Our Stories

Rachel's Story

Whispering in his ear, Rachel confided to her horse what had happened when she was nine years old.

She was traveling in Arizona with her family, when her dad pulled over at a gas station. Rachel decided to go to the restroom while her father filled up the car with gas. When she returned, the car and her family were gone.

"They must have run to the store," she thought quietly to herself. Rachel waited at the gas station for them to return. She waited ... and waited. She waited for a day. One day turned into another, and then another. She was so hungry she had to scavenge the dumpster for food. She continued to wait. But they never came back for her.

It wasn't until two weeks later that someone found Rachel and helped her get into the social service system. She was living in a group home when she visited Mustard Seed Ranch.

This was the first time in her life she felt safe enough to tell her story out loud. First to her horse, then to us. As hard as it was for her to talk about being abandoned and rejected by her family, it was the first step in her healing. Hopefully now she he can release the weight of it from her life and move on.

David's Story

David was withdrawn. He resisted communicating with anyone, and when he did, he was aggressive. After learning about how to handle the horses, David was asked to start brushing a horse. The task usually takes 15 minutes, but David kept at it for nearly an hour. We realized the miracle began, that magical moment when the kids and horses start connecting.

We finally coaxed him away with another project and brought him to a round pen where we train difficult and anxious horses. We showed David some training steps. But he immediately reverted to his communication style - aggressive. He shouted at the horse to get him to respond. It didn't work.

We asked David, "If we wanted you to take out the trash, what would be a better approach - yell at you or ask you?" "Ask," he admitted. "It's the same with the horse," we explained. It seems David got it. "I treat people that way, don't I?"

David began to realize the affect of his aggressive behavior on other people. When he changed his approach with the horse, he saw how the horse listened.

By the end of the day David was smiling. His case worker said he had never seen him smile. David said he wanted to come back. Here he can begin to build relationships. Even if it's just with a horse at first, David will soon learn how to build healthier human relationships.

Justin's Story

The horse pulled back his ears, a sign he was clearly upset. Standing face to face in the middle of a large pasture, the horse sensed Justin's aggression and anger. Justin, a big kid who just turned 14, took a few steps back and calmed down. The horse responded. His ears flopped back to normal and, after a few minutes, he walked up to Justin.

The two stood side by side for more than 30 minutes while Justin recounted the story about his mother's abuse. He cried. The horse listened patiently.

"How did it go?" a counselor's aid later asked. "The horse didn't run away did he? Well, I won't run either if you want to tell me your story."

Justin's earliest memory in life was his mom hitting him. She would hit him just to wake him up for school every day. "That's how all kids woke up for school," he assumed. Until school officials noticed his bruises and investigated his case, Justin had no idea his childhood wasn't normal.

Kids have no frame of reference and assume they deserve what happens to them. They also learn to treat others the way they have been treated.

Working with the staff at Mustard Seed Ranch, Justin has begun the healing process. Reaching out for help only happened after he was able to begin trusting again. The horses were the beginning of this connecting process.