(PHOTOS BY JESSE DAVIS / THE VILLAGE REPORTER)
MENDING FENCES … Lowe’s volunteers from the XXX program work on repairs to the fencing of the arena at H.O.O.V.E.S. Sanctuary and Healing Center, which uses equine therapy among other methods to help veterans and first responders deal with PTSD and trauma.
MEETING THE MENAGERIE … Lowe’s volunteers interact with some of the animals at the H.O.O.V.E.S. Sanctuary and Healing Center, located northeast of the Oak Openings Preserve Metropark outside Swanton.
By: Jesse Davis
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
jesse@thevillagereporter.com
More than a dozen Lowe’s employees descended on the HOOVES Sanctuary and Healing Center outside Swanton on Saturday to volunteer their time making repairs to the facility.
HOOVES – which stands for Healing of Our Veterans Equine Services – provides equine therapy among other efforts and resources for veterans and first responders suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and other general trauma, as well as their spouses and adult children.
Since 2017, the organization has been holding multi-day programs, and the proof is in the outcomes.
“Participants have had a 99 percent reduction in suicidal ideation, a 76 percent reduction in substance abuse, a 90 percent reduction in self-isolation,” founder and Executive Director Amanda Held said. “We’re still kind of in awe of the results that are being produced, but they’re consistent.”
The main program consists of a five-day healing intensive during which participants stay in a room in the house or in a rustic cabin with a bonfire, yoga, classroom work, arena work, energetic healing and support, pen crafting, rage painting, essential oils, meditation, massage, chiropractic work, and bee therapy, followed by graduation and a year of follow up support.
According to Held, the current season just ended, and they have now served 500 veterans since 2018.
Other programs include The Patriot Project – a three-day program for teens – and the new Miles 2 Freedom cycling program. Programs are provided at no cost thanks to sponsors.
Joseph Burlage, assistant manager at the Central Avenue Lowe’s location and a veteran himself, said he found a newsletter about the facility on Facebook when he reached out to Held about bringing volunteers to help out.
“Lowe’s runs a hometown hero program. It’s a 5-year, $100 million community outreach program – local stores partnering with programs, whether it’s schools, parks, veteran organizations like this,” he said. “I reached out to Amanda, got to see the farm, and the first time out here it was mind-blowing, really, just seeing all the work that she’s done, it’s been amazing.”
Burlage brought 15 employees with him to help repair a split rail fence damaged when several trees on the property came down during windstorms earlier this year.
They also helped put up chicken wire and put a new storm door on the house. The fence repair involved the facility’s arena.
“The reason that the arena project is so important is that’s where the majority of our healing takes place,” Held said.
Held spent four years in active duty in the Air Force before leaving to stay with her small children while her then husband was still in the military. While her military career was great, Held said she struggled with the transition into civilian life, feeling frustrated, depressed, and isolated.
That’s when she found out there was a stable on the Air Force academy base where she was living.
“I started going to the stable, I adopted a wild mustang named Shelby, and she changed my life and got me back integrated in society,” Held said.
“I started showing up differently in my relationships, having more confidence. I had the confidence to leave a not great marriage and moved back here, brought Shelby, and I still have her today.”
Initially, she opened a horse boarding and training facility with her father, mostly working with women who were successful in business but had never been able to own a horse, now living out their dreams.
“Horses see all of your weaknesses, they see all of the gaps in how you show up in your life, and they – sometimes gently, sometimes not so gently – show that back to you,” Held said.
“I had learned a process while I was in Colorado to gain a partnership and communicate with these horses, and what I was noticing was that these women would get these horses, the horses would be very reactive, aggressive, overpowering them.”
“And they would bring them to me for training and we would just do the horsemanship piece, and then they would come back and say you know I’m handling my employees better at work, I’m handling my relationship better, I’m handling my kids better.”
That’s when Held discovered the field of equine therapy. She got certified in 2009 and went on to earn her master’s in psychology, and the rest is history. The facility is now home to 32 horses – all rescues – including several miniature horses, a descendant of famous racehorse Secretariat, and several other animals including a goat, a pig, and a steer.
Held is not the only one on staff whose life was changed through equine therapy. Director of Outreach and Impact Tiffani Hollis, who is an active-duty Army veteran, said interacting with the horses gave her insight into herself.
“I went through a couple of different programs before coming to HOOVES. HOOVES was literally my last chance, and long story short, it saved my life, it changed my life,” she said.
Hollis said the horses helped her see things she didn’t realize were affecting her and also helped her find her way forward.
“here are no words fully to express the gratitude that I have for this place and for Amanda and for the horses,” Hollis said. “The only thing I thought that would fit was to give my life to this work.”
“I knew that I wanted to do this work and I worked with families and soldiers in the reserves and the National Guard for Illinois, but I knew I wanted to do something more. Something more that would actually help veterans heal in a life-changing way. Not in a way that continued them down a path of talk therapy and symptom management, but life changing interactions.”
For more information on HOOVES Sanctuary and Healing Center, visit www.hooves.us online or call (419)930-7936.