OklahomaHorses Magazine Sept 2022

18 OklahomaHorses • September / October 2022 Horses of HOPE by Casie Bazay | Photos courtesy of Horses of Hope Oklahoma Giving Abuse Survivors a Brighter Future These are some of the 20 horses in the Horses of Hope Oklahoma program. T here is a quote often attributed to Winston Churchill that says, “There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man.” If you’ve been around horses much at all, you can likely attest to the truth of that statement. Horses have an innate ability to not only bring people joy but also help them to learn more about themselves. Perhaps nowhere is that more apparent than at a nonprofit equine-assisted therapy program called Horses of Hope Oklahoma. Horses of Hope began in 1997 in Baxter Springs, Kansas, as a therapeutic riding center for people with disabilities. Seven years later, a sister farm with the same purpose was built in Rogersville, Missouri. Then in 2020, the Oklaho- ma branch opened in Fairland as a collaboration with the Healing House of Modoc Youth and Family Services. How- ever, instead of offering therapeutic riding for individuals with disabilities, the Oklahoma program focuses solely on equine-assisted psychotherapy for Ottawa County children, teens, and adults, tribal and nontribal, who are survivors of abuse and traumatic experiences. The program works with local schools, residential centers, boys’ and girls’ clubs, and adjudicated youths. Jessica Mullin, director of behavioral health at the Modoc Nation, helped to write the grants that fund Horses of Hope Oklahoma. Those grants include the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Native Connections Grant project, which focuses on suicide pre- vention for children and young adults, and the SAMHSA Tree project, which aims to prevent substance abuse in teens and young adults. The tribe provides seven counselors for the program and fully funds all the staff positions. The aim is to make a program called Horses Offering People