without a halter or lead.
“At that point I knew, wow we are in this together, because although he doesn’t want to, and I don’t want to, we’re both trying."
I learned that mustangs need their herd, and people do too.
“I was able to build safety with him, and build safety in myself, and see that although he didn’t want to be part of society, and neither did I really, getting into it feels better than not.”
Published research:
Want to know more?
Check out the 17 military specific articles on The Evidence Behind Mental Health & WellBeing Services Incorporating Horses, a summary of peer-reviewed research, promoted by Horses For Mental Health.
And take a look at this supporting published data from the Man O’ War project: